Bears show they can cut it

After a horrid debut against Green Bay last weekend, Jay Cutler showed exactly why the Chicago Bears were so happy to trade for him in the off-season. The quarterback came through with a big pass to Devin Hester on third down, and Robbie Gould booted a 44-yard field goal with 15 seconds left to lift the Bears to a 17-14 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.

Cutler finished with 236 yards and two touchdowns against the Super Bowl champions, and did not throw an interception after being picked off a career-high four times last week against the Packers. When asked about gaining possession with the clock winding down, the former Denver QB said: "I always hope to get a chance. I always think we're going to get a chance if it's three minutes or if it's 30 seconds.

"All we want is a shot." "In the face of pressure he made great decisions, put the ball in some good locations and guys converted third downs," said the Steelers coach Mike Tomlin. "They did enough to win, we didn't. We accept responsibility for that." Mark Sanchez connected with Dustin Keller on a go-ahead touchdown as the New York Jets beat New England Patriots 16-9. Tom Brady had a chance to tie it, getting the ball at the Patriots 10 with 1:48 left, but the Jets' defence stopped him as Dwight Lowery knocked away a pass to Joey Galloway on fourth down.

Brady was unable to engineer his 30th comeback victory. "We believe that we are the better team," said the Jets coach Rex Ryan said. "We went out and showed it. I think our fans are huge in this victory. I thought they were the difference." Lawrence Tynes kicked a 37-yard field goal with four seconds remaining to lift the New York Giants to a 33-31 victory over the Dallas Cowboys at the new Cowboys Stadium on Sunday.

An NFL-record crowd of 105,121 watched Dallas take a 31-30 lead with 3:46 to play when Felix Jones raced into the end zone for a seven-yard touchdown and Nick Folk added the extra point. But the Giants moved the ball back up the field and after the Cowboys negated Tynes's first kick by calling a time out just before he kicked the ball, the Giants kicker kept his composure to slot the winning field goal.

"People were talking about this like it was the Super Bowl in the second week of the season," said Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce. "We just came here to win a football game." The former US president George W Bush, the NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and the NBA player LeBron James were among a packed a crowd that saw the lead change hands eight times. Drew Brees once again showed that he had developed into one of the league's top quarterbacks, leading the New Orleans Saints to a 48-22 win at the Philadelphia Eagles.

Brees completed 25 of 34 passes for 311 yards, and threw three TDs, two of them to wide receiver Marques Colston. The Saints have scored 93 points in two games, with Brees throwing nine touchdowns. "We don't get caught up in the statistics. The job is to win. If we'd have won the game 3-0 today, we'd have been excited," the Saints coach Sean Payton said. The QB Kevin Kolb made his first NFL start for the Eagles in place of the injured Donovan McNabb. He threw for 391 yards and two touchdowns, but the more glaring statistics were his 20 incomplete passes and three interceptions.

Green Bay ran out of time at the Cincinnati 10-yard line as they lost 31-24 at home to the Bengals. The Packers kicked a late field goal and recovered an onside kick. The QB Aaron Rodgers then led them down the field before the clock expired. The defensive end Antwan Odom piled up a Bengals franchise record- tying five sacks in a game. Brett Favre set an NFL record with his 271st consecutive regular-season start as he led the Minnesota Vikings to a 27-13 victory over Detroit.

Frank Gore ran for 207 yards, including TD runs of 79 and 80, as the San Francisco 49ers beat Seattle 23-10. The Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis preserved the Ravens' 31-26 win by stopping the running back Darren Sproles on a fourth and two in the closing seconds. The Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers threw for a career-high 436 yards in a losing cause. Matt Schaub threw for 357 yards and four TDs, while Kris Brown kicked a 23-yard field goal in the closing minutes as Houston beat Tennessee 34-31.

Arizona beat Jacksonville 31-17 and Atlanta overcame Carolina 28-20. Buffalo had a 33-20 home win over Tampa Bay while the Washington Redskins were woeful, despite a 9-7 win over St Louis. Oakland won 13-10 at Kansas City and Denver beat Cleveland 27-6. * With agencies