Johnson was pleased with the effort and intensity Bears players demonstrated throughout the game. He lauded defensive linemen Jonathan Ford and Zacch Pickens and defensive backs Josh Blackwell and Tre Flowers for returning to the contest after exiting with injuries.
Second-year defensive end Austin Booker starred, registering three sacks including a strip-sack that resulted in a key takeaway that led to a Bears’ go-ahead TD.
On their first possession of the game, the Dolphins marched from their own 42 to the Chicago 1. On fourth-and-goal, linebacker Noah Sewell knifed into the backfield and dropped running back Jaylen Wright for a 3-yard loss, turning the ball over on downs. Sewell had forced a fumble earlier on the drive, but the ball bounced out of bounds.
The Dolphins took a 7-0 lead on running back Alexander Mattison’s 1-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter, capping a 7-play, 51-yard drive.
The Bears tied the game 7-7 on Tyson Bagent’s 4-yard touchdown pass to receiver Maurice Alexander in the back of the end zone on fourth-and-goal with 4:38 left in the first half. Alexander leaped high over two defenders to snare the ball.
“Tyson did a great job,” Johnson said. “That was one of those high back-five throws that we’ve been talking about. Maurice is actually the secondary option. No. 1 wasn’t there, so Tyson got to No. 2 and gave him a chance and [Alexander] climbed the ladder, went up there and got it and got both feet inbounds. Huge play for us there in there tight.”
The 16-play, 79-yard drive was highlighted by Bagent completions of 17 yards to receiver Devin Duvernay and 16 yards to rookie receiver Luther Burden III on third-and-15. Rookie running back Kyle Monangai rushed for 29 yards on five carries.
The Dolphins responded by taking a 14-7 lead on Wright’s 7-yard TD run up the middle with 1:45 remaining in the first half.
Miami had an opportunity to extend its lead when safety Patrick McMorris intercepted a deflected Bagent pass and returned it 20 yards to the Bears’ 46. But Pickens and fellow defensive lineman Dominique Robinson followed with sacks of backup quarterback Zach Wilson — with Robinson’s coming on fourth-and-6, turning the ball over on downs with :06 left in the half.
Bagent’s 13-yard pass to Burden with :01 to play gave Cairo Santos an opportunity to boot a 57-yard field goal and the veteran kicker split the uprights with plenty of distance to spare, closing the gap to 14-10 at halftime.
“Luther did a phenomenal job there catching that shallow route and getting out of bounds and having a second left,” Johnson said. “And then Cairo coming through with that big kick. That was pretty strong. I was joking with him like, ‘Shoot, man, we probably didn’t even need that many yards, we could have kicked it from backed up the way he nailed that thing.’
“You always talk about how you end the halftime. You want to end with the ball and by scoring points, so that was really well done by the whole group.”