Sep 16, 2019

Broncos comeback win stolen by Chicago

Posted Sep 16, 2019 1:21 PM

DENVER (AP) — Eddy Pineiro won Chicago's nerve-wracking kicking competition.


Now, he's winning over Bears fans and teammates who suffered through the double-doink miss by Cody Parkey that sent them home from the playoffs.


Pineiro kicked a 53-yard field goal as time expired, giving the Bears a wild 16-14 win Sunday over the Broncos and their former defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, whose gutsy 2-point call 31 seconds earlier had given Denver the lead.


"Well, that was a crazy one," Bears coach Matt Nagy said. "Absolutely crazy. Just a whirlwind of emotions going back and forth."


Like the game.


"It's not how you draw it up," Bears QB Mitchell Trubisky said. "It's definitely not."


The Broncos, who are off to their first 0-2 start since 1999, thought they'd survived and that time had expired when cornerback Chris Harris Jr. tackled Allen Robinson after he hauled in a 25-yard pass on fourth-and-15 from Trubisky at the Denver 35.


The clock showed all zeroes and both teams milled around on the field not knowing whether to celebrate a win or lament a loss. Then referee Adrian Hill announced there was 1 second remaining and Chicago was using its last timeout.


Pineiro's third field goal, a day after his 24th birthday, sent the Bears (1-1) streaming back onto the field in celebration of a victory that seemed so unlikely after they'd surrendered the lead moments earlier.


"I knew deep down in my heart that it was going in," Khalil Mack said. "You put that pressure on that guy, Eddy P., the birthday man. He came out and nailed it. That's how you want to play ball. Kudos to everyone else sticking in there and believing. I'm glad to get the win and get the hell up out of here."


In a whipsaw of emotion, cornerback Kyle Fuller, whose goal-line interception with five minutes left seemingly sealed Chicago's win, surrendered a 7-yard tiptoe TD to Emmanuel Sanders . Sanders barely got both feet toes down in the right corner of the end zone.


That made it 13-12, and the Broncos lined up for 2. A delay pushed them back 5 yards and Fangio sent Brandon McManus out instead for the extra point from the 20-yard line and the tie. But McManus was wide right and the Bears went wild.


Hold on: a flag on Chicago.


Buster Skrine was offside and the Broncos moved up to the 1. Out came their offense again, and with an empty backfield, Joe Flacco backpedaled and hit Sanders at the goal line in front of Fuller to give Denver a 14-13 lead.


For the second straight game, the Broncos failed to get a sack, but linebacker Bradley Chubb came close, hitting Trubisky just as he got off a throw to tight end Trey Burton for 10 yards. A debatable roughing call on Chubb tacked on 15 yards and the Bears were suddenly in business at the Broncos 45.


"We had our chances to win there," Fangio said. "Obviously, the critical penalty at the end of the game there, the roughing call was huge because it stops the clock, saves their timeout and gives them 15 yards."


Three incompletions were followed by a 12-men-in-the-huddle infraction, however, and the Bears were facing fourth-and-15 from their 40 with 9 seconds remaining.


Trubisky stepped up and found Robinson over the middle in the nick of time. Harris' tackle came 1 second too early for the Broncos, who saw their 13 home game September winning streak snapped.


"Tough call, tough game," said Von Miller, who remains stuck on 98 career sacks.


HOLD ON


"I'm going to turn this around," promised Broncos left tackle Garett Bolles , the team's top draft pick in 2017, who was whistled for holding a career-worst four times.


That gave him an NFL-high 34 flags in 34 career starts.


"Garett's going to learn from this game," Fangio said. "They have some good players, and he's going to learn from it. But he's our left tackle and he's going to be our left tackle — and he needs to play without holding."


Bolles had 10 holding calls his rookie season, nine last year and already five this season, when he seems to have actually regressed under Hall of Famer Mike Munchak.


NEXT UP:


Denver: visits Green Bay on Sunday.


NFL SUNDAY


Julio Jones hauled in a short pass on fourth down and took it 54 yards to the end zone with 2:10 remaining, giving the Atlanta Falcons a wild 24-20 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night.


The Falcons squandered a 17-6 lead against an injury plagued team that lost two of its top receivers, falling behind for the first time when Carson Wentz dove over from the 1 with 3:13 left to give the Eagles a 20-17 edge.


Philadelphia had a chance at the end when Wentz converted on fourth-and-14, somehow getting off a pass with a rusher in his chest that Nelson Agholor hauled in between two defenders for a 43-yard completion to the 18. But Atlanta held on, stopping Zach Ertz about a yard short of the marker on another fourth-down play inside the 10 to preserve a much-needed victory.


Jones bailed out Atlanta — and became Atlanta's career leader in receiving yards with his winning score.


Dak Prescott carved up the Washington Redskins' defense with his arm and his legs, completing 26 of 30 passes for 269 yards and three touchdowns and rushing for 69 yards in a 31-21 Dallas Cowboys victory Sunday to improve to 2-0. He's the first Cowboys quarterback to compile seven touchdown passes in the first two games of the season since Don Meredith in 1966.


Drew Brees injured his hand in the first quarter of the Los Angeles Rams' 27-9 win over the New Orleans Saints. Jared Goff passed for 283 yards and a touchdown and rushed for another score for the unbeaten Rams. The much-anticipated rematch of last season's NFC championship game changed dramatically when Brees was injured late in the first quarter.


Patrick Mahomes bounced back from the first scoreless opening quarter of his career in the regular season by throwing four touchdown passes in a near-perfect second period that led the Kansas City Chiefs to a 28-10 victory over the Oakland Raiders.


Antonio Brown caught a 20-yard touchdown pass in his debut for the New England Patriots, and they scored twice on interception returns in a two-minute fourth quarter span to beat the Miami Dolphins, 43-0. Brown finished with 56 yards on four receptions, all in the first half.


Jimmy Garoppolo tied his career high with three touchdown passes as the San Francisco 49ers beat the Cincinnati Bengals 41-17. The 49ers improved to 2-0 for the first time since 2012. The Niners piled up 573 total yards, their highest total in seven years.


Matthew Stafford threw a go-ahead, 31-yard touchdown pass to Kenny Golladay midway through the fourth quarter and Darius Slay made an interception in the end zone with 1:03 left to allow the Detroit Lions to beat the Los Angeles Chargers 13-10 despite a slew of mistakes.


Jacoby Brissett became the latest Indianapolis quarterback to top Tennessee, throwing a 4-yard touchdown pass to T.Y. Hilton with 4:38 left to lead the Colts to a 19-17 victory in the Titans' home opener.


Russell Wilson threw for three touchdowns, including a 28-yard rainbow to DK Metcalf midway through the fourth quarter, and the Seattle Seahawks held off the Pittsburgh Steelers 28-26. The Steelers lost starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to a right elbow injury.


Lamar Jackson threw for 272 yards and two touchdowns, ran for 120 yards and helped the Ravens beat the Cardinals 23-17 in a showdown between two of the league's most exciting young quarterbacks.


Justin Reid stopped Leonard Fournette on a 2-point conversion attempt with 36 seconds left and the Houston Texans held on to edge the Jacksonville Jaguars 13-12.


Somewhat maligned Josh Allen ran for a touchdown, threw for another, and the Bills claimed the bragging rights of New York with a 28-14 victory over the Giants. Buffalo has its first 2-0 start since 2014.


Aaron Rodgers threw two early touchdowns and the Green Bay Packers held on for a 21-16 win over the Minnesota Vikings. Rodgers completed nine of his first 10 passes for 134 yards and two touchdowns.