Saints’ “D” Shines Over Bears, 36-25
The New Orleans Saints used a smothering defense and a pair of touchdown passes from Teddy Bridgewater to defeat the Chicago Bears, 36-25 at Soldier Field in Chicago on Sunday.
The Saints had 27 unanswered points as Bridgewater threw touchdown passes to Josh Hill and Taysom Hill. Latavius Murray, filling in for the injured Alvin Kamara, surpassed the 100 yard mark rushing with 119 yards on 27 carries.
Bridgewater completed 23-38 passes for 281 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Michael Thomas did not score a touchdown but caught nine passes for 131 yards.
The Bears did not score an offensive touchdown until 2:31 remained in the fourth quarter. They added another late touchdown after recovering an onside kick. New Orleans limited the Bears to just 17 yards rushing.
The Saints got on the board first when J. T. Gray blocked a punt that was ruled a safety after a penalty. The Saints got a break later in the first quarter when Vonn Bell recovered a fumble at the Bears' 24 yard line. Teddy Bridgewater turned the turnover into a touchdown as he hit Josh Hill with a seven yard touchdown strike to give the Saints a 9-0 lead.
But on the ensuing kickoff the Bears got on the board on a 102 yard kickoff return by Cordarrellel Patterson to cut the lead to 9-7, and, after a Saints punt, Chicago took the lead by driving 39 yards in eleven plays with Eddy Pinero hitting a field goal from 46 yards out to give Chicago a 10-9 lead.
New Orleans then drove 52 yards to set up a Wil Lutz field goal to give New Orleans the lead back at 12-10. The Saints had chances to add to the lead but Ted Ginn dropped a potential touchdown pass and Lutz missed a field goal. New Orleans also had a touchdown called back on special teams when a punt return was called back because of penalty.
The Saints then scored 24 points on their first five possessions of the second half to put the game away.