EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. _ Ben McAdoo said the biggest challenge for the Giants on Sunday was to handle their recent success. To do that, they had to face the real possibility of failure.
Facing the two-win Bears, the Giants trailed 16-9 at halftime and seemed to be in danger of dropping an inexcusable home game to an inferior, battered opponent. All the talk about being a playoff team was on the verge of swirling down the drain and McAdoo, who had warned of the Bears' prowess, nearly had to utter the words he never hoped he'd have to: Told ya so.
But the Giants' defense pitched a second-half shutout against an offense that was without tight end Zach Miller and guard Josh Sitton for most of the last two quarters and the offense did just enough to pull out a 22-16 win. On a windy day in which three extra points and a field goal were missed by the two teams, the Giants' postseason sails remain billowing.
The win gave the Giants (7-3) a five-game regular-season winning streak for the first time since 2010 and put them five games over .500 for the first time since 2012. They remain two games behind the Cowboys, who extended their win streak to nine by beating the Ravens, 27-17.
Dwayne Harris sparked the second-half run with a 45-yard kickoff return that set up a nine-play, 56-yard drive capped by a 9-yard touchdown pass from Eli Manning to Will Tye to tie the score at 16. After the defense forced a three-and-out, the Giants drove 79 yards for a second straight TD. Manning scrambled for a first down on third-and-4 deep in Giants territory, and on the next play faked like he was going to scramble, which drew the defense forward and allowed Victor Cruz to slip behind the secondary for a 48-yard completion. Three plays later Manning hit Sterling Shepard on a 15-yard touchdown. Robbie Gould missed his second extra point and the Giants had a 22-16 lead.
The six-point lead felt perilous, especially after Harris muffed a punt that Eli Apple recovered for the Giants or when the Bears pinned the Giants at their own 6 in the fourth quarter. But the Giants' defense was able to keep Chicago from scoring, allowing only 106 yards in the second half. The closest the Bears came to scoring was a 51-yard field-goal attempt by Connor Barth that knocked off the right upright. Safety Landon Collins sealed the win with an interception with 1:11 left in the game. It was Collins' fifth interception of the season.
Rashad Jennings ran for 85 yards for the Giants, his second straight productive game. It was the first game since Week 7 of last year the Giants did not have a turnover.
The Bears marched down the field on the opening drive and scored on a 20-yard pass from Jay Cutler to Miller to take a 6-0 lead (Barth missed the extra point). The Giants responded with their own TD drive to tie the score at 6 on a 2-yard scoring run by Jennings (Gould missed the extra point). A play before the touchdown the Giants converted a fourth-and-2 with a 15-yard completion to Shepard. It was an aggressive call reminiscent of the one McAdoo made last week to beat the Bengals.
The Bears kicked a field goal to go ahead 9-6 and Jeremy Langford scored on a 1-yard touchdown run midway through the second quarter (the PAT was good!) to go ahead 16-6. Gould connected on a 46-yard field goal with 3:33 left in the half to cut it to 16-9. The Giants converted a fourth down on that drive, too.
