Brandon Marshall caught a 19-yard pass from Jay Cutler for the go-ahead touchdown with 7:58 left to play. It capped an eight-play, 81-yard drive that featured a successful fourth-and-one conversion.
Matt Forte scored from a yard out with 3:22 left in the third period as the Bears pulled to within 21-17.
The Bears defense had its hands full all day with A.J. Green, who caught two first-half touchdown passes and drew a pass interference penalty on the first drive of the third quarter that set up a Benjarvus Green-Ellis 5-yard TD run for a 21-10 Bengals lead.
At that point, nothing seemed to be going the Bears’ way, and Trestman credited his team afterward for hanging tough.
“We kept fighting through it, it’s a credit to each and every guy,” Trestman, who reportedly was handed the game ball by linebacker Lance Briggs, told WBBM-AM 780. “They were good teammates to each other today. They stuck together and were able to find a way to win the game.”
Charles Tillman commited the penalty that covered 34 yards as the Bengals marched 80 yards in 12 plays.
After Green scored his second touchdown of the day on a 45-yard pass from Andy Dalton to give the Bengals a 14-7 lead with 3:01 left before halftime, Robbie Gould nailed a career-best and team-record 58-yard field goal to make it 14-10 at intermission.
Green also scored on a 2-yard TD poss from Dalton with 2:38 remaining in the first quarter. It capped an impressive nine-play, 97-yard drive.
The Bears had drawn first blood, as quarterback Cutler hit new tight end Martellus Bennett on an eight-yard touchdown pass for a 7-0 lead with just under 10 minutes to play in the first quarter. The touchdown call stood after a review.
The seven-play, 36-yard scoring drive was set up by a Charles Tillman interception of a Dalton pass.
Cutler completed 10 of 19 passes for 70 yards and one TD in the first half. He had a passer rating of 78.8. Forte had 27 yards rushing on 11 carries (2.5 average).
The Bengals had 245 total yards; the Bears had 97.
Marc Trestman made his debut as an NFL head coach with the Bears after serving in that capacity with the Montreal Alouettes in the Canadian Football League for five years. Trestman’s extensive resume as an NFL assistant coach and mentor for quarterbacks encouraged Bears general manager Phil Emery to hire him to replace Smith.
The Bears entered the game with a 17-3 record in home-openers over the last 20 years.
Source: Chicago Tribune, ESPN Chicago
Photo: Chicago Bears