Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler said he made a mistake when he flipped the ball to a Minnesota Vikings defender after scrambling out of bounds, drawing a penalty and potentially costing the Bears a touchdown on Sunday.

With the Bears leading 7-3 in the first quarter, Cutler scrambled for 5 yards and elected not to slide, stiff-arming the Vikings' A.J. Jefferson before being forced out of bounds at the Minnesota 18-yard line. On his way back to the huddle Cutler flipped the ball to Jefferson which drew a 15-yard penalty for taunting.

The penalty backed the Bears up to the Vikings' 28-yard line and turned a drive with touchdown potential into a 47-yard field goal by Robbie Gould.

"It took some points off the board," Cutler said Monday on "The Jay Cutler Show" on ESPN 1000. "I think we got a field goal there and we could have had seven. Four points gone, and I've got to be smarter than that. If anyone else on offense had done that I would have probably yelled at him like it can't happen here. I can't do it again obviously."

Of course, the penalty didn't prove too costly, as the Bears took a 25-3 lead into halftime on their way to a 28-10 victory.