CINCINNATI — Caleb Williams found Colston Loveland with 17 seconds left for a 58-yard touchdown Sunday to vault the Chicago Bears to a wild 47-42 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
Colston caught the pass inside the Cincinnati 40 and broke Jordan Battle’s tackle attempt and outraced the Cincinnati secondary for the go-ahead score. The game ended on an interception of Joe Flacco’s Hail Mary pass 20 yards shy of the end zone.
Colston stepped up for Cole Kmet, who didn’t play in the second half due to a concussion, and finished with six catches for 118 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Flacco, playing with a sprained AC joint in his right shoulder, completed 31 of 47 passes and threw for a career-high 470 yards, four touchdowns and two picks for the Bengals (3-6), who lost for the sixth time in seven games.
Trailing 41-27 with less than two minutes left, Flacco threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Noah Fant and a two-point conversion to Tee Higgins. The Bengals recovered an onside kick with a 1:43 left when Chicago’s Daniel Hardy touched the ball and Oren Burks recovered.
Flacco then led the Bengals on a six-play, 57-yard drive, capped by 9-yard strike to Andrei Iosivas with 54 seconds remaining. The extra point was good and the Bengals led 42-41 after trailing by 14 just a minute earlier.
Williams then directed the game-winning drive, scrambling for 14 yards before the connection with Loveland.
Williams completed his first touchdown pass in three games, finishing 20-of-34 for 280 yards and three touchdowns for the Bears (5-3). Backup running back Kyle Monangai ran for 176 yards on 26 carries in place of the injured D’Andre Swift.
The Bears ran up 576 yards of total offense against a porous Cincinnati defense, the second straight week the Bengals have allowed at least 500 yards.
Charlie Jones opened the game with a 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown when he shot a gap up the left side and went untouched to put the Bengals up 7-0 just 11 seconds into the contest.
The Bengals then assisted the Bears on the next two drives with costly mistakes that led to two touchdowns.
Williams was sacked on third-and-10 by Joseph Ossai at the Chicago 41. But Cincinnati rookie linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr. was called for illegal contact several yards beyond the line of scrimmage, allowing the drive to continue. Seven plays later, the Bears evened the score with a trick play when wide receiver DJ Moore took the handoff and tossed a 2-yard pass to an uncovered Williams in the end zone.
A wild first half continued when, trailing 17-13, the Bengals marched 63 yards in just two plays. Flacco found Ja’Marr Chase for 19 yards before a 44-yard strike from Flacco to Higgins, who overpowered cornerback Nahshon Wright down the left sideline for the score and a 20-17 Cincinnati lead. The half ended after Ossai blocked Cairo Santos’ 47-yard field goal attempt.
Higgins finished with seven catches for 121 yards and two touchdowns. Chase had six receptions for 111 yards.
–Mike Petraglia, Field Level Media
