Bears vs. Buccaneers: Chicago Wins 27-24 on Last-Second FG

The Chicago Bears beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27-24 on "Sunday Night Football" on Nov. 8, 2026, and they did it the hard way. Caleb Williams threw four interceptions, the Bears lost a fumble that set up the tying score, and Chicago still walked off winners when Cairo Santos hit a 38-yard field goal with no time left, according to the Associated Press recap on ESPN.

Bears coach Ben Johnson didn't pretend it was pretty. "It's hard to win with five turnovers and yet we found a way to do it," he said after the game, per the AP. The AP said it was Chicago's first win with five or more turnovers since a 23-13 victory over Minnesota on Dec. 3, 2006.

Most of the searching Monday morning was about the final drive, Williams' interceptions and receiver Luther Burden III's injury, and "NFL standings" was among the top U.S. Google Trends searches at 20,000-plus.

Bears vs. Buccaneers score by quarter

Quarter totals come from the scoring plays in the ESPN box score.

Chicago scored on its first two drives. Williams found a wide-open Rome Odunze for a 9-yard touchdown, then Burden broke a couple of tackles on a third-and-8 catch and turned it into a 56-yard score for a 14-0 lead with 6:00 left in the first quarter. After that, the offense started handing the ball away. Williams threw interceptions on the next two possessions, and Tampa Bay chipped back with two Chase McLaughlin field goals, the second on the last play of the half, to make it 17-6.

How the Bears won it in the final minute

Tampa Bay tied the game 24-24 with 2:51 left. Bucky Irving ran 11 yards and then 6 more for his second touchdown, and Baker Mayfield scrambled in for the two-point conversion.

Chicago got the ball back at its own 31. Two short passes and a run moved it to the Bears' 46, and then, on second-and-9 with under a minute to go, Williams hit tight end Colston Loveland deep down the left side. Loveland was pushed out of bounds at the Tampa Bay 16 after a 38-yard gain, according to the ESPN play-by-play. Williams knelt twice to run the clock down, the Bears called timeout with three seconds left, and Santos made his second field goal of the night as the crowd of 60,470 went home happy.

Williams sounded unbothered by the picks. "I don't get gun shy. That's not me," he said, per the AP.

Caleb Williams' stats: 279 yards, 2 TDs, 4 INTs

Williams finished 22 of 37 for 279 yards with two touchdowns and four interceptions, a career high, for a 61.5 passer rating. Cornerback Zyon McCollum intercepted him twice. Safety Tykee Smith had one, and linebacker Alex Anzalone caught a deflected pass for the fourth with 4:32 left in the third quarter, giving Tampa Bay the ball at the Chicago 37 with the Bears up 17-13.

That pick should have been the turning point. It wasn't, because of what happened on the very next snap.

Jaylon Johnson's pick-six

Mayfield tried to hit tight end Cade Otton, and Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson jumped the route and ran it back 67 yards for a touchdown. It was his first interception of the season and the second pick-six of his career, the AP reported. "You really could feel the momentum swing back in our favor after that one," Johnson said.

Key player stats

• Caleb Williams, Bears QB: 22 of 37, 279 yards, 2 TD, 4 INT.
• Luther Burden III, Bears WR: 7 catches, 97 yards, 1 TD, 1 lost fumble.
• Rome Odunze, Bears WR: 4 catches, 60 yards, 1 TD.
• Colston Loveland, Bears TE: 4 catches, 54 yards, including the 38-yarder that set up the winning kick.
• Baker Mayfield, Buccaneers QB: 18 of 32, 243 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT, sacked four times.
• Bucky Irving, Buccaneers RB: 20 carries, 97 yards, 2 TD.
• Tez Johnson, Buccaneers WR: 2 catches, 76 yards, including a 58-yarder that set up Irving's first score.

All figures are from the ESPN box score. Tampa Bay outgained Chicago 352 yards to 349 and held the ball for 32:52, but it went 2 for 12 on third down and scored touchdowns on only two of five red-zone trips.

Luther Burden injury update

Burden, in his second season, was having his best night of the season when he took a helmet-to-helmet hit from Buccaneers rookie Rueben Bain Jr. with Chicago up 24-16 in the fourth quarter. The ball came loose, and defensive back Ifeatu Melifonwu returned it to the Bears' 17, which led to Irving's tying touchdown. The AP reported that Burden was ruled out with a concussion.

Under the NFL's concussion protocol, a player needs clearance from both the team doctor and an independent neurological consultant before he can return. The bye gives Burden two weeks before the Saints game.

Other injuries, per the AP: Tampa Bay safety Antoine Winfield Jr. left in the second quarter with an ankle injury, and Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson hurt his thumb.

A strange week for Tampa Bay's run game

Coming into the weekend, these were the NFL's two best rushing teams. One week earlier the Bucs ran for a franchise-record 324 yards in a 16-0 win over Atlanta in the rain, with 170 from Irving, a game in which Mayfield didn't complete a pass, the AP noted. Sunday was much tighter: Tampa Bay ran for 126 yards and Chicago for 72, with D'Andre Swift held to 31 yards on 12 carries.

The defensive line had a new face, too. Jeffery Simmons, playing his first home game for Chicago since the trade that sent him from Tennessee, had the Bears' only sack.

Where the Bears stand, and what's next

At 7-2, Chicago has its fourth win in a row heading into the bye. The NFC North is crowded: Detroit beat Miami 19-9 to reach 6-2, and Green Bay won 45-27 at New England to go 6-3, according to ESPN's Week 9 scores. The Packers' last trip to prime time was a 27-19 Thursday night win over Carolina.

Johnson's message was that the second half of the season has to look cleaner. "I believe the best is yet to come in terms of our football in the back half of the season," he said. A team that can win a game with five giveaways has some margin, but Tampa Bay showed how quickly turnovers can erase a 14-point lead. Chicago gets two weeks to clean that up before the Saints come to town.

Game statistics come from ESPN and the Associated Press as of 1:10 a.m. ET on Nov. 9, 2026. Injury statuses can change during the week.