CHICAGO — Quarterback Jay Cutler earned a bit of redemption after throwing four interceptions in his Bears debut last week.
Cutler completed a big third-down pass to Devin Hester, setting up Robbie Gould's 44-yard field goal with 15 seconds left to lift the Chicago Bears to a 17-14 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Cutler hit rookie Johnny Knox with the tying touchdown midway through the fourth quarter.
Cutler helped set up Gould's winning kick with a 5-yard pass to Hester after Pittsburgh's Jeff Reed missed his second field goal of the period, a 43-yarder, Cutler's pass to Hester came on third-and-4 at the Steelers 39 that kept the winning drive going.
"I always hope to get a chance," Cutler said. "I always think we're going to get a chance if it's 3 minutes or if it's 30 seconds. All we want is a shot."
Both teams were missing their defensive stars, with Chicago's Brian Urlacher out for the rest of the season with a dislocated right wrist and the Steelers' Troy Polamalu out three to six weeks with a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee. The Bears also saw defensive end Alex Brown get helped off the field with a sprained left ankle with just over four minutes remaining after collecting two sacks.
Cutler, however, came through on a rainy afternoon in which he was pressured and had several passes dropped in his home debut for the Bears (1-1).
He finished with 236 yards and two touchdowns, with no interceptions, after being intercepted four times in a season-opening loss at Green Bay. Knox, a rookie, was impressive, too, with six catches for 70 yards.
That was enough to beat the defending champions and offset solid performances by Ben Roethlisberger and Santonio Holmes.
"In the face of pressure he made great decisions, put the ball in some good locations and guys converted third downs," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said of Cutler. "They did enough to win, we didn't. We accept responsibility for that."
Roethlisberger threw for 221 yards and Holmes caught five passes for 83, yet Reed's kicking problems in the fourth quarter gave the Bears the opening they needed.
"I'm just embarrassed, you know, because these guys fight their tails off to win the game," Reed said. "If there is one player that can singlehandedly lose the game, I'll take credit for it."
RAIDERS 13, CHIEFS 10
Kansas City outgained visiting Oakland 409-166 in total yardage, but former Arkansas Razorbacks running back Darren McFadden scored on a 5-yard run with less than two minutes to play to lift the Raiders. Oakland won despite the struggles of quarterback Jemarcus Russell, who completed 7 of 24 passes for 109 yards. It is the first time in the Raiders' 50-year history they've won after giving up more than 400 yards and gaining fewer than 200 themselves. McFadden was held to 30 yards on his first 11 carries, but he got the game's 5 most important yards with 1:07 to play. "It's probably one of the strangest wins," McFadden said. "But a win is a win." The Chiefs crowded the line of scrimmage and dared Russell to beat them with his arm, and until the final drive, Russell seemed bent on making the strategy work. At the end of the third, he had 35 yards passing and the Raiders had only 77 yards of offense to 313 for the Chiefs.
49ERS 23, SEAHAWKS 10
Frank Gore had touchdown runs of 79 and a career-best 80 yards, and finished with 207 yards on 16 carries to lead the host 49ers. Gore nearly reached his franchise mark of 212 yards set in 2006 before leaving in the fourth quarter with a sprained right ankle. He's the second player in NFL history to have two TD runs of 79 or more yards in the same game, joining Barry Sanders, who did it Oct. 12, 1997. Seattle (1-1) lost quarterback Matt Hasselbeck to a rib injury just before halftime. He didn't return after completing 10 of 18 passes for 97 yards against the 49ers (2-0). Gore also posted just the third 200-yard rushing game in team history. Charlie Garner ran for 201 yards at Dallas on Sept. 24, 2000.
RAVENS 31, CHARGERS 26
Ray Lewis met Darren Sproles head-on on fourth-and-2 in the closing seconds, spoiling San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers' productive day as visiting Baltimore held on to win. Rivers threw for a career-high 436 yards and 2 touchdowns, completing 25 of 45 passes, but San Diego still needed a touchdown to win with 33 seconds left. With the ball at the Baltimore 15, Lewis came in unblocked and slammed Sproles to the ground to preserve the victory. Joe Flacco threw two TD passes for the Ravens (2-0), and Willis McGahee ran for two more. San Diego (1-1), missing four starters because of injuries, had the ball at or inside the Ravens 10 four times and had to settle for field goals by Nate Kaeding each time.
BRONCOS 27, BROWNS 6
Elvis Dumervil tied a franchise record with four sacks and linebacker Andra Davis had 10 tackles against his old team to lead the host Broncos. Denver, which beat Cincinnati last week on Brandon Stokley's 87-yard touchdown catch with 11 seconds left, is 2-0 under new coach Josh McDaniels, who worked with Browns coach Eric Mangini in New England. Mangini's new team is 0-2. Denver quarterback Kyle Orton hit Jabar Gaffney with a 49-yard pass that led to Peyton Hillis' 2-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter. That broke open a 13-6 game and atoned for an earlier lost fumble by Hillis (Conway, Arkansas Razorbacks). Correll Buckhalter then ran 45 yards for a sealing TD.
BENGALS 31, PACKERS 24
The Bengals nearly blew another lead in the final minute, before the host Packers ran out of time at the Cincinnati 10 yard line.The Packers (1-1) kicked late field goal and recovered an onside kick, and Aaron Rodgers marched them to the Bengals 10 before a false start call with two seconds left ended the game. Defensive end Antwan Odom tied a team high with five sacks and Cedric Benson rushed for 141 yards for the Bengals (1-1), who rebounded from a last-minute loss to Denver in Week 1.
SAINTS 48, EAGLES 22
Drew Brees threw three more touchdown passes, and the visiting Saints rolled past an Eagles team missing Donovan McNabb because of a cracked rib. Kevin Kolb made his first NFL start, in place of McNabb, threw for 391 yards and two touchdowns, including a 71-yard scoring pass to DeSean Jackson. Kolb also threw three interceptions, though, including one returned 97 yards for a TD by Darren Sharper in the final minute.Brees had six TD passes last week as the Saints (2-0) routed Detroit 45-27. He completed 25 of 34 passes for 311 yards and 1 interception.
VIKINGS 27, LIONS 13
Brett Favre set an NFL record with his 271st consecutive start in the regular season, then threw two touchdown passes to help beat the host Lions. Adrian Peterson's 27-yard TD run midway through the third quarter gave Minnesota (2-0) its first lead. He finished with 92 yards rushing, handing Detroit (0-2) its 19th consecutive loss. Minnesota shut down rookie Matthew Stafford after some success early, taking control in the second half on Peterson's TD, Favre's second scoring pass and Ryan Longwell's field goals.
FALCONS 28, PANTHERS 20
Matt Ryan threw three touchdown passes in the first half and cornerback Chris Houston stopped a Jake Delhomme-led rally at the end, intercepting a pass at the Falcons 4 to preserve the win for the home team. Delhomme had committed 11 turnovers in his two previous games, including a 4-interception, 1-fumble fiasco against Philadelphia to open the season. He was much better against the Falcons (2-0), completing 25 of 41 for 308 yards and a touchdown. But the result was the same for the Panthers (0-2). Ryan had a big first half, including a touchdown pass to tight end Tony Gonzalez. Jason Snelling and Roddy White also caught early TD throws.
BILLS 33, BUCCANEERS 20
Donte Whitner returned an interception 76 yards for a touchdown, and Terrell Owens scored on a 43-yard catch in his home debut for the Bills. Whitner also made a key stop on fourth down less than a week after the Bills squandered an 11-point lead in a 25-24 loss at New England. Buffalo (1-1) ended a five-game home losing streak. The Buccaneers (0-2) have lost six consecutive and continue to struggle on defense after allowing 438 yards.
REDSKINS 9, RAMS 7
Shaun Suisham kicked field goals of 21, 28 and 23 yards as the host Redskins had four drives of more than 60 yards that faltered inside the 10. Washington (1-1) put the game away with a 78-yard drive that ended with a failed fourth-and-1 from the 2 with less than 2 minutes to play, leaving the Rams (0-2) with about 65 yards to go with no timeouts available. Rams quarterback Marc Bulger threw four consecutive incomplete passes to end St. Louis' chances.
CARDINALS 31, JAGUARS 17
Kurt Warner completed his first 15 passes and broke the NFL's single-game record for completion percentage to lead the visiting Cardinals. Jacksonville trailed 24-3 after two quarters - the largest halftime deficit the team has faced at home - and was down 28 points before mounting a mild comeback. Warner headed to the bench late in the third quarter for the Cardinals (1-1). He finished 24 of 26 for 243 yards with 2 touchdowns.
Sports, Pages 17 on 09/21/2009