The Chicago Bears squeezed past the Carolina Panthers 23-22 to improve to 6-1 and 4-0 at Soldier Field.

Running back Matt Forte took the lead early in the first quarter on a 13 yard rushing touchdown. Forte had 70 yards on 15 rushes along with his one touchdown. Forte also caught five passes for 24 yards.

In the 2nd quarter, after a Jay Cutler fumble the Carolina Panthers responded; Cam Newton scrambled and dove in the end-zone but was hit and fumbled. Luckily the ball was recovered by Louis Murphy for the touchdown to go ahead 10-7.

The Panthers took advantage of Chicago’s weak offensive line and sacked Jay Cutler six times in the first half. Panthers kicker, Justin Medlock kicked three consecutive field goals to pull ahead 19-7.

In the 4th quarter, Jay Cutler put the Bears back on board. Cutler and tight-end Kellen Davis connected on a 12 yard-pass for his only reception of the day. The touchdown cut the Bears deficit to 19-14.

On the ensuing drive, on 1st and 10 on Carolinas 20 yard-line Newton dropped back to hit wideout Steve Smith who slipped, Tim Jennings jumped the rout and intercepted the pass to take it back for seven and give the Bears the late 20-19 lead. Jennings recorded two interceptions, a total of six on the year.

The Panthers almost responded with an incredible catch by Smith, but the veteran was unable to hang onto the ball. As a result, Medlock kicked a 45 yard field goal off the goal pole to go back ahead 22-20.

Cutler and Brandon Marshall connected four times on the final drive to help push the Bears into field goal range. On 2nd and 7 with four seconds left, Robbie Gould nailed a 41 yard field goal for the win.

Cutler finished the game completing 19-of-28 passes for 186 yards one touchdown, one interception and two fumbles. Cutler favorite target Marshall, caught nine passes for 98 yards.

Newton completed 20-of-39 passes for 314 yards threw two interceptions and two fumbles. Steve Smith, caught seven passes for 118 yards.

Carolina will head to FedEx field next week to take on the Washington Redskins. The Bears will be on the road next week against the Tennessee Titans as they look to stay atop the NFC North division with the Vikings and Packers breathing right behind their necks.

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Move over Peyton Manning. The all-time rookie passing record set by the Colts quarterback back in 1998 was broken on Christmas Eve by the electrifying Cam Newton.Newton surpassed Manning’s mark of 3,739 yards with a 171 yard display in the Panthers’ (6-9) 48-16 thrashing of the Bucs (4-11).

“It’s very nice to do something with a record that’s so prestigious in this league,” said Newton. The number one pick in this year’s draft accounted for 4 touchdowns on the day, 3 passing and one rushing – the exact figures he posted against Tampa Bay only 3 weeks ago, ironically.

As for the Bucs, the common theme during their 9 game losing streak plagued them once again – turnovers. Tampa Bay gave it away 4 times on Saturday, giving them an overwhelming total of 28 during their slide. Carolina turned takeaways into early Christmas presents, scoring half of their points off of them.

“The mistakes led to points, and that’s been the difference between this year and last,” said coach Raheem Morris. “When you can’t maintain possession, this is the result. It causes lopsided results. It causes mental mistakes. It causes poor performances on defense, and out-of-character offense. Things begin to spiral out of control.”

These turnovers are also making Morris’ seat hotter by the week. The Bucs look nothing like the team that came out of the gate 4-2. Carolina struck first blood on the game’s opening possession when DeAngelo Williams went untouched into the end zone on an 8 yard carry to conclude a 9 play, 80 yard drive. Sixty of the yards came on the ground for the Panthers, while the other 20 broke Manning’s record for Newton.

Williams added his second and final touchdown run in the 3^rd quarter with a 22 yard sprint down the right sideline on a pitch from Newton to give Carolina a 27-10 lead. Carolina players were definitely in the holiday spirit. Every player that scored a touchdown made his way to the stands and handed the ball to a fan. LeGarrette Blount’s fumble on Tampa Bay’s first possession would not be tolerated by Morris. Blount was immediately benched for the remainder of the first half.

After the Panthers turned the fumble recovery into a 21 yard field goal, it appeared that the Bucs responded to Blount’s benching, as they went on their longest touchdown drive of the year. A coach’s challenge overturned the initial ruling of an incompletion to finish off a 15 play, 9 minute and 20 second drive with a touchdown catch by Arrelious Benn.

Carolina went into halftime with a 20-10 lead after the team’s exchanged field goals following Brandon LaFell’s superb 91 yard touchdown reception. The play was the longest touchdown pass in team history for the Panthers. Josh Freeman’s interception on the first drive of the 3^rd quarter by Jonathan Nelson led to another Panthers touchdown. Nelson was signed off the practice squad just one day earlier.

A Kellen Winslow fumble later in the quarter led to an 11 yard touchdown catch by Jonathan Stewart on a 60 yard drive for Carolina. The Panthers would score two more touchdowns during the game – a 49 yard dash right up the middle for Newton and Jeremy Shockey’s 4^th touchdown of the season, thanks to a kickoff return fumble by Tampa’s Sammie Stroughter.

Freeman’s one yard touchdown sneak with about 11 minutes remaining would be the final scoring play for either side. Freeman passed for 274 yards, completing 28 of 38 attempts. Newton would be replaced by backup Derek Anderson after Tampa’s failed 2 point conversion attempt.

The Bucs defense will now look to rebound in Atlanta on New Year’s Day after giving up 48 points in a game for the second time this season. The last thing they want to do is send Morris off, having lost his final 10 games as coach. For the Panthers, it’s all about continuing to move in the right direction. A win at the Saints in Week 17 for first year coach Ron Rivera would mean a 5 game improvement upon the team’s 2-14 2010 campaign.

“I believe there is certainly that kind of talent in the locker room where we can certainly take the next step and become a very competitive football team (next year),” said Rivera. “We have that ability.”

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Looks like Bucs fans will have another NFC South quarterback to fear for a long time. Imagine being a team that has to face Matt Ryan and Drew Brees a total of four times every season. Everyone would cringe at the thought. Now throw in the beastly physical specimen that is Cam Newton. The result is a divisional schedule that just became a living nightmare.

Newton and the Panthers put on an absolute clinic in Tampa on Sunday with a 38-19 victory. This would have been a great matchup of two young, athletic quarterbacks going at it, however Josh Freeman was unable to start for the Bucs. He injured his throwing shoulder on the final play of last week’s loss at Tennessee.

Making his fifth career start and taking his place was quarterback Josh Johnson. Johnson had an overall decent day against the Carolina defense. The third year quarterback from San Diego went 16-27, throwing one touchdown on 229 yards passing. He also added 45 yards on the ground. His only glaring mistake came on the first drive of the third quarter.

He was not prepared for the shotgun snap, causing a rushed throw and interception. The day belonged to Cam Newton, however. The number one overall pick in this year’s draft had four total touchdowns. Three of the scores came with his feet, and the final one made history. With a two yard touchdown run in the third quarter, Newton set the all-time record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback with 13.

He passed former Patriots quarterback Steve Grogan in just the 12^th game of his career. Newton was proud of the accomplishment, but would not take all of the praise for himself.“It does mean something to me. I’m not going to sit up here and say it doesn’t mean something. I’m not focusing on individualism in this game.

It’s still 11-on-11. I don’t think I could’ve done anything without those other 10 guys, most importantly the five guys who are blocking their tails off each and every snap.” His first touchdown came on the game’s opening drive, which went 83 yards on seven plays. He concluded it with a high leap across the goal line on 2^nd and goal from the one.

Carolina took a 14-0 lead after Jonathan Stewart had his own one yard touchdown run, which was set up on a 27 yard catch and run by Newton on a double pass. Stewart led the team in rushing with 80 yards on 14 carries. LeGarrette Blount, in contrast, had a miserable day with just 19 yards on 11 attempts for the Bucs.

While the Panthers were getting into the end zone, the Bucs were continuously settling for field goals until it was too late. It was a one possession game after the lead was cut to 14-6, but Newton quickly changed that. He went on to lead an 80 yard drive that concluded with a laser 19 yard touchdown pass to receiver Legedu Naanee.

The drive was Carolina’s 17^th of the season that went at least 80 yards and resulted in a touchdown – the most in the NFL. The Bucs added two more field goals to the Panthers’ one to make the score at halftime 24-12. Newton continued to dominate and added his final two rushing touchdowns in the second half. Meanwhile, Johnson and the Bucs were unable to score anything other than a late touchdown by Dezmon Briscoe.

On a day where Cam Newton did a lot of scoring with his legs, his arm also accounted for 204 yards on 12-21 passing. He continues to develop as a serious matchup problem for opponents on a weekly basis. While the future seems bright in Carolina, things just continue to fall apart for Tampa Bay after a promising 4-2 start. The Bucs suffered their sixth straight loss after falling to the Panthers, and coach Raheem Morris did not hide his frustration following the game.

“I can take getting beat by a better football team. I wish they were. The foolish things that happened in that game, as far as penalties, some of the things that we caused, are just unacceptable. We are not playing like a smart football team right now.” With no realistic shot at the playoffs, the Bucs are left with nothing to play for now except pride and respect.

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The Detroit Lions were able to pull off a come-from-behind win as they beat the Carolina Panthers 49-35. This game was a tale of two halves as the Lions struggled early in the first quarter, turning the ball over on their first three possessions of the game. Matthew Stafford accounted for two of those turnovers as he threw two interceptions, and left fans wondering if his injured throwing hand was going to be a problem.

The other turnover was committed by running back Keiland Williams, which eventually led to a Cam Newton touchdown pass to Steve Smith. On Lions turnovers the Panthers were able to jump out to a 10-0 lead after the 1^st quarter. In the 2^nd quarter, Stafford settled down, found his offensive groove and managed to score 14 points off two touchdown throws to recently reacquired Kevin Smith and wide out Titus Young.

The only problem was that Newton had the Panthers offense moving up and down the field just as effectively and extending the Panther lead to 13 going into halftime. That would be the last time the Panthers would have the lead as Stafford and the Lions put on a clinic and owned the second half. In the 3^rd quarter the Lions defense didn’t allow the Panthers to cross their own 40 yard line and when they did, linebacker DeAndre Levy came up with an interception that brought a productive Panthers drive to a screeching halt.

With the defense becoming stingy and providing favorable starting position for the offense, Stafford tacked on two more touchdowns to give the Lions their first lead of the game. Early in the fourth quarter the Lions extended their lead off a Smith rushing touchdown. Smith provided unexpected positive production; he was picked up by the Lions to fill the void left by Jahvid Best who has missed three games with lingering concussion symptoms.

Down eight points, Newton had no expectations of letting this game slip through his hands; he composed an 80 yard drive culminating in a touchdown and a two point conversion to Smith to tie the game at 35. However, the combination of Stafford and Smith proved to be too much as they both scored touchdowns on the next two Lion possessions.

Stafford ended the day with five touchdowns and hopefully laying to rest that his injured hand will affect his play. The Lion faithful can only hope that this is true with the undefeated Packers coming to town next week.

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The Carolina Panthers had their first comfortable game against the Washington Redskins, leading in the score all four quarters to win 33-20. The Redskins put up a strong fight to stay with the Panthers throughout the game. John Beck threw 22 for 37; he collected 279 yards, one touchdown, and one interception.

Tim Hightower, along with Fred Davis, helped the most in making scoring chances for Washington. Hightower got 17 rushing attempts and 88 yards, while Davis made six receptions for 80 yards and a touchdown.

Rookie quarterback Cam Newton carried the Panthers through the second half, throwing 18 to 23 for 256 yards and one touchdown pass to Brandon LaFell. Steve Smith helped get the ball down the field, catching seven passes for 143 yards. Jonathan Stewart and Cam Newton also ran for one touchdown apiece, running for a total of 127 yards.

The Washington Redskins (3-3) lost their best receiver in Santana Moss to injury –  a broken bone in his hand - in the first half. Along with that, Hightower also injured his knee in the third quarter. According to the Associated Press on Fox Sports, the severity of Hightower’s injury is unclear.

The Redskins travel to face the Buffalo Bills next Sunday, while the Panthers go back to North Carolina to face the Minnesota Vikings.

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