Ryan Mundy's pick-six got the Bears going. (Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports)
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Ryan Mundy didn’t identify the coach who provided him the sagest advice of his football career. Whoever it was, he had to be impressed by how the Chicago Bears set the tone in the first and third quarters Monday night against the New York Jets.
Mundy’s 45-yard interception return for a touchdown on the second play of the game gave the Bears a lead they never relinquished, and quarterback Jay Cutler directed a six-play, 80-yard touchdown drive to open the second half of Chicago’s 27-19 win over the Jets at MetLife Stadium.
“An old coach told me that the first play of the game signifies did you come to play,” said Mundy, who said only that the coach in question was a coach he played for in the NFL. “The first play of the second half signifies did you come to win. And our offense let us know that they came to win.”
The Bears (2-1) led 14-0 barely five minutes into the game and survived a series of mini-rallies by the Jets to win on the road in prime time for the second time in eight nights. Chicago beat the San Francisco 49ers 28-20 on Sept. 14.
“These games are tough,” Bears coach Marc Trestman said. “Back-to-back, on the road, prime-time games. The guys know we’ve got work to do, there’s no doubt about it, we’ve got to work in all three phases of the game. But we’re not going to take away from the fact we worked hard to win this game. Happy for our coaches and our team.”
The Bears made the big plays Monday on offense, defense and special teams.
Cutler’s first touchdown pass, a 7-yard strike to a double-teamed tight end Martellus Bennett, was set up when safety Ahmad Dixon recovered a fumble by Jets punt returner Jalen Saunders at the Chicago 40-yard line.
The Jets pulled within 17-13 in the second quarter. After long drives, kicker Nick Folk booted a 28-yard field goal, and quarterback Geno Smith threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jeremy Kerley.
However, the Bears, who won the opening coin toss and deferred to the second half, regained their two-score edge at the start of the third quarter. Chicago took a 24-13 lead on Cutler’s 13-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Bennett. Cutler was 5-for-5 for 83 yards on the drive.
“They had momentum, I thought, going into halftime,” Cutler said. “We knew it could blow back. Just had to put together something, kind of set the tone for the second half, give our defense a little bit of a breather and kind of set us up.”
In the fourth quarter, Cutler oversaw a 12-play, 46-yard drive that ate up 6:42 and ended with kicker Robbie Gould’s 45-yard field goal with 3:14 remaining. Running back Matt Forte, who finished with just 33 yards on 13 carries, had 21 yards on four carries on the drive.
As he did last week in San Francisco, Cutler watched from the sideline as the Bears bent but didn’t allow the game-tying score in the final two minutes. A 51-yard pass from Smith to wide receiver Greg Salas put the Jets at the Bears’ 20-yard line with 1:26 left, but Smith’s fourth-down pass to Kerley carried the wide receiver out of the end zone with 1:04 left.
“In a hostile environment, road game, it’s important that you start fast,” Mundy said. “It’s also equally important that you finish strong. And we did both of those today.”
Last week, the 49ers got to the Bears’ 17-yard line before turning the ball over on downs with 1:17 left.
“Get fourth-down stops, back-to-back weeks like that, to ice games,” Cutler said. “(Our defense is) getting more confidence. It’s fun to watch.”
Cutler finished 23 of 38 for 225 yards. Bennett had five catches for 54 yards. Wide receiver Alshon Jeffery had eight catches for 105 yards and two rushes for 13 yards.
The Jets (1-2) lost their second straight in a three-game sequence against NFC North teams. Last Sunday, New York blew an 18-point lead and fell 31-24 to the Green Bay Packers. The Jets play host to the Detroit Lions this Sunday.
“Down 14-0, really, before you can do anything,” Jets coach Rex Ryan said of Monday’s game. “It’s a hole we couldn’t dig ourselves out of.”
Smith finished 26-for-43 for 316 yards but threw two interceptions, including one by Bears safety Kyle Fuller in the end zone in the third quarter. Smith had another handful of potential interceptions dropped by the Bears.
What the Bears said:
“Certainly, to strike first and have the first punch in any game is big. One thing we’ve learned is you can’t stop playing, because they’re not going to stop playing.” — Coach Marc Trestman, on safety Ryan Mundy’s 45-yard interception return for a touchdown on the second play from scrimmage.
What the Jets said:
“We know we can play against anybody in this league. We just need to find ways to win against good teams. That’s a helluva lot easier said than done, but you know what? We’ve got enough guys in here. Everybody is committed to the same thing. We all want to find a way to win. I believe we will.” — Jets coach Rex Ryan
What we learned about the Bears:
1. The kids are all right so far. The Bears suited up three rookies in the secondary, and cornerback Kyle Fuller and safeties Ahmad Dixon and Brock Vereen all contributed to the 27-19 win over the Jets. Dixon recovered a fumble by Jets punt returner Jalen Saunders in the first quarter, and the Bears scored a touchdown four plays later to extend their lead to 14-0. Fuller picked off Jets quarterback Geno Smith in the end zone in the third quarter as the Jets were driving for a touchdown that would have pulled them within four points. With starting safeties Chris Conte (shoulder) and Ryan Mundy (stinger) out or limited in the fourth quarter, Vereen saw plenty of playing time as the Bears withstood a last-second comeback attempt by the Jets, who turned the ball over on downs at the Chicago 9-yard line with 58 seconds left. With Conte battling shoulder woes all season and cornerback Charles Tillman out for the year due to a triceps injury, the Bears will need the youngsters to continue maturing on the job.
2. The Bears’ toughness is established just three games into the season. There aren’t many taller tasks than winning two prime-time road games on two coasts in an eight-day span, but in beating the San Francisco 49ers and the Jets, the Bears solidified themselves as a contender again in what looks to be a wide-open NFC North. The Bears were far from perfect in the wins — they fell behind 17-0 against the 49ers and repeatedly allowed the Jets back into the game after racing out to a 14-0, first-quarter lead — but finishing in September should pay major dividends come December.
–S Chris Conte (shoulder) left in the third quarter of the Bears’ 27-19 win over the Jets. It was the second consecutive week Conte exited a game with a shoulder injury. Coach Marc Trestman didn’t have an update on Conte following Monday’s win, in which Conte had four tackles.
–WR Brandon Marshall aggravated his ankle injury in the second quarter of the Bears’ 27-19 win over the Jets on Monday night but returned to the field in the second half. Marshall, who was listed as questionable on the injury report, walked gingerly off the field midway through the second quarter. He finished with one catch for 6 yards, though he had a potential touchdown catch overruled due to a Chicago penalty in the third quarter.
–WR Alshon Jeffery led the Bears with eight catches for 105 yards in Chicago’s 27-19 win over the Jets on Monday night. Jeffery was listed as questionable due to a hamstring injury but looked to be 100 percent as he touched the ball 10 times — he had two rushes for 13 yards — and was targeted 13 times by QB Jay Cutler.
What we learned about the Jets:
1. Geno Smith is far from a finished product, and his seat may be on the verge of growing warm. Smith threw two crushing interceptions Monday, one of which was returned for a touchdown by Bears safety Ryan Mundy and the other of which was corralled in the end zone by safety Kyle Fuller as the Jets closed in on a touchdown that would have pulled them within four points. He also had several other near-interceptions dropped by the Bears. The Jets cannot afford to let this season get out of hand as Smith learns on the job, as he did last year. Coach Rex Ryan professed his support of Smith on Monday night, but he also said he is “never going to say no” about getting Michael Vick more playing time. Ryan needs the Jets to contend if he is going to keep his job in 2015, so Smith needs to stop making rookie-year mistakes. Now.
2. The Jets are pretty good at digging themselves a hole — and pretty good at clawing their way out of it. There are no moral victories in the NFL, but the Jets, for a second consecutive week, inched back when they could have easily been buried. On Sept. 14, the Jets blew a 18-point second quarter lead against the Green Bay Packers but were in position to score the tying touchdown in the waning minutes of a 31-24 loss. On Monday, the Jets fell behind 14-0 less than six minutes into the game but trailed only 17-13 at the half. The Bears scored a potentially back-breaking touchdown on the first possession of the second half, but the Jets pulled within eight points and moved inside the 15-yard line in the final two minutes before the possible game-tying drive stalled. “I thought our team was resilient,” Ryan said. “We tried to give ourselves an opportunity.”
–DE Muhammad Wilkerson (knee) left in the fourth quarter of the Jets’ 27-19 loss to the Bears on Monday night. Wilkerson collided with Jets DE Calvin Pace as the two converged upon Bears QB Jay Cutler. Wilkerson tried to get up but fell down. He eventually limped off the field under his own power. Following the game, Jets coach Rex Ryan said through a spokesperson that Wilkerson’s injury was not serious.
–WR Eric Decker (right hamstring) started for the Jets on Monday but did not play after the first quarter. Decker, who practiced just once last week and was listed as questionable on the injury report, had one catch for 19 yards before departing. He said afterward that he felt fine while warming up before the game but that the hamstring gradually tightened on him in the first quarter. Decker said he hopes he will be able to play Sunday against the Lions.
–CB Dee Milliner (high ankle sprain) was inactive Monday for the Jets’ 27-19 loss to the Bears. Milliner, who was hurt in August, made his season debut against Green Bay on Sept. 14 but was clearly hobbled, especially when he was badly beaten by Packers WR Jordy Nelson on an 80-yard touchdown. Milliner’s availability for Sunday’s game against Detroit is unknown.
