Nick Foles Leads Late Comeback as Bears Beat Tom Brady's Bucs, Improve to 4-1

Nick Foles beat Tom Brady again.

While both quarterbacks are on different teams than their Super Bowl LII showdown, Foles led his Chicago Bears to a 20-19 victory over Brady's Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Thursday's NFC clash at Soldier Field.

Foles and the defense spearheaded the effort for the Bears, helping them bounce back from a loss to the Indianapolis Colts and improve to 4-1 on the campaign as they moved closer to the undefeated Green Bay Packers in the NFC North.

Foles drove the Bears into field-goal range with less than two minutes remaining and Cairo Santos delivered from 38 yards out to give the home team the lead. From there, the defense stopped Brady with the game on the line.

As for the Buccaneers, a solid but unspectacular showing from Brady was not enough to prevent their three-game winning streak from coming to an end as they fell to 3-2. They are still in first place over the 2-2 New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers in the NFC South.

Notable Player Stats

• Nick Foles, QB, CHI: 30-of-42 for 243 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT
• Allen Robinson, WR, CHI: 10 catches for 90 yards
• Tom Brady, QB, TB: 25-of-41 for 253 yards, 1 TD and 0 INT
• Ronald Jones II, RB, TB: 17 carries for 106 yards; 3 catches for 19 yards
• Mike Evans, WR, TB: 5 catches for 41 yards, 1 TD

Foles Comes Through With Game on the Line

While Chicago is traditionally defined by its defense, quarterback has been under the spotlight this year.

After all, the Bears traded for Foles this offseason to provide some competition for supposed franchise quarterback Mitchell Trubisky. Trubisky has never lived up to expectations after the Bears selected him with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2017 NFL draft when Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson were still available.

Trubisky started the year, but Foles came in during the second half of a Week 3 game against the Atlanta Falcons and directed a dramatic comeback. He has been under center since and had an opportunity to put the Bears in ideal playoff position in the early going.

It appeared as if was going to be another terrible offensive performance as Foles missed a wide open Allen Robinson underneath and a wide open Darnell Mooney on a deep ball as the Bears fell behind 13-0.

However, there was a dramatic turnaround in the final minutes of the first half when Foles caught fire and drove down the field before a David Montgomery touchdown run. He also found Jimmy Graham, who made an incredible catch, for another score after the defense created a turnover when Kyle Fuller dished out a massive hit on Ke'Shawn Vaughn and forced a fumble.

Chicago did not find the end zone and managed just two field goals in the second half, but they both came in the fourth quarter on drives that started with the Bears trailing.

Foles took over with less than three minutes remaining, thanks in large part to his defense on the other side coming through, and found Anthony Miller for a 3rd-down conversion and Montgomery on a key wheel route to set up the winning field goal.

It was all he needed to beat Brady again.

Bears Defense, Penalties Frustrate Brady

This was not exactly the Tampa Bay offense Brady likely envisioned when he joined the team.

Chris Godwin was out, Mike Evans played but was questionable coming in, Leonard Fournette was active but barely saw the field as he dealt with his own injury and O.J. Howard was sidelined. That didn't stop Brady from finding Evans for an early touchdown and spreading the ball around to Tyler Johnson, Cameron Brate and others.

The 14-time Pro Bowler even picked up a 4th-and-1 deep inside his own territory with a gutsy quarterback sneak as Tampa Bay controlled the early going.

It wasn't all great for Brady, though, who started showing some frustration in the second half as the offensive line committed a number of penalties and allowed him to take multiple hits from Khalil Mack and Co.

The broadcast even caught him screaming at his teammates following one possession.

Tampa Bay scored just six points in the second half, and Brady even appeared to think it was just third down when his offense turned it over on downs on its final opportunity. The Buccaneers also failed to run the clock out on their penultimate possession and surprisingly threw multiple passes while nursing a lead, which gave Foles time to engineer the winning drive.

In all, Brady took three sacks, was pressured throughout and was clearly frustrated with his teammates as the Bears defense set the tone after a poor first quarter.

What's Next?

Both teams face NFC foes in Week 6 when the Bears are at the Panthers and the Buccaneers host the Packers.