Bears' Cordarrelle Patterson returns kickoff 104 yards for TD, ties NFL record

Tom Gatto

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Bears' Cordarrelle Patterson returns kickoff 104 yards for TD, ties NFL record image

Cordarrelle Patterson entered the NFL record book Monday night with a huge special teams play, his specialty, against his former team.

Patterson returned the second-half kickoff 104 yards for a touchdown to give the Bears their first lead of the game against the Vikings at Soldier Field. The runback was Patterson's eighth career kick return touchdown, tying the NFL record also held by Joshua Cribbs and Leon Washington. 

Patterson was in the clear after juking Minnesota kicker Dan Bailey at midfield.

Patterson recorded five of his kick return TDs with the Vikings from 2013-16. He has two with the Bears and another with the Patriots.

MORE: Scoring updates, highlights from Vikings-Bears

Patterson is filling his usual all-purpose role with the Bears this season. He entered Monday's NFC North contest with 17 receptions and 29 rushing attempts in nine games. But his work as a return threat remains the biggest part of his game. He came in leading the league with 24 kick returns and 652 yards.

UPDATE: The return was the Bears' only touchdown in a 19-13 loss.

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.