Bears rookie makes history with long TDs on D
CHICAGO — Bears rookie safety Eddie Jackson had a historic performance in Sunday’s first half against the Carolina Panthers.
Jackson became the first player in league history to score multiple 75-plus-yard defensive touchdowns in one game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
A fourth-round pick out of Alabama, Jackson scooped up a live ball that bounced off the hands of Carolina’s Curtis Samuel — officially scored as a fumble by Panthers quarterback Cam Newton — and returned it 75 yards for a touchdown on the game’s opening drive.
Jackson struck again in the second quarter, when he intercepted a deflected Newton pass intended for Kelvin Benjamin and took it back 76 yards for a score.
Jackson is the first player with two defensive touchdowns in a game since Tennessee’s Zach Brown in Week 17 of 2012. He’s also the first player to return both a fumble and an interception for a touchdown in the same game since former Chargers defensive back Antonio Cromartie accomplished the feat in Week 8 of 2007.
Largely thanks to Jackson’s heroics, the Bears led Carolina 17-3 at halftime — the first time the Bears had been up by 14 points at halftime since the 2015 season versus the Rams. Chicago won that game 37-13.
