Chicago beats Tampa Bay in OT

CHICAGO — The Chicago Bears earned homefield advantage throughout the playoffs the hard way.

Chicago blew a 24-3 second-half lead Sunday and then recovered with big plays from backups Rashied Davis and Adrian Peterson in overtime to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 34-31.

Robbie Gould, who'd missed earlier in overtime from 37 yards, connected on a 25-yard field goal with 3:37 left to give the Bears the victory.

The win, coupled with Washington's upset of New Orleans, clinched the homefield advantage for the Bears (12-2). The NFC North champions had already earned a first-round bye.

Gould's field goal came after Davis made an over-the-shoulder catch of 28 yards on a third-and-8 pass from Rex Grossman to get to the ball to the Tampa Bay 20.

Peterson, Chicago's third-team tailback, then had runs of 2 and 11 yards to move the ball to the 7.

Trailing by three TDs in the third quarter, the Bucs (3-11) stunned the Bears with three fourth-quarter touchdowns, tying the game on Tim Rattay's 44-yard TD pass to Ike Hilliard with 3:44 left.

Rattay, who replaced the struggling Bruce Gradkowski in the first half, also had a 64-yard TD pass to Joe Galloway that capped a 95-yard drive in the final quarter.

Tampa Bay ended a 13-quarter drought without a touchdown when Mike Alstott scored on a 14-yard run with 25 seconds left in the third quarter.

That made it 24-10 and moments later the Bucs got back in the game when Bears' rookie kick return star Devin Hester — who had two TDs last Monday — fumbled the ensuing kickoff after a hit by Blue Adams with Wesly Mallard recovering at the Chicago 16.

Rattay hit Alex Smith with a 9-yard TD pass early in the fourth and suddenly the Bucs were within a touchdown.

But Grossman, who finished 29-of-44 for 339 yards, hit four straight passes in a 77-yard drive, connecting with Clark on an 18-yarder, and Cedric Benson's 4-yard TD run made it a two-touchdown advantage with 9:23 to go.

But the Bears couldn't put it away.

Clark caught seven passes for 125 yards and a pair of touchdowns, all but one of the receptions coming in the first half when the Bears built a 21-3 lead.

Bears starting nose tackle Tank Johnson, arrested Thursday for possession of firearms without proper identification, was inactive for the game. Early Saturday morning, Johnson was at a downtown Chicago bar when his friend, Willie B. Posey, was shot to death during a fight.

A team spokesman said Johnson was not at Soldier Field on Sunday.

Hester, who has an NFL-record six returns for TDs this season, lined up as a wide receiver late in the first quarter, but Grossman's pass to him on the outside was too way low and incomplete. Hester fumbled three times on kicks, losing just one.