Tom Brady threw for 269 yards and a touchdown and Asante Samuel picked off three passes as the New England Patriots beat Chicago 17-13 in a showdown of football division leaders on Sunday.
New England overcame five turnovers by taking the ball from Chicago's Rex Grossman four times, including a fumble and three interceptions.
"You can't win like this. This is luck today," Brady said.
PHOTO: AFP
Cedric Benson's two-yard touchdown run pulled Chicago level 10-10 on the first play of the fourth quarter.
New England answered with an 11-play, 73-yard march orchestrated by Brady, who twice scampered for first downs to sustain the drive before flipping the deciding two-yard touchdown to Ben Watson with just over remaining.
Robbie Gould's 32-yard field goal pulled the Bears within the final margin with 3:31 to play.
New England drove to the Chicago 22-yard line before Corey Dillon fumbled away the ball with 1:52 to play, but on the next play Samuel intercepted Grossman to end the last Bears threat.
"We'll make the necessary corrections," Bears coach Lovie Smith said. "We're 9-2 right now with Rex leading our team. He had a couple bad passes. We still had an opportunity to win. We're not going to put that [blame] on one guy."
Titans 24, Giants 21
Tennessee rookie Vince Young threw for two touchdowns and ran for another as the Titans rallied from a 21-point deficit in the final 10 minutes to beat the New York Giants 24-21. Two Adam Jones pickoffs set up scores that helped drop the Giants (6-5) a game behind Dallas in the NFC East.
Chargers 21, Raiders 14
LaDainian Tomlinson ran 19 times for for 109 yards and two touchdowns and threw a fourth-quarter touchdown pass to rally San Diego past Oakland 21-14 as the Chargers (9-2) won their fifth game in a row for a two-game AFC West lead.
Tomlinson threw a 19-yard touchdown with 9:46 to play and ran 10 yards for the deciding points 6:07 later for his 24th touchdown of the season, four shy of the NFL one-season record of 28 set last year by Seattle's Shaun Alexander.
"It seems like it is magical, the way things are happening for us," said Tomlinson. "Let's just hope it ends in a magical season."
Ravens 27, Steelers 0
Baltimore's defense recorded a stunning nine sacks on Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger as the Ravens routed the reigning Super Bowl champions 27-0. The Ravens (9-2) stayed three games atop Cincinnati in the AFC North with their fifth straight win.
"This was an incredible win for us," Ravens coach Brian Billick said. "This is a special group of players."
Colts 45, Eagles 21
Joseph Addai ran 24 times for 171 yards and four touchdowns, matching a club record for touchdown carries in a single game, to give Indianapolis (10-1) a 45-21 victory over visiting Philadelphia.
Saints 31, Hawks 13
Drew Brees completed 21-of-30 passes for 349 yards and two touchdowns to lead New Orleans past Atlanta 31-13. The Saints (7-4) moved a game ahead of Carolina atop the NFC South after the Panthers lost 17-13 at Washington.
Atlanta's Michael Vick ran 12 times for 166 yards but threw for only 84 yards and the Falcons (5-6) lost their fourth game in a row and Vick made an obscene gesture to a fan after the game.
"I would like to apologize for my inappropriate actions," Vick said. "I was frustrated and upset at how the game was going for my team and that frustration came out the wrong way. I simply lost my cool in the heat of the moment."
Redskins 27, Jaguars 24
Jason Campbell threw a 66-yard touchdown pass to Chris Cooley with 4:26 to play to lift Washington past Carolina while Rian Lindell kicked a 42-yard field goal as time expired to give Buffalo a 27-24 victory over Jacksonville.
Marc Bulger threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Curtis with 29 seconds remaining and the St. Louis Rams snapped a five-game losing streak with a 20-17 victory over San Francisco.
In other NFL games it was:
* Cincinnati 30, Cleveland 0
* New York 26, Houston 11
* Minnesota 31, Arizona 26
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB