Colts outlast Bears in sloppy Sunday matchup in Indy

INDIANAPOLIS (WGN) — The offenses for the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts were in sync Sunday, as both sides struggled to finish drives and committed multiple turnovers in a game reminiscent of an Iowa-Northwestern matchup rather than an NFL game.

Here’s how the contest played out.

Game Recap

Chicago’s first drive of the afternoon seemed promising. The Bears had runs of 4 and 8 yards within their first four plays, and got tight end Cole Kmet involved early with a first down reception for Williams’ first completion of the game.

They even converted a fourth-and-one on an 8-yard toss to DJ Moore to keep the sticks moving, but as has been the case with Chicago’s offense early on this season, the wheels fell off the wagon.

Four yards on their next three plays led to a 56-yard field goal attempt for Cairo Santos, who came up short on the try.

The Bears and Colts went on to trade two punts a piece on the next four drives, before Williams and Richardson matched each other with interceptions that came right after 40-plus-yard completions from each quarterback.

Indianapolis broke the scoring drought for both sides at the 8:19 mark in the second quarter. Jonathan Taylor busted off a 29-yard touchdown run to move the score to 7-0 Colts.

Chicago didn’t register their first points of the ballgame until 12:51 in the third quarter, when Santos hit his lone field goal of the afternoon — a 53-yarder to close the gap to 7-3 in favor of Indianapolis.

Fireworks didn’t resume until both sides traded touchdowns as the game transitioned from the third to the fourth quarter.

Trey Sermon punched in a one-yard touchdown with 21 seconds left in the third quarter to make the game 14-3, before Williams found Rome Odunze from one yard out for each player’s first career touchdown about four-and-a-half minutes into the fourth.

The Bears failed to convert on the two-point conversion, bringing the score to 14-9.

Three minutes later, Taylor punched in his second rushing touchdown of the day with 5:22 to go in the fourth quarter to make it a two-possession game, 21-9.

Chicago scored their second touchdown of the game courtesy of a touchdown pass from Williams to Kmet with 2:01 remaining, but they were unable to stop the Colts on their following possession and they kneeled out the clock for an Indianapolis victory, 21-16.