Bears vs. Chargers: Score and Twitter Reaction for 'Monday Night Football'

The Chicago Bears improved to 3-5 with a 22-19 victory over the San Diego Chargers on Monday night at Qualcomm Stadium.

The Chargers are now 2-7, though six of their seven defeats have come by single digits. The Bears twisted the knife a bit with this celebratory tweet after the game:

Chicago is now a perfect 3-0 against AFC West teams, and this could be its biggest victory of the season, as the Green Bay Packers aren't exactly running away with the NFC North. The Bears are now only three games back of the Packers and the Minnesota Vikings, which is far from an insurmountable gap.

Meanwhile, the result added to what is now a five-game losing streak for San Diego, a team that's been hammered by injuries. The Chargers on Friday listed four players out on their injury report, which didn't take into account Branden Oliver and Keenan Allen, both of whom the team placed on the season-ending injured reserve list earlier in the week.

The absence of so many key players looked to take its toll in the fourth quarter, when San Diego was outscored 15-3.   

The Chargers defense had no answer for Jay Cutler the longer the game went on, as the Chicago quarterback finished 27-of-40 for 345 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. Cutler's second touchdown proved to be the game-winning score, which is his 12th in the fourth quarter since 2009, the most of any quarterback, per the NFL Network:

San Diego also struggled to defend Alshon Jeffery, who caught 10 passes for 151 yards.

As its defense began to fade, San Diego's reliance on Philip Rivers became more of an issue. Rivers had 280 yards and a touchdown on 26-of-42 passing, but the Chargers gained just 77 yards on the ground as a team.

They jumped out to a 13-point lead in the second quarter after Jason Verrett intercepted a pass intended for Jeffery and returned it 68 yards for a touchdown. Cutler sailed his throw a little too far toward the sideline, which allowed the second-year cornerback to make the big play. The NFL passed along the highlight:

Nobody enjoyed the touchdown more than Rivers:

Josh Lambo missed the ensuing extra point, which kept it a 13-0 game.

Danny Woodhead had opened the scoring earlier in the contest with a 14-yard touchdown reception. Stevie Johnson's celebration might have been more impressive than the touchdown itself, as the veteran wideout leaped over his teammate in the end zone, as ESPN showed:

"

"Well that escalated quickly." pic.twitter.com/LDq9rGfrbC

— ESPN Monday Night (@ESPNMondayNight) November 10, 2015"

San Diego has been slow to start all season, so getting a double-digit advantage was a positive development.

But Cutler ate into the deficit at the six-minute, 58-second mark of the second quarter when he found tight end Martellus Bennett for a one-yard touchdown pass to close the gap to 13-7 following the extra point. Cutler moved into first place in Chicago's record book with the scoring toss, and the team honored the 32-year-old signal-caller:

Cutler and Jeffery also shared a special moment on the field shortly after the throw, as shown by NFL on CBS:

Lambo sent San Diego into the locker room on a high note with a 31-yard field goal. According to ESPN Stats & Info, the nine-point halftime lead was the Chargers' biggest halftime advantage of the season.

The San Diego offense stalled in the second half, though, which opened the door for Chicago.

Jeremy Langford scored from a yard out with 14:02 left in the game, and the Bears were within two points after Robbie Gould nailed the ensuing extra point. 

The rookie running back had 72 yards and the touchdown and also caught three passes for 70 yards. Yahoo Sports' Brad Evans was impressed by the number of ways in which Langford impacted the game:

Lambo connected on a 22-yard field goal six minutes later to give the Chargers a little breathing room, but Zach Miller handed Chicago its first lead of the game when he made one of the more impressive catches you'll see all season.

The veteran tight end hauled in a pass over the middle with one hand before falling into the end zone. NFL on CBS captured Miller in full fight:

CBSSports.com's Tom Fornelli wasn't afraid to dabble in a bit of hyperbole after the touchdown:

"

Zach Miller > Odell Beckham

— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) November 10, 2015"

Langford added a two-point conversion run to put the Bears ahead by three points.

San Diego had a little over three minutes to tie the game, but it ran out of gas, with the offensive line surrendering two key sacks that cost the team 18 yards, and the Chargers turned the ball over on downs after failing to convert on 4th-and-23.

The loss is painful enough for San Diego, but it's made worse by the fact that it came at a significant physical cost.

Both Verrett and Malcom Floyd went down with injuries, further exacerbating the team's health problems. The Chargers announced Verrett suffered a groin injury, while the San Diego Union-Tribune's Michael Gehlken indicated Floyd might be looking at a significant shoulder injury.

This is essentially a lost season for the Chargers, as any chance of a playoff push looks to be out of the question.

Chicago might be confident it can mount a charge to the postseason, and it has three great opportunities ahead to prove its bona fides.

The Bears get the St. Louis Rams, the Denver Broncos and Green Bay over the next three weeks. Winning two of those matchups could put Chicago in the playoff discussion, especially because it has a relatively easy finish to the season.

Postgame Reaction

"It's one of those things where instincts kind of take over," Miller said of his fourth-quarter touchdown catch, per NFL Total Access on Twitter.

As long as Bennett is healthy, Miller will always be overshadowed in the Bears offense. That scoring reception was his first since 2011, when he played for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Chicago shouldn't necessarily need Miller to repeat similar heroics the rest of the season, but it will be an added bonus to the passing game if Cutler can count on the 31-year-old to make a few catches every game.

For the Chargers, the defeats and bad luck are having a significant impact on at least one of their key figures. After the game, Rivers vented some of his frustrations, per the team's Twitter account:

"

We just don't have the answers right now. It's not surrendering...but we are what we are.

Both sides can't make the play down the stretch to either hang on or finish the game.

We can make a long list of reasons, but ultimately we've had a chance in all these games. We just didn't do it.

I take a great deal of responsibility in us winning and losing. I'm sick over plays I could've made.

"

San Diego still has two games left against the Denver Broncos and what could be a tricky matchup with the Oakland Raiders. Finishing at .500 may be the team's ceiling after such a poor start.