Kyle Monangai powers Bears past Jets at Soldier Field

Monangai sets the terms

Kyle Monangai’s second touchdown run capped the sequence that put Chicago in command Sunday, October 4, as the Bears beat the New York Jets 23-12 at Soldier Field.

Monangai carried 30 times for 146 yards and two touchdowns, repeatedly giving the Bears an answer when the Jets found a little room. His 5-yard score with 2:26 left in the third quarter restored a two-score cushion after New York had turned a Chicago fumble into a field goal, moving the score from 13-6 to 20-6.

The Bears had established that control much earlier. Their first touchdown came at the end of a 14-play, 57-yard drive that lasted 7:01, with Monangai punching in a 1-yard run for a 7-0 lead. That score was the game’s largest win-probability swing, pushing Chicago from 71% to 80%.

Chicago’s answers outlast New York’s bursts

Minkah Fitzpatrick gave the Jets a chance to change the shape of the game when he intercepted Tyson Bagent and returned it to Chicago’s 34. New York converted that field position into a 36-yard field goal, but the Bears responded with two Cairo Santos field goals before halftime, including one as time expired, for a 13-3 edge.

The Jets cut it to 13-6 after the third-quarter fumble, but Chicago’s next meaningful answer was decisive: a nine-play, 72-yard, 4:26 march ending in Monangai’s second score. Santos then added a 21-yard field goal early in the fourth, stretching the lead to 23-6.

Geno Smith and Isaiah Williams supplied New York’s biggest strike, connecting on a 58-yard touchdown with 9:16 remaining. The missed extra point left the Jets at 12, however, and the earlier holes were too large. Smith finished 8 of 15 for 119 yards and a touchdown; Williams had two catches for 73 yards and the score.

The numbers behind the control

Chicago ran 86 plays to New York’s 32 and produced 500 passing-and-rushing yards against 178. Bagent completed 25 of 34 for 268 yards despite the interception, while Rome Odunze’s six catches for 94 yards helped sustain an offense that kept returning to favorable situations.

EPA measures expected points added on each play. The Bears posted 0.05 EPA per play, while the Jets were at minus-0.12; Chicago’s edge showed most clearly through the air, where it generated 0.10 EPA per play against New York’s minus-0.25. Chicago also had a 53% success rate — the share of plays with positive EPA — compared with 47% for the Jets.

The Bears improved to 3-1 and visit the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, October 11. The Jets fell to 1-3 and host the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, October 11.