Bears dominate Browns for fifth straight home win |
Dustin Riese
· · 7 hours ago
CHICAGO - December weather in Chicago can be brutal, and that is just what you saw at Soldier Field on Sunday as the Chicago Bears (10-4) and Cleveland Browns (3-11) took the field for one of the coldest games this season. While the Browns have been eliminated from playoff contention, this still isn't a team to take lightly, as Myles Garrett and that defense can make life miserable for anyone.
You wouldn't have guessed it based on how the Bears played in this one, as they put up nearly 300 yards of offense in the first half while relying on a defense that forced three second-half turnovers and now has 30 for the season. The result was a fifth consecutive win at home as Chicago cruised past the Browns for an easy 31-3 victory. When you talk about a dominating first half, look no further than what the Bears did against the Browns on Sunday, as they outgained Cleveland by nearly 200 yards (250-57). That alone was a massive reason why the Bears had possession for a majority of the first half, as all but 16 of the Browns' yards came on one play when Shadeur Sanders found Isaiah Bond for the 41-yard strike. The early stages of the first half were all about the special teams as Devin Duvernay had not one, but two great returns for the Bears, with one coming as a kick return and the other as a punt return. His kick return resulted in no points, but with Torey Taylor pinning the Browns inside the one-yard line on a punt, the Bears had the Browns deep inside their own territory. Following a quick three-and-out for the Browns, Duvernay returned the ensuing punt into Browns territory, setting the Bears up with a short field. This time, Chicago was able to capitalize on the short field with Williams going to the air for several first downs, including one to Coleston Loveland to move the ball inside the 20, as he has been the team's leading receiver since week six. Two plays later, it was D'Andre Swift plowing ahead from six yards out for his sixth Touchdown as the Bears took a 7-0 lead. With the Bears' defense continuing to set the tone, it was back to the offense as Williams continued to gut the Browns' secondary with Loveland hauling in another big 24-yard first down. One play later, it was Williams going to the air again as he found Luther Burden for the 40-yard catch and run to set the Bears offense up yet again. Williams closed out the drive three plays later with Williams finding DJ Moore for the three-yard strike to put Chicago on top 14-0. Three-and-outs were the theme of the first half for the Browns, as another quick possession led to a punt, putting the ball back into the hands of the Bears' offense. Unlike their previous possessions, which were filled with chunk plays, this was more like the Bears offense we have grown accustomed to, as the Bears put together a 14-play drive that took nearly 10 minutes off the clock. Sure, there were some big plays on that drive with Williams finding Burden for a 14 yard strike along with two more first down receptions by Loveland and Moore, but it was the Browns defense stiffing up late, forcing a 35 yard field goal by Cairo Santos who wound up missing the kick to keep things 14-0 which is where things would stand at the end of the first half. Unlike the first half, when the Bears came out swinging, the start of the second half was ugly for both sides: the Browns punted on their opening possession, and Chicago turned it over on downs. The turnover on downs proved costly as Sanders found Harold Fannin for a first down, which ultimately led to the Browns' first and only points on an Andre Szmyt 50-yard field goal that pulled the Browns to within 14-3. Apart from that, things were not good for Cleveland at all as Sanders got intercepted three times in the second half, with the first one coming on a tipped pass that landed in the hands of D'Marco Johnson. One play later, it was Williams finding Moore for the second time, as his 22-yard strike put Chicago in front 21-3. Looking to answer on their next possession, Sanders went up top for Bond once more as the two of them connected for another big play of 47 yards. That was followed by what looked to be a touchdown pass to Jerry Jeudy, only to have Jaylon Johnson come down with an interception, ripping the ball away from Jeudy in the endzone. As has been the case more often than not this season, Chicago took that turnover over and ran with it, using another long nine-play drive to move the ball with Swift bouncing outside for the 17-yard score to make this a 28-3 Bears lead. Swift finished the day with 98 yards on 18 carries while picking up two more touchdowns. The rest of the game continued to be dominated by the Bears with Williams completing 17 of his 28 passes for 242 yards, most of which went to Burden (84 yards), Moore (69 yards), and Loveland (63 yards). As good as the offense was most of the day, it was the Bears' defense that continued to steal the show as CJ Gardner-Johnson came down with the Bears' third interception of Sanders on the afternoon, as his big return set up the short field for Chicago. The Bears were unable to do much with that opportunity, but still saw Cairo Santos knock home a 41-yarder to push the Bears' lead to 31-3. Those were the final points of the game for either side as Sanders and the Browns tried to come away with points late in the game, only to have Austin Booker come through on a fourth-down sack to end the game. Chicago now has 10 wins on the season as Ben Johnson becomes just the third Bears coach in history to win 10 games in his first season. "We're hungry, we're ball thirsty." "I can make any throw."
The Bears' 21 interceptions lead the NFL 😮 pic.twitter.com/QmF8b2JQQp
Caleb Williams is CONFIDENT 🔥 pic.twitter.com/kYbXHsKq3p
