MINNESOTA VIKINGS VS. CHICAGO BEARS | NFL HIGHLIGHTS

 

LIONEL MESSI AND INTER MILAN DENIED IN FRONT OF RECORD CHICAGO CROWD

Inter Miami failed to score for the first time this season in Major League Soccer as they were held to a goalless draw by the Chicago Fire on Sunday.

Inter Miami were held to a goalless draw by the Chicago Fire.© AFP

Inter Miami failed to score for the first time this season in Major League Soccer as they were held to a goalless draw by the Chicago Fire on Sunday. A club-record crowd of 62,358 packed into Soldier Field for the visit of Lionel Messi and his Inter team to witness a gutsy display from the home side. Chicago, coached by former USA boss Gregg Berhalter, limited Messi and his former Barcelona strike partner Luis Suarez to just a handful of opportunities. The best effort from Messi, who played the full game, came in the third minute when he unleashed a snap shot from outside the box which was denied by a fine, diving save from Fire keeper Chris Brady.

There was no sense of Chicago being overawed by the big crowd at the stadium they share with the NFL's Bears and they went close twice in the opening half with Mauricio Pineda forcing Oscar Ustari into a full stretch save and then Philip Zinckernagel striking the outside of the post from a narrow angle.

Suarez had a great chance to put Miami ahead just before the break when Noah Allen floated a ball in but the Uruguayan puts his shot over the bar.

After the break, Chicago enjoyed plenty of pressure with much of the creativity coming from former Lille winger Jonathan Bamba.

The Fire should have grabbed all three points in the 88th minute when Bamba's shot was parried out by Ustari but Maren Haile-Selassie put the follow-up shot wide.

Bamba was denied again by Ustari moments later but in a frantic finale, Miami also could have stolen a win but, from a promising position, Tadeo Allende dragged his shot wide.

Miami had looked tired after their midweek exertions in their CONCACAF Champions Cup win over Los Angeles FC on Wednesday and coach Javier Mascherano appeared relieved they had picked up a point.

"We came with a very, very big load not only physically, but also mentally. So not losing is always important, too," he said.

"I'll take the positives, which is that we didn't concede a goal. We'd been conceding goals for three games, and today we kept a clean sheet. ... Now, luckily, we have a long week of work, which is a bit of a break for us, after the start of the season we've had," he said.

Former Miami coach Phil Neville saw his improving Portland Timbers team enjoy a 4-2 win at Sporting Kansas City with Venezuelan forward Kevin Kelsy scoring twice.

Portland are unbeaten in five games and move up to fourth in the Western Conference.

The Columbus Crew fought back from a goal down to enjoy a 2-1 win at St.Louis City.

Brazilian Joao Klauss opened the scoring for the home side before Crew defender Steven Moreira levelled with a side-footed volley.

Uruguayan Diego Rossi secured the win with a low drive from outside the box in the 55th minute.

- Agence France-Presse

EBERFLUS: BEARS' CLOCK MANAGEMENT HANDLED 'THE RIGHT WAY'

Chicago Bears' star Keenan Allen criticized head coach Matt Eberflus for not calling a timeout during the team's loss to the Detroit Lions. Despite strong performances, including QB Caleb Williams' 222 yards and three touchdowns, Eberflus defended his decision, citing strategy. The Bears have now lost six straight games under Eberflus' leadership.

DETROIT -- With 36 seconds remaining, trailing by three points after putting together a furious second-half comeback, the Chicago Bears were in position to tie or defeat the Lions on Thanksgiving Day.

But late-game clock mismanagement assured the Bears would not get the chance to complete a come-from-behind victory against their division rival. As time ran out on Chicago to solidify a sixth consecutive loss in a 23-20 defeat, coach Matt Eberflus defended his decision to not call a timeout in the final moments of the game.

"We're at 36 seconds right there and our hope was, because it was third [down] going into fourth [down], that we would rerack that play at 18 seconds, throw it inbounds, get it in field goal range and then call a timeout," Eberflus said.

Upon getting the ball back at Detroit's 1-yard line with 3:31 to play, the Bears ran 13 plays before facing second-and-20 from the Lions' 35-yard line. Quarterback Caleb Williams was sacked for a 6-yard loss with 32 seconds remaining as Detroit defensive end Za'Darius Smith went untouched to bring the rookie down.

Instead of calling a timeout ahead of what became Chicago's final play while facing third-and-26 from Detroit's 41-yard line, the Bears let the clock wind down. About 10 seconds passed before Williams frantically alerted the offense to get lined up for a pass play, and the ball was not snapped until there were six seconds remaining.

Williams launched a deep ball to rookie wide receiver Rome Odunze that bounced off the turf inside the 5-yard line as time expired.

"I knew when we snapped the ball that the [clock] was going to run out, so I was trying to get to the end zone," Odunze said "We just didn't get a great coverage for it. Moving forward, I'll know what I need to do to get there."

When asked postgame how the Bears should have managed the final sequence in retrospect, Eberflus doubled down on the team's late-game operation.

"I like what we did there," Eberflus said. "Again, once it's under seven [seconds], you're going to call a timeout there -- actually under 12 and then really you don't have an option because it's third to fourth, you have to throw it into the end zone then.

"To me it's -- I think we handled it the right way, I do believe that you just rerack the play, get it in bounds and call timeout, and that's why we held it and didn't work out the way we wanted it to."

Twenty-six seconds elapsed from the time Williams was sacked to when the ball was snapped on the final play. The quarterback had called a timeout earlier in the drive but intimated that he was not in position to do so again, which led him to change the play with 13 seconds remaining to take one final shot.

"I made an adjustment because I saw the clock running down, knowing that if we complete a ball inbounds or anything like that, we won't have time to kick a field goal or anything like that," Williams said. "So, I made an adjustment and knew Rome was either going to be one-on-one or he was going to beat the safety and be one-on-one there and I tried to give him a shot and we got the shot and missed."

Kicker Cairo Santos would have been in position to kick a 58-yard field goal on the final play, but Eberflus said the Bears were out of field goal range. Santos' career long is 55 yards, which he has made twice (2020 at the Carolina Panthers, 2023 at the Minnesota Vikings). But the kicker's recent ups and downs, including blocked 48-yard field goals in back-to-back games against the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota (along with kicking a field goal to send the Bears to overtime in Week 12), might have factored into Chicago's decision to get closer to the end zone before sending out its kicking unit.

Santos, who was warming up on the sideline, did not expect the final moments to unfold the way they did.

"I didn't see that happening," Santos said. "We rehearse these scenarios, and I imagine myself kicking that. I know we want to play for the win, but I just kind of imagine myself at least getting a shot there."

Considering the Bears' plan was to run a play once the clock hit 18 seconds to get into field goal range, Eberflus was also asked why he didn't call a timeout at that moment upon seeing that the ball had not been snapped.

"Once it gets under 12 [seconds], you got to hold onto it then," Eberflus said.

Eberflus pinned the Bears' failures on the "whole operation" but defended Chicago's communication in the final 36 seconds.

"We were all on the same page there, we just have to do it a little bit better," he said.

The loss drops the Bears to 4-8. According to ESPN Research, since turnovers were first tracked in 1933, the Bears are the first team to go on a six-game losing streak without committing multiple miscues in any of those games. The Bears have lost four games this season decided by three or fewer points, which is tied with the Jets for the most in the NFL and tied for the most such losses in a season in franchise history (1983 and 2015).

Several Bears players were shocked that a timeout was not called.

"I all of a sudden see everybody come on the field and the game is over," tight end Cole Kmet said. "So, I was like, 'What the eff just happened?' The sack happens. By the time I turned around, Caleb was pretty much on the ground. We just got to find a way to not take a sack there, and unfortunately the clock keeps running and I am sure the thought process was then to be able to get some yardage and then take the timeout and then kick the field goal. But we were just a little too late on that."

Wide receiver DJ Moore, who logged a team-high eight catches for 97 yards and a touchdown, expressed similar disbelief over how the game ended.

"I mean, you're just like, 'What the hell?' Nah, it's like, 'What the bleep' but it is what it is," Moore said. "It's not it is what it is, but we've got to find a way to win. We keep coming back in these games and be having time to actually win the game and we just s--- the bed."

After being outgained by 226 yards, gaining one first down and being shut out in the first half, the Bears thundered back from a 16-point deficit beginning with a 74-yard touchdown drive to open the third quarter. Williams led the Bears on three touchdown drives in the second half, along the way setting a franchise rookie record for passing touchdowns at 15.

Thursday's loss extends Eberflus' record to 5-19 in one-score games, the worst mark by any coach with at least 20 such games in NFL history.

"It was tough," wide receiver Keenan Allen said. "I feel like we did enough as players to win the game."

- Courtney Cronin, ESPN Staff Writer

COMMANDERS BEAT BEATS ON JAYDEN DANIELS' LAST-SECOND HAIL MARY

LANDOVER, Md. -- Jayden Daniels had a couple of very simple thoughts going through his head with the Washington Commanders needing to make a long-distance throw to beat the Chicago Bears.

"Buy some time and don't throw the ball out of bounds," Daniels said.

Daniels scrambled around for nearly 13 seconds and heaved the ball from the Washington 35-yard line with no time on the clock. The pass tipped off the hands of Tyrique Stevenson short of the goal line and into the waiting arms of Noah Brown, who was standing alone in the end zone, for a 52-yard Hail Mary touchdown that gave the Commanders an improbable 18-15 victory Sunday and sent players, coaches and fans into a frenzy.

It was the fifth go-ahead Hail Mary TD in the final 10 seconds since ESPN began tracking them in 2006. At 52 yards, it was the second longest of the bunch, behind the Rodgers-to-Rodgers Miracle in Motown play against the Detroit Lions in 2015.

"That was wild," Commanders coach Dan Quinn said as part of his opening statement to reporters. "That was so much fun, and what I love about the team is that we're never out of the fight."

The rookie quarterback never even saw Brown make the catch.

"I just heard people screaming and our sideline rushing the field. That's how I knew," said Daniels, whose status was uncertain until hours before kickoff because of a rib injury. "That's kind of like a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Not too many people get to experience stuff like that."

Daniels' heroics came after the Commanders (6-2) fell behind with 25 seconds left on a TD run by Roschon Johnson after a pass-interference penalty put the ball on the 1-yard line. There were just 19 seconds left after a kickoff return to the 24.

Three completions later, Daniels added his best highlight yet to a season that has made him one of the NFL's most electric players and the favorite to be AP Offensive Rookie of the Year.

"We're blessed to have '5' leading this team: The things he can do is special," Brown said. "I wouldn't want to play with any other quarterback."

Offensive lineman Sam Cosmi said it was "like a movie."

"Front-row seats to something amazing," Cosmi said. "That was just crazy. This will always stick in my head forever. What a moment."

It was the first game since Nov. 13, 1977, where each team scored a go-ahead touchdown in the final 30 seconds.

In the NFL's sixth matchup of rookie quarterbacks taken with the top two picks in the draft, Daniels threw for 326 yards and ran for 52. Caleb Williams, taken first by the Bears (4-3), completed four of his first 16 passes and finished 10-of-24 for 131 yards.

Chicago, which had its winning streak snapped at three, had just 172 yards of offense before the fourth quarter started and did not get on the board until D'Andre Swift's 56-yard TD run late in the third.

"That's just us shooting ourselves in the foot and that comes from details and focus in the game, throughout the week," said Williams, a Washington-area native who was playing back home for the first time as a pro. "That comes from myself. I'm included in that for sure. Definitely missed a few passes that I don't miss typically so, tough, but very encouraging because we stayed in it."

Daniels was not himself at times and looked a bit off because of the rib injury, which knocked him out of last week's win over Carolina and kept him from practicing Wednesday and Thursday. He took several hits after letting go of the ball but was at his best when it mattered.

"We knew he had it in him," running back Brian Robinson Jr. said. "He just showed us today what he's capable of and how tough he is."

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

- ESPN News Services

NFL ROUNDUP: LIONS TOPPLE VIKINGS,

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Jahmyr Gibbs rushed for 80 yards and two touchdowns, and the Detroit Lions clinched their first division title in 30 years by defeating the Minnesota Vikings 30-24 on Sunday in Minneapolis.

Jared Goff completed 30 of 40 passes for 257 yards and a touchdown as the Lions (11-4) secured the NFC North Division title and a home game in the opening round of the playoffs. Amon-Ra St. Brown caught 12 passes for 106 yards and a touchdown.

Vikings quarterback Nick Mullens threw for 411 yards and two touchdowns on 22-of-36 passing but was also intercepted four times. Justin Jefferson caught six passes for 141 yards and a touchdown for the Vikings (7-8).

Gibbs scored on a 3-yard run with 11:07 remaining as Detroit took a 30-21 lead. Vikings kicker Greg Joseph hit a 26-yard field goal with 5:19 left to cut the Lions' lead to six. Minnesota drove to the Detroit 30 on its last possession, but Ifeatu Melifonwu stepped in front of Jefferson near the goal line for the game-clinching interception.

Dolphins 22, Cowboys 20

Jason Sanders drilled a 29-yard field goal as time expired and Miami clinched an AFC playoff spot with a victory over Dallas in Miami Gardens, Fla.

Sanders kicked five field goals -- three of over 50 yards -- and Tua Tagovailoa was 24-of-37 passing for 293 yards and one touchdown for the Dolphins (11-4). Raheem Mostert caught a scoring pass and Tyreek Hill had nine catches for 99 yards for Miami.

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Dak Prescott threw two touchdown passes for Dallas, including an 8-yarder to Brandin Cooks with 3:27 remaining to give the Cowboys a one-point lead. But Miami answered by driving 64 yards on 12 plays to set up Sanders' decisive field goal. CeeDee Lamb caught six passes for 118 yards and one touchdown for the Cowboys (10-5).

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NCAA MARCH MADNESS: DUKE GET STUNNED BY MERCER

Duke is a formidable team during the College Basketball season in America but was left dumbfounded after being beaten by Mercer (Bears) who are 14 seed in the ranking.