John Parker Romo made a 29-yard field goal to lift the Minnesota Vikings to a 30-27 overtime win against the host Chicago Bears on Sunday afternoon. Romo buried the game-winning kick in his third career game for Minnesota (9-2), which won its fourth game in a row. The score capped a 10-play, 68-yard drive for the Vikings after the Bears went three-and-out on the first overtime possession. Sam Darnold completed 22 of 34 passes for 330 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Vikings. Wideout Jordan Addison finished with eight catches for a career-high 162 yards and a touchdown. The overtime defeat spoiled an impressive performance from rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, who completed 32 of 47 passes for 340 yards and two touchdowns for Chicago (4-7). D.J. Moore had seven catches for 106 yards and a touchdown, and Keenan Allen finished with nine catches for 86 yards and a score. Chicago erased an 11-point deficit in the final 22 seconds of regulation to send the game to overtime. Romo had put Minnesota on top 27-16 when he made a 26-yard field goal with 1:56 remaining in the fourth quarter. Williams trimmed the Bears' deficit to 27-24 with 22 seconds to go. He rolled right and found Allen wide open in the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown, and moments later he fired a strike to Moore for a two-point conversion. The Bears recovered an onside kick on the next play to regain possession at their 43-yard line with 21 seconds left. Cairo Santos' onside kick bounced off the foot of Vikings tight end Johnny Mundt, and Tarvarius Moore recovered it. D.J. Moore put the Bears in field-goal position with a 27-yard reception across the middle of the field, and Santos made a 48-yarder as time expired to even the score at 27-all. Minnesota led 24-10 after three quarters. Romo made a 40-yard field goal early in the third quarter, and Aaron Jones punched in a 2-yard run with 1:22 left in the period to put the Vikings on top by two touchdowns. Addison and Jalen Nailor each had receiving touchdowns in the first half for Minnesota. Roschon Johnson scored on a 1-yard run for the Bears' only touchdown of the first half. Chicago trailed 14-10 at the break. --Field Level MediaLOS ANGELES — Top-ranked South Carolina felt something it hasn't known in over 2 1/2 years. The sting of defeat after being thoroughly dominated in a 77-62 loss to No. 5 UCLA on Sunday. Gone was the overall 43-game winning streak. Done was the run of 33 consecutive road victories. And the No. 1 ranking it's held for 23 consecutive polls will disappear Monday. "This is what we usually do to teams," coach Dawn Staley said. "We were on the receiving end of it." South Carolina hadn't lost since April 2023, when Caitlin Clark and Iowa beat the Gamecocks in the national semifinals of the NCAA Tournament. The Bruins (5-0) shot 47% from the floor and 3-point range, hit 11 of 14 free throws and had five players in double figures. "They actually executed our game plan to a T," Staley said. The Gamecocks (5-1) were held to 36% shooting, had just two players in double figures and neither was leading scorer Chloe Kitts, who was held to 2 points on 1 of 7 shooting. They never led, got beat on the boards, 41-34, and were outscored 26-18 in the paint and 8-1 in fast break points. They only made eight trips to the free throw line. "Our kids fought," Staley said, "but we ran into a buzzsaw." South Carolina did manage to limit 6-foot-7 UCLA star Lauren Betts, who had 11 points and 14 rebounds, despite no longer having a dominant center of their own. The Bruins responded by getting the ball to others and eight of their 10 players scored. "We did an excellent job on Betts and we got killed by everyone else," Staley said. Tessa Johnson was the only other Gamecock in double figures with 14. "We needed a lot more than Tessa today," Staley said. The Gamecocks never got their offense in gear, starting the game 0 for 9 before trailing 20-10 at the end of the first quarter. They were down 43-22 at halftime. "Our shot selection is something we're dealing with on a daily basis," Staley said. The Gamecocks outscored UCLA 40-34 in the second half, but the Bruins' big early lead easily held up. "Beautiful basketball by UCLA," Staley said. "You can't help but to love up on it cause it was fluid on both sides of the ball." Given that it's only late November, the Gamecocks have plenty of time to figure things out. "We had some really good contributions from people that don't play a whole lot and we could probably give a little bit more minutes to," Staley said. "Taking a loss will help us focus on anybody that we play."Martin scores 17, Southeast Missouri State beats Westminster (MO) 88-39
Protecting QBs from violent late hits like the one that leveled Trevor Lawrence isn’t easy
Schmidt scores 19 off the bench, Valparaiso downs Eastern Illinois 81-53No. 1 South Carolina experiences rare sting of loss
Vikings withstand Bears' furious rally, win on field goal in OT
SYDNEY, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Asian shares edged lower on Monday as high Treasury yields challenged lofty Wall Street equity valuations while underpinning the U.S. dollar near multi-month peaks. Volumes were light with the New Year holiday looming and a rather bare data diary this week. China has the PMI factory surveys out on Tuesday, while the U.S. ISM survey for December is due on Friday. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) , opens new tab dipped 0.2%, but is still 16% higher for the year. Japan's Nikkei (.N225) , opens new tab eased 0.2%, but is sitting on gains of 20% for 2024. South Korea's main index has not been so fortunate, having run into a storm of political uncertainty in recent weeks, and is saddled with losses of more than 9% for the year. It was last off 0.35%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures were both off 0.1%. Wall Street suffered a broad-based sell off on Friday with no obvious trigger, though volumes were just two-thirds of the daily average. . The S&P 500 is still up 25% for the year and the Nasdaq 31%, which is stretching valuations when compared to the risk-free return of Treasuries. Investors are counting on earnings per share growth of just over 10% in 2025, versus a 12.47% expected rise in 2024, according to LSEG data. Yet yields on 10-year Treasuries are near eight-month highs at 4.631% and ending the year around 75 basis points above where they started it, even though the Fed delivered 100 basis points of cuts to cash rates. "The continued rise in bond yields, driven by the reassessment of less restrictive monetary policy expectations, creates some concern," said Quasar Elizundia, a research strategist at broker Pepperstone. "The possibility that the Fed may keep restrictive monetary policy for longer than expected could temper corporate earnings growth expectations for 2025, which could in turn influence investment decisions." Bond investors may also be wary of burgeoning supply as President-elect Donald Trump is promising tax cuts with few concrete proposals for restraining the budget deficit. Trump is expected to release at least 25 executive orders when he takes office on Jan. 20, covering a range of issues from immigration to energy and crypto policy. Widening interest rate differentials have kept the U.S. dollar in demand, giving it gains of 6.5% for the year on a basket of major currencies . The euro has lost more than 5% on the dollar so far in 2024 to last stand at $1.0429 , not far from its recent two-year trough of $1.0344. The dollar held near a five-month top on the yen at 157.71 , with only the risk of Japanese intervention preventing another test of the 160.00 barrier. The strength of the dollar has been something of a burden for gold prices, though the metal is still 28% higher for the year so far at $2,624 an ounce . Oil has had a tougher year as concerns about demand, particularly from China, kept a lid on prices and forced OPEC+ to repeatedly extend a deal to limit supplies. Brent fell 37 cents to $73.80 a barrel, while U.S. crude lost 17 cents to $70.43 per barrel. Sign up here. Reporting by Wayne Cole;Editing by Shri Navaratnam Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. , opens new tabVinay Kumar trolls Sanjay Manjrekar for his medium pacer comment: 120kmph, seriously?
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