Kirk Cousins threw for 292 yards and two touchdowns, and the Minnesota Vikings overcame a 104-yard kickoff return by Chicago's Cordarrelle Patterson to beat the Bears 19-13.
Cousins won for the first time in 10 career Monday night starts. He hit Adam Thielen with a 6-yard TD early in the fourth quarter to put Minnesota on top 19-13, and the Vikings hung on for their third straight win. They also snapped a four-game losing streak against Chicago. Bears quarterback Nick Foles got taken from the field on a cart in the game's final minute after landing on his right, throwing shoulder.
In NFL news:
Former New York Giants cornerback DeAndre Baker has been cleared of robbery charges in Florida after his alleged victims' attorney was arrested on extortion charges. Prosecutors announced Monday they were dropping all charges against Baker. That came shortly after the county sheriff's office arrested attorney William Dean and charged him with extortion. Baker had been charged with holding up four men at gunpoint at a May barbecue in suburban Fort Lauderdale. Dean allegedly told Baker's attorney his clients would stop cooperating with investigators and change their stories in exchange for $266,000 each. Dean's law partner declined comment. Baker was released by the Giants after his arrest.
New York Jets quarterback Sam Darnold will be sidelined for a second straight game as he recovers from an injured right shoulder. Coach Adam Gase said Monday that Joe Flacco will start in Darnold's place when the winless Jets take on the Chargers in Los Angeles on Sunday.
The Kansas City Chiefs signed Andy Reid and Brett Veach to contract extensions that will provide added stability by keeping the most successful coach and general manager combination in franchise history together well into the future. The Chiefs reached back-to-back AFC championship games and won their first Super Bowl title in 50 years last season.
The San Francisco 49ers have placed defensive lineman Arik Armstead on the COVID-19 reserve list. The 49ers are on a bye this week and don't play again until Nov. 29 against the Los Angeles Rams so it's unclear if Armstead will miss any time.
Browns fullback Andy Janovich was placed on the COVID-19 reserve list, a day after he played 26 snaps in a 10-7 win over the Houston Texans. The team was notified of Janovich's positive coronavirus test on Monday and immediately closed its facility in Berea, Ohio, to conduct contact tracing.
The Tennessee Titans have placed linebacker David Long on the COVID-19 reserve list, and the team facility remains open based on the results of contact tracing. Tennessee had the weekend off after losing to Indianapolis and Long went into self-isolation.
NCAA
The NCAA says it plans to hold the entire 2021 men's college basketball tournament in one location to mitigate the risks of the coronavirus. It is in talks with Indianapolis to be the host city. The Final Four is already set to be held in Indianapolis next year. The association said it is relocating early round games that had been scheduled for 13 cities across the country. The NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee says hosting all 68 teams in one place is safer.
In other college sports news:
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has canceled its men’s and women’s winter ice hockey seasons. In a statement, RPI says the move was a difficult decision meant to “safeguard the students, faculty staff and community from the COVID-19 virus.” The move by the campus in Troy is the latest blow to college sports with COVID cases continuing to rise across the Northeast.
No. 5 Texas A&M will not play for a second straight week. Saturday's home game against Mississippi has postponed because of lingering issues with COVID-19 within the Aggies' program. The game could be made up Dec. 19, the day of the SEC championship game.
The former fencing coach at Harvard and a wealthy Maryland businessman have been arrested on accusations that the coach accepted $1.5 million in bribes in exchange for helping the businessman get his two sons into the Ivy League school as recruited fencers. Peter Brand, who was fired by Harvard last year, and Jie "Jack" Zhao face a charge of conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery. Their arrest comes more than a year after a newspaper reported that Brand sold his home for nearly double its assessed value to Zhao. Attorneys for Brand and Zhao said the men deny the allegations.
NBA
A person familiar with the deal says the Detroit Pistons have agreed to trade Bruce Brown to the Brooklyn Nets for Dzanan Musa and a 2021 second-round draft pick. The 6-foot-9 Musa was a first-round pick in 2018. He averaged almost five points in 40 games last season.
Also, All-Star guard Chris Paul has been traded from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Phoenix Suns, where he'll play alongside one of the league's most dynamic young scorers in fellow All-Star Devin Booker. The Thunder got Ricky Rubio, Kelly Oubre, Jalen Lecque, Ty Jerome and a 2022 first-round pick. The Suns also got Abdel Nader from the Thunder. The trade sending Paul to the Suns from Oklahoma City was completed Monday night, a blockbuster to start what could be a wild few days of NBA transactions before training camps begin next month.
In other NBA news:
A federal appeals court says a jury can decide whether former New York Knicks star Charles Oakley was ejected from Madison Square Garden with excessive force. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday reinstated a lawsuit Oakley brought against the team's owners after he was forcefully removed as a spectator at a Knicks game in February 2017.
Kristaps Porzingis will miss the start of the season as the Dallas Mavericks star continues recovery from surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee. Director of basketball operations Donnie Nelson says the club is being cautious.
Two-time NBA All-Star Victor Oladipo and his business manager, Jay Henderson, have joined an ownership group to purchase the New Zealand Breakers of the Australian National Basketball League. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the deal will make Oladipo one of the world's youngest basketball owners.
MLB
Curt Schilling, Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds are the leading candidates returning to baseball’s Hall of Fame ballot in a year without any favorites among the new names. Schilling was third behind Derek Jeter and Larry Walker with 278 of 397 votes last year, finishing at 70% and 20 votes shy in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Clemens had 242 votes for 61% and Bonds 241 for 60.7%. Pitchers Barry Zito, Tim Hudson, Mark Buehrle and A.J. Burnett, and outfielder Torii Hunter are among the top newcomers on the ballot.
In other MLB news:
The San Diego Padres say pitcher Mike Clevinger needs Tommy John surgery and will miss the 2021 season. The Padres made the announcement after reaching agreement with the right-hander on an $11.5 million, two-year contract. Clevinger's surgery is set for Tuesday. The Padres got Clevinger in a trade with Cleveland on Aug. 31. He left his last start of the regular season with what was later described as an elbow impingement. He missed the wild-card series against St. Louis and then was removed in the second inning of the NL Division Series opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers after his velocity dipped dramatically.
Left-hander Drew Smyly became the first of the 181 free agents to switch teams when he agreed to an $11 million, one-year contract with the Braves. The 31-year-old Smyly pitched seven games last season for the San Francisco Giants, making five starts. He went 0-1 with a 3.42 ERA.
NHL
The Buffalo Sabres have signed their first-round draft pick, forward Jack Quinn, to a three-year entry level contract. Quinn was selected with the No. 8 pick in the draft last month. The 19-year-old from Ottawa is coming off a season in which his 52 goals in 62 games ranked second in the Ontario Hockey League.
Also — just months after winning the Stanley Cup — officials with the Tampa Bay Lightning says they're eliminating 30 positions, in a sign that even winning a championship doesn't spare a team from the effects of the coronavirus. Team officials said Monday that the positions were across the company and effective immediately. The layoffs represent less than 10% of the team's workforce. Because the National Hockey League's postseason was played in bubbles in Canada, the team didn't earn any revenue from the playoffs.
TENNIS
Daniil Medvedev has pulled off an underhand serve while outlasting Alexander Zverev to join Novak Djokovic as a winner at the ATP Finals on day two in London. Medvedev prevailed 6-3, 6-4. Djokovic cruised past Finals debutant Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 6-2 in an empty O2 Arena. Djokovic and Medvedev will meet on Wednesday. Medvedev led 4-3, 30-30 in the second set when he surprised Zverev with a quick underhand serve. It brought the German to the net and he lost the point when his backhand block volley flew long.
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