Bears maul Cowboys in NFL to share division lead

Chicago defenders Charles Tillman and Lance Briggs returned interceptions of Tony Romo passes for touchdowns to spur the Bears past Dallas 34-18 in a National Football League game. Chicago improved to 3-1 and matched the Minnesota Vikings for the NFC North lead after the first quarter of the NFL season while the Cowboys slid to 2-2, one game behind NFC East division pace-setter Philadelphia. Romo matched a career-worst outing by surrendering five interceptions, helping the Chicago defensive unit boost their takeaways total to an NFL-best 14 turnovers forced. Tillman returned his pickoff 25 yards for a touchdown with 2:38 remaining in the second quarter to give the Bears a 10-0 lead. Dallas pulled to 10-7 at half-time on Romo's 10-yard touchdown toss to Miles Austin 14 seconds before the end of the second quarter. But Devin Hester boosted the Bears' lead with a 34-yard touchdown run 3:06 into the third quarter and Briggs returned an interception 74 yards for a touchdown 5:43 later, giving Chicago a 24-7 advantage. After an exchange of field goals, Chicago added a touchdown on Jay Cutler's 31-yard pass to Brandon Marshall and the Cowboys trimmed their final deficit on Kyle Orton's 5-yard touchdown pass to Jason Witten with 34 seconds remaining.