Chicago Bears can’t hold a 10-point lead and lose 20-17 to the Cleveland Browns on a dismal day for the offense

CLEVELAND — Dustin Hopkins made a 34-yard field goal with 32 seconds to play to lift the Cleveland Browns to a 20-17 victory over the Chicago Bears on Sunday.

The Bears defense disrupted Browns quarterback Joe Flacco all day, including interceptions by Eddie Jackson, Tremaine Edmunds and Tyrique Stevenson.

But Flacco came through when it mattered most.

His 51-yard touchdown pass to Amari Cooper tied the game at 17-17 with 3 minutes, 18 seconds to play. Flacco threw a perfect pass between three Bears defenders to Cooper, who ran 25 yards down the right sideline to score.

After the Bears offense had to punt on the following drive, Flacco threw two big passes to tight end David Njoku, the first a 31-yarder to get to the Bears 48-yard line. Then on third-and-15, Flacco hit Njoku with a 34-yard pass to the Bears 19.

When Hopkins’ field goal sailed through the uprights, it stopped the Bears from nabbing their first three-game winning streak since December 2020.

Flacco completed 28 of 44 passes for 374 yards with two touchdowns and the three interceptions.

Bears quarterback Justin Fields completed 19 of 40 passes for 166 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions, both on Hail Marys to end a half.

Fields completed a 30-yard pass to Tyler Scott to get the Bears to the Browns 45 with 20 seconds to play and then threw two incompletions. On a Hail Mary pass to end the game, wide receiver Darnell Mooney had the ball in his hands in the end zone, but it popped out and D’Anthony Bell grabbed it out of the air to seal the Browns victory.

The Bears took a 10-point lead in the third quarter.

After a 7-7 halftime tie, Edmunds’ first career pick-six came after T.J. Edwards hit wide receiver Cedric Tillman as the ball was coming at him. Edmunds grabbed it out of the air and ran 45 yards for the touchdown and a 14-7 Bears lead. Edmunds has four interceptions this year, including three in the last four games.

Cairo Santos made a 41-yard field goal to give the Bears a 17-7 lead with 7:07 to play in the third quarter.

Late in the third quarter, the Bears came up with a defensive stop, but returner Trent Taylor muffed the punt. The Browns recovered at the Bears 20.

On the next play, Stevenson intercepted Flacco at the 1-yard line and returned it 34 yards. But the Bears couldn’t capitalize on the takeaway. Fields was stopped for no gain on fourth-and-1 at the Browns 33 when he was tripped up just short of the first down.

Hopkins made a 33-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter to cut the Bears lead to 17-10. Former Bears wide receiver Marquise Goodwin got behind the defense to catch a 57-yard Flacco pass that set up Hopkins’ kick.