Afternoon Action: Bears Top Steelers With Last-Second Field Goal

Phillip Rivers threw for 435 yards and two scores, but also tossed two picks and had little run support, as Baltimore came away with a big road win.

Willis McGahee recorded a couple of rushing touchdowns and Joe Flacco added two more through the air for the Ravens, who improved to 2-0.

San Francisco running back Frank Gore racked up touchdown runs of 79 and 80 yards to lead his team the past division rival Seahawks. He nearly tied his own franchise mark of 212 total yards, set in 2006

Seattle lost not only the game, but starting quarterback Matt Hasselbeck to a rib injury late in the first half after he was hit near the goal line by Patrick Willis.

The Bears snuck into field goal position, and Bears kicker Robbie Gould hit the 44-yard field goal required of him to take the lead. Simple stuff, really, as straightforward as game-ending drives can be.

In the meantime, Steelers returner Stefan Logan fumbled the kickoff, and the Bears get back to 1-1 after a horrendous week one loss. If you thought last week’s Chicago media reaction was knee-jerk, wait until tomorrow morning.

Jeff Reed just had a chance to redeem himself for his early miss; instead, he dug himself a deeper hole. Reed missed yet another field goal that would have given the Steelers the lead. Instead, the Bears are driving with 2:00 minutes remaining.

The Bills are proving that their Week 1 win heartbreaking loss to the Pats was no fluke. Today they’re beating Tampa decisively, 30-14 in the 4th. Six of those 30 came courtesy of T.O., who caught a 43-yard bomb from Trent Edwards for his first touchdown as a Bill.

Rivers connected with Vincent Jackson on a 35-yard TD pass near the end of the 3rd to pull the Chargers within five of the Ravens. He now has 333 passing yards and two TDs today. The fourth quarter is just underway.

Here’s why the Bears traded for Jay Cutler: Because there are only so many quarterbacks in the NFL that can take a team down the field in the fourth quarter against the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense, and even fewer that can go 6-7 with a touchdown while doing so. But that’s just what Cutler did, and the Bears tied the game on a slant route to speedy undersized wideout Johnny Knox. 14-14 in the fourth. Game on.

Philip Rivers casually tossed up an underarm duck of a pass to no one in particular as he was being tackled. The ball was picked off by the Ravens. On the ensuing drive, Baltimore scored a touchdown on a nine-yard pass from Flacco to Heap. They now lead 28-16 late in the 3rd quarter.

The Steelers looked ready to put the Bears away, engineering another long, plodding drive into the teeth of the Bears D. But Chicago got two key stops in the red zone — both thanks to Bears defensive end Alex Brown, who keeps doing the Gator Chomp when he does something well; apparently he’s under the impression he still plays at Florida.

Immediately after, Jeff Reed missed a field goal just outside the left upright, and the Bears managed to keep their one-score deficit in the single digits.

After yet another very Steelers-esque drive — a big Rashard Mendenhall run got the ball down inside the Bears’ five — Ben Roethlisberger took a bootleg to his left side and dove over a Bears defender to notch the Steelers’ second touchdown of the day. 14-7, Steelers, in what is thus far a pretty well-played, tight game.

Just to update Frank Gore’s insane day thus far: He has two 79+ yard TD runs today (only Barry Sanders has done that before) for a total of 206 rushing yards. The record is 296 yards, set by Adrian Peterson in his rookie season. Gore has about a quarter left to break that mark.

As of halftime, San Diego’s Philip Rivers has thrown for 255 yards on only 12 completions — that’s over 20 yards per completion — but time and time again, the Ravens are stopping them in the red zone. The Chargers’ Nate Kaeding has three field goals, each from less than 30 yards out.

Another number the Chargers aren’t taking advantage of: on top of his 104 receiving yards, Darren Sproles has tacked on another 100 kick return yards.

Watch Bears’ TE Greg Olsen get his brains rearranged by Steelers’ safety Tyrone Carter.

If you like offense, stay away from this game. At the half, Denver is leading Cleveland, 10-6, with the only touchdown coming on a 2-yard pass from Kyle Orton to Tony Scheffler. Orton is just 11-for-27 with 120 yards. On a related note, Orton and the Broncos left the field hearing boos from their fans.

Cadillac Williams brings the Buccaneers closer to the Bills close to halftime with an eight yard touchdown catch after a 72 yard fumble return by Sabby Piscitelli. The Buccaneers have experienced different games between the first and second quarters. After being outscored 17-7 in the first quarter, they outscored the Bills 14-3 in the second.

Byron Leftwich is 13-for-19 for 149 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions while Trent Edwards is 6-for-13 for 85 yards with a touchdown. Terrell Owens has 13 yards rushing and 5 yards receiving after complaining about not having enough touches in the Monday night game.

From Football Guys’ Jeff Haseley:

Hasselbeck down – hurt his back trying to run into the end zone. He walked off on his own power, but it’s unclear if he will return

Running back Frank Gore accounts for San Francisco’s only touchdown, as well as 138 of the team’s 184 offensive yards.

What looked for much of the first quarter to be a blowout in the making — it’s hard to describe how flat the Bears looked, and, by contrast, how sharp the Steelers seemed — has now turned into something of a game. Surprise, surprise.

Jay Cutler, he of the awful Week One performance, has decided to not throw a bunch of interceptions this week. Rather, he fired a touchdown pass to Bears tight end Kellen Davis after an impressive Bears drive, tying the game at 7-7 just before the half. Meanwhile, the Bears defense has made Ben Roethlisberger’s life much more difficult.

So our afternoon CBS game is finally, at the half, showing some potential. This could go the distance, huh?

Baltimore’s Willis McGahee has broken into the end zone with runs of 3 and 5 yards.

Early in the first quarter, Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers connected with Darren Sproles for an 81-yard touchdown pass.

Byron Leftwich is starting to overcome his two interceptions in the first quarter with a 42 yard touchdown pass to Kellen Winslow. Leftwich went 3-for-3 for 70 yards on the drive.

It’s been a bad first quarter for the Bears, but maybe things are turning around: Big Ben just threw a big, looping lame duck on a fly route, and Bears cornerback Charles Tillman stood under it and fielded almost as if it were a punt.

Which means the Bears have a chance to stop the bleeding early here. They’d better take it.

The Bears offense can’t move the ball. The Steelers offense is having absolutely no problem doing just that. After taking over the ball inside their own 10, the Steelers drove over 90 yards and score on 4th and 1 — on a play action pass, no less.

In the meantime, the Bears have already given the ball back. It could be a long day at Soldier Field today.

The Bills have started early in Buffalo with a 32 yard Lee Evans touchdown reception and a 76 yard Donte Whitner interception return for a touchdown. Byron Leftwich has gone 4 for 6 for 48 yards while Trent Edwards only has the touchdown pass.