WASHINGTON (AFP) — Cairo Santos booted a 38-yard field goal with 1:13 remaining to lift the Chicago Bears to a 20-19 NFL victory over Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday.

The Bears defeated a Brady team for the first time in six attempts — the previous five coming when Brady was at the helm of the New England Patriots.

For Chicago quarterback Nick Foles, however, it was another win over Brady. Foles guided the Philadelphia Eagles over Brady’s Patriots in Super Bowl 52.

In a back-and-forth battle, Foles put the Bears within field goal range on their final drive, hitting Anthony Miller with a 10-yard pass and David Montgomery with a 17-yarder.

Tampa Bay — who had edged ahead on Ryan Succop’s 25-yard field goal with 4:52 remaining — had a chance to respond, but their final drive stalled at their 41-yard line after Brady failed to connect with Rob Gronkowski on third down and then saw his pass on fourth down broken up.

After his final incompletion, Brady turned to officials indicating he thought he had a fourth down remaining — but the superstar signal caller was mistaken.

Brady completed 25 of 41 passes for 253 yards and one touchdown. Running back Ronal Jones had 17 carries for 106 yards and Succop kicked four field goals.

Foles completed 30 of 42 passes for 243 yards, one TD and one interception.

Down 13-0 in the second quarter, the Bears scored two touchdowns in the final two minutes of the first half to take a 14-13 lead into the break.

Chicago’s defense played a key role in the turnaround as cornerback Kyle Fuller forced a fumble from running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn and linebacker Robert Quinn recovered.

Four plays later, Foles connected on a 12-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Graham.

Neither team scored a touchdown in the second half, but the Bears did enough to rebound from a loss to Indianapolis last weekend and improve to 4-1.

Brady and the Bucs fell to 3-2 with their first defeat since they fell to the New Orleans Saints in their season opener.

 

© Agence France-Presse