Jay Cutler and Martellus Bennett connected on a pair of touchdown passes and the Chicago Bears held off a second half New York Jets rally to earn a 27-19 victory on Monday night.
The Jets out-gained the Bears by a 414-257 margin but had three turnovers and a muffed punt that turned into a 14-0 hole New York had to dig their way out of.
Despite the deficit, the Jets still had a chance to tie in the closing seconds. Geno Smith led New York on a 12-play, 71-yard drive to get within sight of the goal line, but a fourth down pass from Smith to Jeremy Kerley fell incomplete as the Bears held on for the victory.
The Jets drove inside the Bears 25-yard line on seven different occasions and only came away with one touchdown. The results of those possession: field goal, field goal, touchdown, interception, field goal, field goal, turnover on downs.
The Jets also had a touchdown taken away when a fumble returned for a touchdown by Demario Davis was blown dead by the officials. New York instead failed to score on the ensuing possession.
The Bears secondary took some significant blows as safeties Chris Conte, Danny McCray and Ryan Mundy all left with injuries throughout the contest, forcing Chicago to turn to rookie Brock Vereen and Ahmad Dixon.
Mundy intercepted Smith for a 45-yard touchdown in the first quarter and Bennett hauled in his first touchdown, a 7-yard catch, from Cutler following muffed punt catch from Jalen Saunders.
The Bears added a 13-yard touchdown pass to Bennett and two Robbie Gould field goals.
Ultimately, the Jets didn’t have the ability to score touchdowns despite repeated trips into the Chicago red zone. Smith and Kerley connected for a 19-yard touchdown in the third quarter and Nick Folk converted four field goals (43, 28, 22, 42 yards) for the Jets