Dolphins Survive Scare at Chicago for Third Straight Win

In a riveting battle between young quarterbacks Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Fields, the Miami Dolphins survived a major scare at Soldier Field for their third consecutive victory.

The Dolphins got a defensive stop after the two-minute warning after a non-call on what looked like a blatant defensive pass interference penalty and a fourth-down drop to secure a 35-32 victory over the Chicago Bears that moved them to 6-3 on the season.

TAGOVAILOA SHINES THROUGH THE AIR, FIELDS ON THE GROUND

Tagovailoa passed for 302 yards with three touchdowns, no interceptions and a 135.7 passer rating, while Fields set an NFL single-game record for rushing yards by a quarterback with 178, including a 61-yard touchdown.

Tyreek Hill had 143 receiving yards on seven catches, breaking his unique streak of always going over 100 yards in even-numbered weeks but never in odd-numbered weeks.

Jaylen Waddle also had an effective game, with 85 yards on five catches.

Newcomers Bradley Chubb and Jeff Wilson Jr. both made their Dolphins debut and they saw extensive action.

Chubb wasn't much of a factor, though he did have a couple of quarterback pressures. Wilson had a nice outing, with 51 yards rushing thanks to a gain of 28 yards in the second half and also caught three passes.

DOLPHINS OFFENSE COMES UP SHORT DOWN THE STRETCH

With Tua sharp in distributing the ball, the Dolphins offense was borderline unstoppable for most of the game until it started coming up short late in the third quarter and in the fourth quarter with two failed fourth-down situations.

The offense also failed to kill the clock late after two running plays lost a yard and Tagovailoa underthrew a wide open Waddle on third-and-11 to give the Bears a last chance at a comeback.

After a sack by Duke Riley on second down, Fields threw a deep pass to Chase Claypool that fell incomplete around the Dolphins 20-yard line and TV replays clearly showed cornerback Keion Crossen pulling Claypool at the waist from behind as the ball fell incomplete.

The Dolphins had three different double-digits leads, starting with a 21-10 advantage after Jaelan Phillips blocked a punt and Andrew Van Ginkel returned the ball 25 yards for a touchdown, but the Bears kept coming back, thanks mostly to the play of Fields.

Tua's 18-yard touchdown pass to Waddle made it 28-17 early in the third quarter before Fields answered with a 61-yard touchdown scramble.

The Dolphins answered with a 75-yard touchdown drive capped by Tua's 10-yard TD pass to Jeff Wilson, but the Bears came back with Fields' 4-yard touchdown pass to Kmet to make it 35-32 with 11:38 left in the fourth quarter.

That set the stage for the hectic finish, which turned out in the Dolphins' favor as they moved to within a half-game of the Buffalo Bills atop the AFC East after the Bills lost against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for reading. Make sure to bookmark this site and check back daily for the latest Dolphins news and analysis year-round. Also, you can follow me on Twitter at @PoupartNFL, and that's where you can ask questions for the regular All Dolphins mailbags. You also can ask questions via email at fnalldolphins@yahoo.com.