Mitchell Trubisky and the Chicago Bears improved to 2-0 on the year by picking up a home victory over the New York Giants.
Chicago got off to a hot start as their first drive culminated in a 28-yard touchdown pass from Trubisky to second-year running back David Montgomery. New York, however, had no such luck in their first drive as Daniel Jones coughed up the football on the Giants’ third play from scrimmage. This quickly led to more points for Chicago, who capitalized and converted a field goal with 4:36 left in the first quarter. Both teams exchanged punts and the quarter came to an end.
New York finished the first quarter with the football. Saquon Barkley was injured early in the drive, suffering what appeared to be a shoulder ailment after he was tackled on the right sideline. He returned to the field for the first play in the second quarter, running to the right and picking up a gain of six yards. He stayed down for quite some time, clearly in pain and punching the turf in frustration. He was helped to the sideline and carted to the locker room, where he was quickly ruled out with a knee injury. The remainder of New York’s drive lasted just three minutes as Jones was intercepted by safety Deon Bush. Chicago was forced to punt at the conclusion of their drive in which David Montgomery exited with a neck injury. New York got the football back and they, too, punted. When Chicago re-gained possession, they drove the ball 80 yards in 5:15, finishing the drive with a 15-yard touchdown catch by wideout Darnell Mooney. New York got the ball back and drove 36 yards in 14 seconds, but their attempt to hit a buzzer-beating field goal was unsuccessful as Graham Gano missed from 57 yards out. In the waning seconds of the half, Giants receiver Sterling Shepard injured his toe. He was eventually ruled out for the remainder of the game.
At halftime, the Bears had a 17-0 lead. As it turned out, that was the extent of their scoring for the day as the second half belonged to the Giants, who impressed in the third and fourth quarters despite the eventual loss.
New York started the second half with possession of the ball but drove just 11 yards in four plays before punting. Chicago struggled in their opening drive of the half, too, as Mitchell Trubisky was picked off by Julian Love. The lone bright spot in this sequence for Chicago was that Montgomery returned to the game. The Giants started their next drive at the Chicago 25-yard line but moved the ball just four yards, ultimately settling for a 38-yard field goal to pull within two scores. Chicago was unable to answer after New York added three, ultimately punting.
New York’s next drive came to an end in the early minutes of the fourth quarter. The team drove 75 yards in under five minutes before Dion Lewis pushed through the Chicago defensive line for a one-year score, cutting the Giants’ deficit to four. Chicago got the ball back but completed just five plays before Trubisky was intercepted for the second time. This time, James Bradberry tallied the pick. New York took the ball 39 yards in 4:31 and had to settle for a 36-yard field goal from Gano to trim the deficit to 17-13. Chicago’s next drive was unsuccessful, though, as a missed 50-yard field goal from Cairo Santos gave the Giants the ball at their own 40-yard line. With 2:02 to play, Daniel Jones orchestrated an exciting final drive, bringing his team into the red zone with 21 seconds to play.
After a spike with nine seconds left, Jones connected with Dion Lewis for a four-yard gain. Though he scampered out of bounds to stop the clock, this play could go down as one of the most confusing in the contest. It appeared that Jones knew prior to the snap that he would be dumping off to Lewis for a short gain. Why Jones and the Giants drew this up remains unclear, especially considering they had to score a touchdown either way. After the Lewis gain, New York had time for just one play to get into the end zone rather than two. Jones rolled right as time expired, looking into the end zone. He locked eyes with an open Golden Tate and threw the ball his way. The ball was deflected and ruled incomplete, though an offensive pass interference would have negated the play and ended the game no matter what.
In the end, Chicago hung on to win, 17-13.
Minutes after the final whiste blew at Soldier Field, it was reported that the Giants feared that Barkley, who exited with a knee injury in the early portion of the second quarter, tore his ACL. While not confirmed, this injury would require season-ending surgery. The Giants are expected to verify the extent of the ailment by conducting further testing on Monday. Joe Judge did not have any updates on Barkley or Shepard immediately following the game.
David Montgomery was the clear player of the game. He led the team in both rushing and receiving with 16 carries for 82 yards and three catches for an additional 45 yards. He also added a receiving touchdown along the way.
Evan Engram and Golden Tate were the blown offensive bright spots for New York. Engram had six catches for 65 yards and seemed to be everywhere when New York needed a conversion. As for Tate, it was refreshing to see him back on the field after as a reliable weapon (five catches, 47 yards) after he missed Week 1 with an injury.
In Week 3, Chicago will travel to Atlanta for a 1:00 p.m. game against the Falcons, who are fresh off of two high-scoring losses. Meanwhile, the Giants play host to the San Francisco 49ers, who will likely be without Nick Bosa, Jimmy Garoppolo, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, Raheem Mostert, Richard Sherman, and Solomon Thomas.
Highlights
🔥 running by @MontgomerDavid. 🔥 start.
📺: CBS#NYGvsCHI | #DaBears pic.twitter.com/b02hZ3tweS
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) September 20, 2020
Robert Quinn waited about a second to make his presence felt & @FiftyDeuce is there to scoop it up because of course.
📺: CBS#NYGvsCHI | #DaBears pic.twitter.com/wY42QHlunA
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) September 20, 2020
*don't say it*
*don't say it*
*don't say it*
CASH M💰💰NEY!!!📺: CBS@Darnell_M1 | #NYGvsCHI pic.twitter.com/Lsz9KRzq8g
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) September 20, 2020
BIG MAN WITH THE 4TH DOWN CONVERSION 🙌 @ChicagoBears pic.twitter.com/zjxbNRetmz
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) September 20, 2020
https://twitter.com/Giants/status/1307752419644841984?s=20
https://twitter.com/Giants/status/1307760310112137219?s=20
https://twitter.com/Giants/status/1307762569344622592?s=20
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