DETROIT — As Cairo Santos sent a 28-yard field goal through the uprights as the seconds wound down Thursday afternoon, he saved the Chicago Bears from a bad week turning into an even bigger embarrassment.
The Bears didn’t need to give the Detroit Lions their first win of the season on Thanksgiving at Ford Field.
Not after Bears rookie Justin Fields injured his ribs and was forced to sit out the week. Not after a report emerged that Bears ownership told coach Matt Nagy they were going to fire him after the Thanksgiving game. Not after Nagy was left by his bosses to refute the report to the media himself.
Santos’ field goal in the final seconds lifted the Bears to a 16-14 victory over the Lions to snap a five-game losing streak and end a nightmare of a week.
Bears quarterback Andy Dalton, filling in for the injured Fields, completed 24 of 39 passes for 317 yards, a touchdown and an interception to lead the Bears to the victory.
The winning drive included a nice play on third-and-5 in which Dalton shrugged off pressure and found Damiere Byrd for a 13-yard pass to get to midfield. He also hit Byrd on third-and-4 from the 11-yard line — a third down that was shortened by 5 yards when the Lions were penalized for calling back-to-back timeouts.
Jared Goff’s 17-yard touchdown pass to T.J. Hockenson gave the Lions a 14-13 lead with 1:46 to play in the third quarter.
The Lions got the drive going when Goff threw a 17-yard pass to Kalif Raymond and Bears inside linebacker Christian Jones was called for a 15-yard unnecessary roughness for throwing Raymond down at the end of the play. That got the Lions in Bears territory.
Goff completed 21 of 25 passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns against a Bears defense that lost inside linebacker Roquan Smith to a hamstring injury.
After the Bears led 13-7 at halftime, they didn’t score in the third quarter.
Santos missed a 53-yard field-goal attempt on a drive that was stalled in part because of Cody Whitehair’s holding penalty on third-and-6 at the Lions 25-yard line.
