Sunday, October 23, 2011 01:00 PM (ET)

Recap: Bears 24, Buccaneers 18

SportsDirect Inc. staff
Oct 23, 2011

Matt Forte had another big game and the Chicago Bears held off a fourth-quarter rally to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24-18 on Sunday at London's Wembley Stadium.

Forte, who entered with an NFL-best 908 yards from scrimmage, rushed for 145 yards and a touchdown and had two catches for 38 yards to lead Chicago to its second straight victory.

The Bears (4-3) took command early and held a 21-5 advantage before Josh Freeman led Tampa Bay on two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter to get within a field goal.

Freeman was unable to deliver a third scoring drive in the quarter, as D.J. Moore intercepted a pass over the middle with 27 seconds left to seal it.

Chicago intercepted Freeman four times to send Tampa Bay to its second loss in London in three years. The Bears were playing at Wembley Stadium for the first time since a preseason game in 1986, the season following their Super Bowl victory.

The Buccaneers (4-3) would have had more than three minutes for the potential winning drive if not for a personal foul penalty against cornerback Aqib Talib.

Tampa Bay had stopped the Bears on third down, but Talib was called for the penalty away from the play, which prolonged the Bears' drive and allowed them to run the clock down to the two-minute warning before Robbie Gould's 25-yard field goal made it a six-point game.
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