Bears vs. Jets: Score and Twitter Reaction from Monday Night Football

Some teams don't like the spotlight, but the Chicago Bears are thriving in it. Barely.

For the second week in a row, Marc Trestman's squad went on the road and escaped with a narrow victory on national television, improving to 2-1 after a 27-19 win over the New York Jets on Monday Night Football. 

It wasn't perfect. The running game never really got going, and the defense allowed Geno Smith to throw for 316 yards and the Jets to carve out 5.8 yards per play. But Jay Cutler (225 yards, two touchdowns, zero interceptions) made plays when necessary, and the D forced three turnovers and made a late red-zone stop to secure the victory. 

The Jets fall to 1-2 on the season, but with losses against the Bears and Green Bay Packers by just 15 combined points, they are showing encouraging signs of play mixed in with frustrating stretches. As ESPN Stats & Info noted, they moved the ball but couldn't finish off drives:

Despite a much more efficient early attack (6.1 yards per play and 221 total yards for New York; 3.7 and 127 for Chicago), New York ended the first half trailing by four points. 

The reason was simple: turnovers. Ryan Mundy returned a Smith interception 45 yards for the first touchdown of the game, and minutes later, a muffed punt from Jalen Saunders led to a short connection between Jay Cutler and Martellus Bennett to make it 14-0. 

As ESPN's Rich Cimini noted, the pick-six, which came on a misfired screen attempt, wasn't pretty: 

It also increased the second-year QB's lead in a certain category he doesn't want to be leading, per ESPN Stats & Info:

Smith has shown vast improvement this season, though, and he displayed an ability to shake off the early mistake, throwing for 188 first-half yards and leading two methodical scoring drives. The second was capped with a 19-yard touchdown throw to Jeremy Kerley, which made it a 17-13 game just before halftime. 

Still, while the Bears were out-played for most of the half, they had recent history on their side with the lead, as noted by ESPN Stats & Info:

Fueled by a 42-yard completion to Alshon Jeffery on an absolute dime down the sideline, Cutler marched the Bears right down the field to begin the second half. He once again finished the drive by finding Bennett in the end zone, drawing acclaim from Sports Illustrated's Chris Burke:

Problems continued to snowball for the Jets from there, as Smith tossed a bad interception in the end zone two possessions later.

It was again rookie Kyle Fuller, who had two interceptions against San Francisco a week ago, coming up with the big play for the Bears. CBS Sports' Dane Brugler gave the youngster immense praise:

The Jets defense forced three consecutive three-and-outs, but the offense was only able to turn the extra opportunities and good field position into a pair of field goals. On both, Rex Ryan elected to go for three points on 4th-and-manageable situations (4th-and-goal from the 4-yard line and 4th-and-2 from the 24).  

Grantland's Bill Barnwell predicted the decisions would come back to haunt New York:

After Chicago added a field goal to make it 27-19, Smith drove the ball right back down the field, but on 4th-and-5 from the 9-yard line, Kerley made a catch just outside the end zone. BusinessInsider.com's Cork Gaines provided a look at the final play:

"

Uncatchable? #Bears may have gotten a break with no flag here. pic.twitter.com/Srry7Tr0CS

— Cork Gaines (@CorkGaines) September 23, 2014"

Ryan was quick to defend his QB after the game, via Kimberly A Martin of NFL.com: 

With two road wins in a row, the Bears will now return home for an important early-season divisional matchup with the Green Bay Packers. Mike McCarthy's squad has struggled with inconsistency so far, but with the way the Bears secondary is playing (and hurting), that has the makings of a scintillating shootout. 

The Jets, meanwhile, will continue their way through the NFC North when they host the Detroit Lions. It's yet another difficult matchup against an explosive offense, but the Jets' overpowering front seven has proven capable of keeping the team competitive against any opponent. 

At 1-2, though, pressure is quickly building in the Big Apple to translate competitiveness into wins.