The Bears allowed their third special-teams touchdown of the season in Sunday's loss to the Vikings, as Marcus Sherels returned a punt 65 yards for a score.
Earlier this season, the Bears gave up kickoff return touchdowns of 108 and 105 yards in back-to-back defeats to the Cardinals and Seahawks.
On Sunday, Sherels caught Pat O'Donnell's 45-yard punt in the middle of the field, broke to his right and headed down the sideline untouched into the end zone. The return gave the Vikings a 7-3 lead late in the first quarter.
"Well, they practice and get paid too," said coach John Fox. "That's why you play the game. We probably didn't contain as well as we should have from the left side in two areas, without naming names. Like all plays that don't work, they're not executed as well as they need to be."
Tied Luckman: With a 21-yard touchdown pass to Alshon Jeffery, quarterback Jay Cutler tied Pro Football Hall of Famer Sid Luckman's all-time Bears record with 137 TD passes.
It was Cutler's 17th career TD pass to Jeffery. The only player who has caught more TDs than Jeffery is Brandon Marshall with 26. Greg Olsen is third with 13.
Impact player: Jeffery's TD was his second in three games this season and his ninth in his last 10 contests dating back to last year. He scored Sunday by outleaping cornerback Xavier Rhodes in the left corner of the end zone.
"That's why we throw it up to him," Cutler said. "That's why we have him out there. That's why we take chances with him because he can make plays like that. I thought he played well. We still have to keep finding ways to get him the ball and get him open on some coverages."
In catching 10 passes for 116 yards, Jeffery topped 100 yards in back-to-back games for the second time in his career. He also accomplished the feat in Weeks 4-5 in 2013. Jeffery now has 10 career 100-yard games, the sixth most in Bears history.
Dialing long distance: Robbie Gould's season-long 55-yard field goal Sunday was his fourth of the season from 50 yards and beyond, increasing his career franchise record to 20. After missing a 51-yard attempt later in the game, Gould is now 20-of-27 from 50 yards or more in his career. Sunday's miss was his first of the season after making his first 17 attempts.
Sack artist: Outside linebacker Pernell McPhee recorded his team-leading fifth sack of the season Sunday and now has at least one sack in three straight games. McPhee is the first Bears player with at least five sacks and one interception in the first seven games of a season since Brian Urlacher in 2000.
Picked off: Cornerback Kyle Fuller's interception of Teddy Bridgewater Sunday was the first takeaway of the season by the Bears secondary. It was Fuller's fifth career pick and first since last year's season finale in Minnesota when he also victimized Bridgewater.
