Bears complete comeback, beat Chiefs 18-17

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Before the first quarter was half over, Jay Cutler had been sacked in the end zone, fumbled, lost the ball and seen the Kansas City Chiefs recover for a 7-0 lead.

At halftime the Chicago Bears' offense had just 91 yards. Through three quarters it had 6 points.

But, as offensive tackle Kyle Long said after the Bears scored the final 15 points Sunday: “You need to be at your best when your best is needed.”

That certainly applied to Cutler, who saved his best for last and led an inexperienced offense to a comeback victory. Trailing 17-6, Cutler put it up 21 times in the fourth quarter. He completed 11 for 144 yards and, most important, 2 touchdowns and no interceptions.

His passer rating for the fourth quarter was 100.1, and both of his TD passes came in the final 3:05.

First, Cutler showed exquisite touch with a picture-perfect, 22-yard toss into the hands of Marquess Wilson, who was double-covered in the end zone with 11:55 elapsed in the fourth quarter.

Then, after the defense forced a three-and-out, Cutler went back to work leading a 67-yard drive. On the scoring play, he dropped a shotgun snap, picked it up and threw a 7-yard TD to running back Matt Forte with 18 seconds remaining.

“I didn't see it,” Forte said of Cutler's fumble, “and he didn't tell me. But I'm glad he got the ball off.”

It was just barely enough for the Bears to overcome a 17-3 deficit and escape hot, sunny, sold-out (75,799) Arrowhead Stadium with an 18-17 victory and a 2-3 record, while the Chiefs fell to 1-4. It wasn't over until an improbable 66-yard field-goal attempt by the Chiefs' Cairo Santos fell way short as time expired.

“The first half I don't think I played very well,” Cutler said. “Defensively, they kept us in it all game.”

The Bears' defense allowed the Chiefs just 287 total yards, the third time this season it has limited an opponent to 300 yards or fewer.

And even the Bears' struggling special teams played a huge role when outside linebacker Pernell McPhee blocked a chip-shot, 27-yard FG attempt by Santos midway through the third quarter with the Chiefs already leading 17-3.

“It was a very gutsy, football-character victory,” coach John Fox said of his team's second straight win. “As we talked at halftime (trailing 17-3), it wasn't exactly smooth. Not that we played poorly, we just didn't play as well as we could, not as hard and as tough as we could. I thought we turned that up in the second half.”

It was the offense, especially, that dialed up the heat and overcame a boatload of adversity. Cutler was operating an offense that was without its top two wide receivers — Alshon Jeffery (hamstring) and Eddie Royal (ankle) — plus offensive linemen Jermon Bushrod (concussion) and Patrick Omameh (ankle).

“Really proud of the guys up front,” Cutler said. “They were going against a really good defensive front. And (we) were a little down in numbers outside (at wide receiver). But those guys fought all game and gave us a shot.”

Marquess Wilson stepped up with 6 catches for 85 yards, undrafted rookie Cam Meredith had his most productive game as a pro with 4 catches for 52 yards, and first-year wide receiver Josh Bellamy added 6 catches for 31 yards.

Cutler finished 26 of 45 for 252 yards and an 88.4 passer rating. He was sacked twice for minus-11 yards and ran four times for 15 yards behind a patchwork offensive line that kept a strong Chiefs front seven at bay when it mattered most.

Cutler's 22-yard TD pass to Wilson was a thing of beauty, dropping through a tiny window as if from heaven — at least according to Long.

“I'm out there trying to block Justin Houston, and it's freaking hard,” Long said. “So I'm blocking, blocking, blocking, and you see that the ball is out. You look up and a ball just drops from the sky right into Marquess' hands, and I'm looking around like, ‘Did anybody else just see that?' And of course he got his feet down.”

With rookie Hroniss Grasu playing his first NFL snaps as the starting center, left tackle Charles Leno playing just his second complete game and wide receivers Meredith and Bellamy getting their most extended playing time, Cutler devised a way to help them all keep their composure.

“I try not to huddle,” Cutler said. “I try to keep them moving. Just keep them going, going, going. That's why I'm always waving, let's go, go, go, just to keep them in the moment, so they can't stop and think, ‘Hey, what are we doing? We've got 30 seconds left to play.'

“I just try to keep them going.”

The Bears go to Detroit next, with a chance to reach .500, an unexpected possibility after an 0-3 start.