Bears Alone in First After Overtime Win : NFC: Walsh-to-Graham bomb sets up Butler’s game-winning field goal against Arizona.

Kevin Butler kicked the Chicago Bears right into first place in the NFC Central.

“It could have been Greg Davis or me there at the end. Either one of us could have done it,” Butler said Sunday after his fourth field goal of the day, a 27-yarder with 6:49 left in overtime, ended his duel with the Arizona kicker and gave Chicago a 19-16 victory over the Cardinals.

The Bears (8-4), who learned during the game that Tampa Bay had beaten the Vikings, took over sole possession of the division lead heading into a Thursday night game at Minnesota.

“It feels great, but there’s still four or five games left,” Coach Dave Wannstedt said. “We still have a big game at Minnesota.”

Arizona (5-7) needs to win its last four games to finish above .500 under first-year Coach Buddy Ryan.

“The way you tackle in a football game is a great indicator of how ready you are to play,” Ryan said. “Our tackling today was unacceptable.”

The Cardinals seemed out of it until defensive end Keith McCants batted a pass by Steve Walsh, pulled it down and lumbered 46 yards to score with 7:36 to play and cut Chicago’s lead to 16-13.

After Arizona’s defense held, Jay Schroeder led a 13-play drive that ended in Davis’ game-tying 47-yard field goal with 58 seconds left.

Davis then squibbed the kickoff, it hit Chicago’s Bob Christian and Terry Irving of the Cardinals recovered it on his own 45-yard line. But the Bears held at midfield and time ran out.

“I think we’re starting to come into our own,” Wannstedt said. “We’re not giving up. For them to come back the way they did, and for us to hold our composure and still have a chance to win at the end, it says a lot for this team.”

Arizona received the overtime kickoff but had to punt after one first down. A pair of six-yard passes to Greg McMurtry and Jeff Graham preceded a 44-yard Walsh-to-Graham bomb that moved the ball to the 20.

Walsh said he saw Cardinal safety Terry Hoage racing to the sideline to cover another receiver.

“We had kind of a fly route called on the outside, and when I turned to look to throw it to Nate (Lewis), their free safety, who had middle-of-the-field responsibility, just flew over there,” Walsh said. “When he went so hard over there, I knew Jeff was lurking in the middle of the field.”

Said Graham, “They blitzed everybody; they brought the house, I made an adjustment, and Steve just laid it over the middle.”

Butler hit his winning kick three plays later.