CHICAGO -- Jay Cutler, Mr. USWNT Gear . Fourth Quarter? The nickname just might stick if he keeps this up. Cutler came through just in time again, firing a 16-yard touchdown pass to Martellus Bennett with 10 seconds left to lead the Chicago Bears to a 31-30 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. "Hes just ice cold, man," said Brandon Marshall, who added that he calls Cutler "Mr. Fourth Quarter." "So, I really appreciate and am grateful to play with him." Things were looking bleak after Minnesotas Blair Walsh kicked a 22-yard field goal to make it a six-point game with 3:15 remaining. Chicago took over at its 34, and Cutler went to work. After leading the Bears back from an 11-point deficit to beat Cincinnati in the opener, he did it again -- this time with a heavy rain falling. A 23-yard pass to Bennett along the sideline put the ball on the 16. Cutler then spiked the ball because his tight end did not get out of bounds when he admittedly should have. After an incompletion, Cutler hit a twisting Bennett in the front corner of the end zone with a pass to his back shoulder. Robbie Gould kicked the go-ahead extra point and Chicago (2-0) remained unbeaten under new coach Marc Trestman despite committing four turnovers. Cutler completed 28 of 39 passes for 290 yards and three touchdowns. But he was also intercepted twice and got stripped by Jared Allen on a sack, leading to a 61-yard touchdown return for Brian Robison in the second quarter. "He had moments of adversity in this game and he never flinched and the guys around him never did, either," Trestman said. Devin Hester returned five kickoffs for a Bears-record 249 yards -- including a 76-yarder and an 80-yarder. Bennett had 76 yards receiving and two touchdowns. Brandon Marshall had seven catches for 113 yards and a touchdown. Matt Forte chipped in with 71 yards receiving and 90 yards rushing. Minnesotas Cordarrelle Patterson returned the opening kickoff 105 yards to tie a club record. Christian Ponder threw for 227 yards, a touchdown and an interception after getting picked off three times in a season-opening loss to Detroit. Adrian Peterson ran for 100 yards, but the Vikings (0-2) remained winless at Soldier Field since 2007. Peterson said he was "a little hesitant" and added: "I have to do a lot of soul searching and come back better than I was." Allen pointed at the defence. "This game came down to one series, six-point lead, they had the ball on the 34 and weve got to get off the field," he said. "It just plain and simple. We have to get off the field in that situation." They looked as if they might pull this one out after two 13-play drives led to 28-yard field goals by Walsh, turning a 24-21 halftime deficit into a 27-24 advantage in the fourth quarter. The first came after Chicagos Isaiah Frey recovered a fumble by Jarius Wright in the end zone, only to have it overturned on a replay review. Harrison Smith set up the second when he intercepted a long pass from Cutler to Marshall at the 12 on the first play of the fourth quarter. Peterson kept the drive going with a 4-yard run to the 14 on fourth-and-1, only to be hit with a 13-yard loss on the next play, and Walsh booted the go-ahead field goal with just over 8 minutes left. Letroy Guion stripped Forte of the ball near midfield on Chicagos next possession. That led to Walshs 22-yarder that made it a six-point game, but Cutler and the Bears had one more rally in them. The late theatrics capped a game that featured no shortage of big plays in the early going. Patterson got this one off to an explosive start with that huge return to start the game, taking advantage of some big holes and sprinting past a lunging Gould on the way to the end zone. The 105-yarder matched the club record set by Percy Harvin last year and was the first kickoff return for a touchdown by a Bears opponent since 2007. After Pattersons big return, Hester returned the kickoff 76 yards before being pushed out of bounds at the 32. That led to a 1-yard TD catch for Bennett, and the teams kept trading big plays in the half. Later, with the game winding down, the Bears made one final push to win it. "Its taken everyone in that locker room two weeks in a row," Cutler said. NOTES: The Bears honoured the 1963 championship team at halftime, two days after star running back Rick Casares died at age 82. "Oh my God, I think when you talk to my fellow teammates over here, what was all right, true and good about professional football was embodied in Rick Casares," former teammate Ed OBradovich said. "Nobody loved the game more than him." Casares played 10 seasons in Chicago and ran for 5,675 yards. He was the Bears all-time leading rusher until Walter Payton surpassed him and currently ranks third. ... Williams now has five interceptions in his career, most by a Vikings defensive lineman. USWNT Jerseys China . Trailing 2-1 from the first leg, Fiorentina levelled on aggregate in the 14th minute when Joaquin Sanchez Rodriguez headed back a long ball from David Pizarro and Pasqual smashed home an angled volley. Cheap USWNT Jerseys .C. -- The RBC Cups semifinal participants were decided by a pair of overtime games.With a 6-4 record, including a 5-2 mark in La Belle Province during the last week, the Winnipeg Goldeyes bid au revoir to the Can-Am League in winning fashion Thursday night. The Goldeyes (24-14) capped their 10-game road trip with a 6-1 win over the Trois-Rivieres Aigles at Stade Fernand-Bedard. The victory guarantees Winnipeg will return home in first place in the American Associations tight North Division. The Goldeyes have a one-and-a-half game lead on the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks and a two-and-a-half advantage over St. Paul Saints, pending the outcome of the game between those two teams tonight. In the final game of the road trip, the Goldeyes slowly built a lead by scoring single runs in six innings, including five of the last six innings. "We were able to get runs in six different innings, so they swung the bats pretty well," Goldeyes pitching coach Jamie Vermilyea said on the Jewel 101 post-game show. "Its nice to hit and pitch at the same time." Brock Bond drove in Winnipegs first two runs of the game in the second and fourth innings. He finished the game two-for-three at the plate with two RBI and two runs scored. "Every single oone of his at-bats hes working the count, working deep in the count and trying to get his pitch," Vermilyea said. USWNT Store. Casey Haerther and Reggie Abercrombie also registered two hits for Winnipeg. On the mound, Ethan Hollingsworth made his second start of the season for the Goldeyes and pitched six scoreless innings for his first win of the season. He gave up just three hits, struck out two and walked four. His ERA is now 1.59 in two starts. "He had all of his pitches working," Vermilyea said. "He used his change-up a lot more tonight, keeping guys off balance and throwing strikes, for the most part." Taylor Sewitt, Taylor Bratton, Kyle Bellamy, Brendan Lafferty and Kaohi Downing all saw action out of the bullpen in the games final three innings. Sewitt was tagged in the seventh inning for Trois-Rivieres only run in the game. Aigles starter Ryan Bollinger took the loss. The Goldeyes will return home Friday to begin a seven-game homestand against the RedHawks, who are making their first visit to Shaw Park this season for a four-game series. The Kansas City T-Bones are the opponent for the second half of the homestand. ' ' '
RSS Feed
RSS Feed