Caleb Williams Survives Four Interceptions as Cairo Santos’ Walk-Off Field Goal Lifts Bears Past Buccaneers 27-24

Caleb Williams threw four interceptions, lost a fumble through his team, and played what the Associated Press called one of the worst games of the Chicago Bears’ season. Then, with two minutes and 51 seconds left and the game tied, he made the one throw that mattered.

Williams found tight end Colston Loveland wide open for a 38-yard gain to the Tampa Bay 16-yard line, and after two kneel-downs, Cairo Santos drilled a 38-yard field goal as time expired to give the Bears a chaotic, improbable 27-24 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday Night Football at Soldier Field.

It was Chicago’s fourth consecutive win, lifting the Bears to 7-2, and it was secured in the most unlikely fashion imaginable: a team that gave the ball away five times beating a team whose defence took it away five times.

“Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears played one of their worst games of the season — and won,” the Associated Press reported. “That last part was the only thing that mattered to them Sunday night.”

A Night That Should Have Been Lost

The evening began as if Chicago would run away with it. According to the Associated Press, Williams threw a nine-yard touchdown pass to Rome Odunze and then a 56-yard touchdown strike to Luther Burden III in the first quarter, and the Bears led 14-0 before the Buccaneers had settled.

From there, the game unravelled for the home side. Williams threw a career-high four interceptions, and the Bears committed five turnovers in total. Tampa Bay cornerback Zyon McCollum picked Williams off twice in the first half, while Tykee Smith intercepted him at the Tampa Bay three-yard line in the second quarter and Alex Anzalone added another interception in the third.

Yet the Buccaneers, for all their defensive heroics, could not turn those gifts into control of the game. They outgained Chicago 352 yards to 349, led 18-15 on first downs and held the ball for 32 minutes and 52 seconds, according to USA Today’s Bucs Wire — but they converted only two of 12 third downs, allowed four sacks, and watched their quarterback throw two interceptions of his own.

The most damaging of those came in the third quarter. According to USA Today, Anzalone had just intercepted Williams to give Tampa Bay possession at the Chicago 37-yard line, trailing by four points. Baker Mayfield then attempted a pass intended for Cade Otton. Cornerback Jaylon Johnson stepped in front of the route and returned the interception 67 yards for a touchdown, extending Chicago’s lead to 24-13.

It was, in the end, the difference between winning and losing — a seven-point swing on a single play, delivered by a defence that spent the night bailing out its own quarterback.

Williams’ Worst Night, and His Best Throw

Williams finished 22 of 37 passing for 279 yards, two touchdowns and four interceptions, according to the Associated Press. The interceptions were a career high for the young quarterback, and the five turnovers were the most the Bears had committed in a victory in almost two decades — their first win with five or more turnovers since a 23-13 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on 3 December 2006, the Associated Press reported.

But the numbers that will be remembered are the last ones. With the game tied at 24 and 40 seconds remaining, Williams dropped back and found Loveland, who was pushed out of bounds at the Tampa Bay 16-yard line. Two kneel-downs followed, the clock bled away, and Santos — who had already kicked one field goal in the game — sent the second through the uprights in front of a crowd of 60,470.

The winning sequence was set up by Tampa Bay’s own late collapse. According to the Associated Press, Chicago led 24-16 when Burden fumbled with 3:38 remaining, and Tampa Bay defensive back Ifeatu Melifonwu returned the ball to the Bears’ 17-yard line. Bucky Irving scored on a six-yard run, and Mayfield scrambled up the middle for the two-point conversion, tying the game at 24 with 2:51 left.

Irving finished with 97 yards on 20 carries and two touchdowns, according to the Associated Press, and he added four catches for 28 yards. It was not enough. Chicago answered in 40 seconds of game time, and the Buccaneers’ five takeaways — the most by any defence in the NFL coming into the night, according to Athlon Sports — went to waste.

Mayfield finished 18 of 32 for 243 yards with two interceptions and no touchdown passes, according to USA Today, and he was sacked four times for 17 lost yards. It was, according to Athlon Sports, his heaviest workload since returning from a dislocated right thumb, and his second interception decided the game.

Tampa Bay’s Wasted Chances

The defeat dropped Tampa Bay to 3-6 heading into its bye week, according to Athlon Sports, leaving the Buccaneers half a game behind Carolina and New Orleans in an NFC South that remains open. For a team that forced five turnovers, the loss will sting for a fortnight.

The Buccaneers’ defence did almost everything asked of it. McCollum’s two interceptions, Smith’s goal-line pick, Anzalone’s third-quarter takeaway and the forced fumble by Keionte Scott — recovered by Melifonwu — gave the offence five extra possessions. The offence, however, managed only two successful third-down conversions in 12 attempts, and the two Mayfield interceptions, including the pick-six, erased much of the defence’s work.

“The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had every chance to pull off an improbable comeback against the Chicago Bears on Sunday night, but offensive mistakes and a late defensive breakdown led to a 27-24 loss at Soldier Field,” USA Today’s Bucs Wire reported. “Despite forcing five turnovers, including four interceptions of Caleb Williams, Tampa Bay couldn’t capitalize consistently enough to overcome a disastrous opening quarter.”

That disastrous opening quarter — 14 points conceded before Tampa Bay had found its footing — is the other half of the story. The Buccaneers spent the rest of the night chasing a game they had effectively lost in its first 15 minutes, and when they finally caught up, with 2:51 remaining, they left 40 seconds too many on the clock.

Both teams now head into their bye weeks. According to the Associated Press, the Buccaneers return with a road game against the Detroit Lions on 22 November, while the Bears host the New Orleans Saints on the same day.

Around the NFL: Stroud’s Flu Game, Love’s Rout and a Madrid Show

The Bears were not the only team to produce a remarkable Sunday. In Inglewood, California, C.J. Stroud delivered his own version of Michael Jordan’s famous flu game, throwing five touchdown passes as the Houston Texans routed the winless Los Angeles Chargers 44-22.

According to the Associated Press, Stroud had been feeling unwell all week, had barely practised, and woke up with chills on game day. He then completed 21 of 35 passes for 384 yards, throwing touchdown passes to four different receivers — including a pair of season-best 63-yarders to Tank Dell and Kayshon Boutte — and came up one touchdown short of the franchise record of six.

“I don’t know what I had, but was not feeling good,” Stroud said, according to the Associated Press. “My teammates really helped me. Just to have that type of performance under the weather a little bit was to me a testament to our team and our resilience.”

The victory was Houston’s third in four games after a 0-4 start, lifting the Texans to 3-5, according to the Associated Press. The Chargers, meanwhile, fell to 0-8 and tied a franchise record with an 11-game losing streak, set in 2000. They ended a 37-drive touchdown drought — the second-longest in NFL history — when Quentin Johnston caught Justin Herbert’s 58-yard scoring pass in the fourth quarter, but Herbert was sacked a career-high eight times and finished 13 of 23 for 193 yards with an interception.

In Foxborough, the Green Bay Packers routed the New England Patriots 45-27, according to USA Today, behind Jordan Love’s 372 passing yards and three touchdowns. Christian Watson and Matthew Golden combined for 17 receptions on 18 targets for 335 yards and two touchdowns, and Green Bay put up a season high in points and total yards — 478 — against a Patriots side whose quarterback, Drake Maye, threw an interception on the second play from scrimmage.

And in Madrid, the NFL’s international series delivered its showpiece. Joe Burrow completed 24 of 29 passes for 271 yards and three touchdowns — and rushed for a fourth score — as the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Atlanta Falcons 34-17 at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, according to Reuters. Ja’Marr Chase caught 10 passes for 155 yards and a touchdown, including 142 yards before half-time, a career high for a first half.

The victory was Cincinnati’s fourth in a row, lifting the Bengals to 6-2 and into a tie with the Pittsburgh Steelers atop the AFC North, according to Reuters. Chase’s 47-yard touchdown on third-and-two answered Atlanta’s opening score, and Burrow’s performance — his league-leading 21st touchdown pass among them, according to Athlon Sports — underlined why the Bengals are emerging as one of the AFC’s most dangerous teams.

Elsewhere on Sunday, the Los Angeles Rams beat the Washington Commanders 20-13, the Denver Broncos came from behind to beat the Carolina Panthers 26-21, the Detroit Lions beat the Miami Dolphins 19-9, the San Francisco 49ers beat the Las Vegas Raiders 38-17, the Seattle Seahawks beat the Arizona Cardinals 17-3, and the Kansas City Chiefs dominated the New York Jets 35-12. The Dallas Cowboys edged the Indianapolis Colts 27-23, with Dak Prescott completing 21 of 24 passes for 335 yards and touchdowns to CeeDee Lamb — who caught 10 passes for 195 yards — and Jake Ferguson, according to the Indianapolis Star.

Analysis: Why It Matters

Winning ugly is a skill, not an accident

The Bears should have lost this game. Every statistical indicator said so: five turnovers, four interceptions from their own quarterback, fewer first downs, less time of possession. Teams that give the ball away five times lose far more often than they win, and Chicago’s first victory in such circumstances in nearly 20 years is a reminder that the exception proves how hard the rule usually bites.

But there is a difference between a lucky win and a resilient one, and the Bears’ night belongs firmly in the second category. A team that wins ugly in November is a team that has learned to survive its own mistakes, and survival is the skill that separates playoff teams from the rest. Chicago did not panic when Williams threw his third interception, or his fourth. The defence answered with a pick-six. The quarterback answered with the throw of the night. The kicker answered with the kick of the night. Each unit covered for the others, and that is what a 7-2 record is built on — not perfection, but collective recovery.

The turnover paradox

This game was, above all, a study in the limits of the turnover as a statistic. Tampa Bay’s defence produced five takeaways — the most in the league coming into the weekend — and still lost. The reason is that turnovers are only as valuable as the points a team scores from them, and the Buccaneers’ offence could not convert its gifts. Two of 12 on third down tells the story: the defence kept handing the offence short fields, and the offence kept handing the ball back.

For Chicago, the lesson runs the other way. Williams’ four interceptions were a career high, and they will be the subject of a fortnight of film study during the bye week. But the quarterback who throws four interceptions and then delivers a 38-yard strike with the game on the line has demonstrated something that cannot be taught: the ability to forget. Quarterbacks are judged not by their worst throws but by their next one, and Williams’ next one won the game.

Tampa Bay’s season is slipping away

At 3-6, the Buccaneers are not out of their division — half a game behind Carolina and New Orleans, with a bye week to regroup and a trip to Detroit on 22 November. But the shape of this defeat will haunt them. Teams that force five turnovers and lose do not merely drop a game; they waste a performance their defence may not repeat. The offence’s failures — the third-down futility, the sacks, the two interceptions — are not one-night problems. They are the reason a team with a defence this opportunistic is 3-6 rather than 6-3.

The bye week now becomes a test of the coaching staff as much as the players. Tampa Bay must decide whether its offensive struggles are a matter of execution, scheme or personnel, and it must decide quickly: the schedule does not wait, and the NFC South, for all its mediocrity, will not hand out favours.

The NFL’s global weekend

Sunday was also a reminder of how far the NFL’s ambitions now stretch. The Madrid game — the league’s second-ever game in the Spanish capital, played under the closed roof of the Bernabéu — was not a novelty act. It was a prime-time showcase for two of the league’s brightest stars, and Burrow and Chase delivered exactly the performance the occasion demanded. Chase’s 142 first-half yards were, according to the Bengals, the fourth-most by any player in a first half this season.

The league’s international series has grown from an experiment into a fixture, and games like this one are its justification: a sell-out crowd in one of world football’s great stadiums, watching American football played at its highest level. For the Bengals, the reward was a fourth straight win and a share of the AFC North lead. For the NFL, it was proof that the product travels.

Stroud, Love and the quarterbacks who owned Sunday

Elsewhere, the weekend belonged to quarterbacks who refused to let circumstances define them. Stroud played through illness and threw five touchdowns. Love threw for 372 yards and three scores in a rout. Burrow threw three and ran for one in Madrid. Williams threw four interceptions and still won. Four very different Sundays, one common thread: the modern NFL is a quarterback league, and the teams whose quarterbacks deliver — even imperfectly, even unwell — are the teams still playing meaningful football in November.

The Chargers are the mirror image. Herbert was sacked eight times, a career high, and has now been sacked 31 times this season, the second-most in the league, according to the Associated Press. At 0-8, with an 11-game losing streak and a fanbase booing at SoFi Stadium, Los Angeles’ season is a case study in what happens when a quarterback is given no protection and no margin for error.

What to Watch Next

1. The Bears after the bye: Chicago hosts the New Orleans Saints on 22 November, according to the Associated Press, with a fortnight to fix the turnover problem. Whether Williams can cut out the interceptions without losing his aggression will define the second half of the Bears’ season.
2. Tampa Bay at Detroit: The Buccaneers travel to the Lions on 22 November, according to the Associated Press, needing a win to stay in touch in the NFC South. The defence has proved it can create chances; the offence must now prove it can take them.
3. Bengals against the Steelers: Cincinnati meets Pittsburgh at Paycor Stadium on 15 November, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer, in a game that will decide outright leadership of the AFC North. The Bengals have won four in a row; the Steelers will not give up first place easily.
4. Houston at Cleveland: The Texans visit the Browns next Sunday, according to the Associated Press, with a chance to climb back to .500 after their 0-4 start. Stroud’s health — and whether his flu-game form carries over — will be the story.
5. The Chargers at Baltimore: Los Angeles visits the Ravens, according to the Associated Press, in a matchup against former Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter. At 0-8, the Chargers are playing for pride — and for the jobs of the staff trying to save the season.

Sources

• Associated Press via theScore — “Williams connects with Loveland to set up Santos’ winning field goal as Bears edge Buccaneers 27-24”
• USA Today (Bucs Wire) — “Buccaneers waste five takeaways in 27-24 loss to Bears”
• Associated Press via Raw Chili — “C.J. Stroud throws five TD passes as Texans rout winless Chargers 44-22”
• Reuters — “NFL roundup: Bengals rout Falcons in Madrid, tie AFC North lead”
• USA Today — “Jordan Love, Packers offense give Patriots’ $135 million cornerback nightmares”
• Indianapolis Star — “Cowboys vs Colts score, stats: Indianapolis suffers fifth straight loss”