Landover, Md. • Still far from being a good team, Washington is at least a successful team for a change.
Washington gave up a special teams touchdown to Devin Hester who didn't see that coming? and had its defense shredded by a backup quarterback playing his first regular season game in 21 months.
It took advantage of an injury-depleted Chicago Bears defense and scored its most points since 2005, needing every morsel of offense from Robert Griffin III and Co., right down to Roy Helu's game-deciding 3-yard touchdown with 45 seconds remaining.
They beat the Bears 45-41 Sunday, raising their record to 2-4 while not doing much to alleviate the doubts surrounding the reigning NFC East champions.
"When we go watch the film," Griffin said, "we won't watch it with smiles on our face. ... But I think we made enough plays today to win the game, and that's all matters."
Griffin completed 18 of 29 passes for 298 yards with two touchdowns and one interception, and he also ran 11 times for a season-high 84 yards. Helu rushed for three scores, and third-round rookie tight end Jordan Reed had a breakout performance with 134 yards and a touchdown, catching all nine passes thrown his way.
"Every game is big, but we sure needed it after being 1-4," coach Mike Shanahan said. "You don't want to dig yourself a bigger hole."
Washington's two victories have come against backup QBs Matt Flynn, who has since been released by the Oakland Raiders and now Josh McCown, who entered Sunday's game in the second quarter after Jay Cutler left with a groin injury.
McCown was seeing his first action since the 2011 season, but the Bears improved with him in the game. Chicago had 46 yards of total offense in the first half and 313 in the second. He completed 14 of 20 passes for 204 yards, including a 7-yard touchdown pass to Martellus Bennett that gave his team a 41-38 lead with 3:57 to play.
"I didn't ask him what he liked, what he didn't like," Bears coach Marc Trestman said. "I just called the plays according to the plan we had put together. I thought he functioned very well in the offense."
Matt Forte rushed for three touchdowns, Alshon Jeffery had 105 yards receiving, and Hester tied Deion Sanders' NFL record for return touchdowns with an 81-yard punt runback. Washington 45, Bears 41
Chicago 10 7 7 17 41
Washington 3 21 7 14 45
First Quarter
First Quarter
Was • FG Forbath 38, 11:28.
Chi • FG Gould 47, 7:03.
Chi • Forte 2 run (Gould kick), 6:02.
Second Quarter
Was • Helu Jr. 14 run (Forbath kick), 13:44.
Was • Orakpo 29 interception return (Forbath kick), 13:27.
Chi • Hester 81 punt return (Gould kick), 5:52.
Was • Reed 3 pass from Griffin III (Forbath kick), :27.
Third Quarter
Chi • Forte 50 run (Gould kick), 6:34.
Was • Helu Jr. 3 run (Forbath kick), 3:19.
Fourth Quarter
Chi • Forte 6 run (Gould kick), 12:44.
Was • A.Robinson 45 pass from Griffin III (Forbath kick), 10:55.
Chi • FG Gould 49, 8:39.
Chi • M.Bennett 7 pass from McCown (Gould kick), 3:57.
Was • Helu Jr. 3 run (Forbath kick), :45.
Attendance • 83,147.
Chi Was
First downs 21 28
Total Net Yards 359 499
Rushes-yards 22-140 43-209
Passing 219 290
Punt Returns 3-85 0-0
Kickoff Returns 7-105 3-53
Interceptions Ret. 1-28 1-29
Comp-Att-Int 17-28-1 18-29-1
Sacked-Yards Lost 2-13 1-8
Punts 3-49.0 5-43.6
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-0
Penalties-yards 5-30 5-47
Time of Possession 26:04 33:56
Individual Statistics
Rushing • Chicago, Forte 16-91, McCown 4-33, Jeffery 2-16. Washington, Morris 19-95, Griffin III 11-84, Helu Jr. 11-41, Young 1-0, A.Robinson 1-(minus 11).
Passing • Chicago, McCown 14-20-0-204, Cutler 3-8-1-28. Washington, Griffin III 18-29-1-298.
Receiving • Chicago, Marshall 6-75, Jeffery 4-105, E.Bennett 3-24, Forte 2-18, M.Bennett 1-7, M.Wilson 1-3. Washington, Reed 9-134, Garcon 5-58, A.Robinson 2-75, Hankerson 1-26, Helu Jr. 1-5.