CHICAGO, Ill. - DeMarco Murray and Cole Beasley both struck paydirt with as the Dallas Cowboys lead the Chicago Bears 14-7 at the halftime break Thursday night.
Martellus Bennett put Chicago on the board to end an 80 yard drive.
Both sides secured their first scores after converting 4th-down plays, to DeMarco Murray and Brandon Marshall respectively.
Marshall would be injured on his conversion and retreated to the locker room.
Cole Beasley gave the Cowboys the lead with 8 seconds left in the half on a 13 yard receiving score.
Murray was responsible for 46 of the 51 yards gained on the Cowboys' first charge and touched the ball on every play until the Cowboys resorted to passing in the goal-to-go series.
Dallas drove from their own 49 yard line after a deflected Bears punt.
Murray rushed right for 9 yards to start before taking a pass for 11 yards to the Bears 34. Murray rushed for 8 yards over left guard and again over the right to the Bears 22.
His 2nd-and-9 rush went for 8 yards to the Bears 13, and after some short gains would convert the 4th-and-1 to the Bears 9 when a hole came open through the middle of the line.
Murray kept straight ahead for 3 more to the Bears 6 and on 2nd-and-Goal Romo's pass for Dez Bryant into double coverage was batted in the end zone.
Dallas went wide for the 3rd-to-Goal snap a throw left to Cole Beasley near the goal line before being stopped inches shy by Christian Jones.
Tony Romo went 17-of-21 for 123 yards and DeMarco Murray rushed 16 times for 65 yards. His 8 receptions gained 45 yards for Dallas.
Jay Cutler responded for the Bears (5-7) with a scoring drive over 8 plays.
He darted a 42 yard completion over the middle to Brandon Marshall after the receiver broke away from coverage, juggling the ball several times in mid-air before securing the circus-catch.
Chicago had until then gained 20 yards of offense.
The drive would stall and on 4th-and-7, but Cutler zinged a conversion to Brandon Marshall to the Cowboys 15.
Cowboys safety Barry Church signalled immediately to the Bears sideline that the receiver was injured on the catch. Marshall left the field slowly and went into the locker room and with help after staying on the turf for several minutes.
Church inadvertently kneed Marshall in the back and side on the reception in the midst of his tackle. He was deemed questionable with a rib injury.
Cutler resumed play for the Bears, floating a 12 yard touchdown to Martellus Bennett, the former Cowboy, to bring the home side within a 7-7 tie.
But Dallas (8-4) would respond over the next six minutes, beating the clock to take the lead.
Romo's 3rd-and-5 toss to Dez Bryant for 7 yards preserved the Cowboys' possession after the Bears' score.
Murray danced through traffic on a 2nd-and-12 catch and on 3rd-and-4, crossed midfield for 5 yards, his 6th reception to the two-minute warning.
Romo was pressured from the pocket and completed a pass to Murray in the flat that was brought down by Scott McClellin for a 5 yard loss. His 2nd-and-15 throw was high and out of play.
Jason Witten saved the drive on the next play, his first catch of the night, for 19 yards on the resulting 3rd-and-15 to the Bears 34.
With 1:02 remaining, Romo found Bryant for 8 more yards to the sideline, and with the clock running down to 40 seconds, the next throw for Bryant was high, though he was open.
Witten converted the fourth of four Cowboy third-downs on the drive for a 7 yarder to the Bears 19 with 30 seconds left.
Murray caught to the 13 before Cole Beasley snagged the deciding ball to the 5 and charged himself into the end zone through Chris Conte and Jon Bostic.
Beasley would not be denied the second time as he had the first.
Jay Cutler finished with 100 yards passing completing 10-of-13 passes.
Dallas is 6-0 on the road this season and Chicago 2-3 at Soldier Field.
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