CHICAGO DEFENDERS CHARLES Tillman and Lance Briggs returned interceptions for touchdowns to spur the Bears past Dallas 34-18 in Monday night’s NFL game.
Chicago improved to 3-1 and matched the Minnesota Vikings for the NFC North lead after the first quarter of the NFL season while the Cowboys slid to 2-2, one game behind NFC East division pace-setter Philadelphia.
Tony Romo matched a career-worst outing by surrendering five interceptions, helping the Chicago defensive unit boost their takeaways total to an NFL-best 14 turnovers forced.
Tillman returned his pickoff 25 yards for a touchdown with 2:38 remaining in the second quarter to give the Bears a 10-0 lead.
Dallas pulled to 10-7 at half-time on Romo’s 10-yard touchdown toss to Miles Austin 14 seconds before the end of the second quarter.
But Devin Hester boosted the Bears’ lead with a 34-yard touchdown run 3:06 into the third quarter and Briggs returned an interception 74 yards for a touchdown 5:43 later, giving Chicago a 24-7 advantage.
After an exchange of field goals, Chicago added a touchdown on Jay Cutler’s 31-yard pass to Brandon Marshall and the Cowboys trimmed their final deficit on Kyle Orton’s 5-yard touchdown pass to Jason Witten with 34 seconds remaining.
The Redzone: NFL first quarter report card
