Four-goal outburst in the last road match of the season gives Chicago consecutive 60-goal seasons for the first time in Club history
COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (Oct. 31, 2026) – Chicago Fire FC (16-10-7, 55 points) earned a 4-2 victory over the Colorado Rapids (12-14-7, 43 points) on Saturday night at DICK'S Sporting Goods Park. The victory held Chicago in fourth place in the Eastern Conference with only one match left in the 2026 MLS Regular Season.
Winger Jonathan Bamba scored twice in his second consecutive match with a goal before forward Robert Lewandowski struck his third game-winning goal of the season. The four goals pushed Chicago's total to 61 for the season, marking the first time the Fire have scored 60 goals or more in back-to-back seasons.
With a need for points to clinch a postseason spot, Designated Player Morgan Whittaker struck first in the 22nd minute for the home side. The visitors responded shortly before halftime with their own Designated Player, as Bamba got on the end of a deflected cross from right back Jonathan Dean to tap home his second goal in as many games.
The Fire took a brief lead in the second half in similar fashion. Bamba dribbled through the left before switching to fellow winger Philip Zinckernagel on the right. Zinckernagel spotted an overlapping Dean on the right, who played a perfectly placed ball across goal for Bamba to tap home for his second of the night.
Colorado rallied and got the equalizer seconds after Chicago took the lead. Shortly after the hour mark, a handful of substitutions came into the match, including Lewandowski. The Polish striker put the visitors up for good just over 10 minutes after entering the match after forward Johan Gómez held a challenge off enough to play to Zinckernagel in the middle. The Swiss winger spotted Lewandowski making a run on the left, dumping off a ball in the left channel that the forward used to round the goalkeeper and finish for the 3-2 lead.
More changes on the field led to the final goal of the night for the Men in Red. Minutes into his first game back from injury, midfielder André Franco dispossessed an opponent in the center circle to send another substitute, Andrew Gutman, on a run up the left. Gutman centered to Lewandowski, who turned and fed winger Puso Dithejane a wide-open pass in the Colorado box. Just 36 seconds after entering the match, Dithejane slotted home the final goal of the night to finish the Fire's road portion of the regular season in winning fashion.
NEXT MATCH: Chicago returns home for the season finale, facing longtime rivals Columbus Crew on Decision Day on Saturday, Nov. 7. Kickoff at SeatGeek Stadium is set for 3:00 p.m. CT. The match will be broadcast globally on Apple TV, and transmitted locally on wlsam.com in English and TUDN Chicago 106.7-HD2 on the Uforia platform in Spanish.
Match Notes:
- Jonathan Bamba scored twice in his second straight match with a goal. This marked the winger's first multi-goal appearance with Chicago, as well as his first time scoring in consecutive matches. After scoring three times in his first 24 matches of the season, Bamba has equalled the tally in only his last two matches for a total of six goals in 2026.
- Robert Lewandowski scored his seventh goal of the regular season, also assisting Puso Dithejane on his third. The match was his fourth of the season with multiple goal contributions, the first since another goal and assist performance on the road against Seattle on August 29.
- Philip Zinckernagel recorded two assists in a match for the fourth time with the Fire tonight in Colorado. His first multi-goal contribution appearance since May 16 also took him into 9th place all-time among Fire players in both the assist category and goal contribution category.
- Tonight's four-goal output gave Chicago 61 goals for the season, the first time in Club history the Fire score 60 goals or more in back-to-back seasons. After posting a record 68 goals in 2025, the 2026 tally equals that of the 2017 side that made the postseason. It also gave the Fire 31 goals scored on the road this season, the second most in any single campaign behind last year's 43.
- Chicago's victory in Colorado was the seventh away from home in 2026, two short of the Club record set last year. The 16 combined victories are the most in any two-year stretch in Fire history, one more than the 15 between 1998 and 1999.
- Tonight's attendance of 15,031 at DICK'S Sporting Goods Park gave the Fire a final road attendance of 420,840 this season, the most in Club history. The total was also the second-highest for any team outside of Inter Miami CF in Major League Soccer.
- Defender Noah Allen appeared in the 100th regular season match of his career, becoming the fourth Fire player to reach the milestone this year after Chris Brady, Maren Haile-Selassie and Jonathan Dean.
- Defender Sam Rogers (Lower Body) and midfielder Robin Lod (Lower Body) were not available for selection.
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Box Score:
Colorado Rapids 2:4 Chicago Fire FC
Goals:
COL - Whittaker (5) (Minoungou 4, Frederick 7) (WATCH) 22'
CHI - Bamba (5) (WATCH) 41'
CHI - Bamba (6) (Dean 2, Zinckernagel 11) (WATCH) 56'
COL - Aaronson (8) (Minoungou 5, Yapi 3) (WATCH) 58'
CHI - Lewandowski (7) (Zinckernagel 12, Gómez 2) (WATCH) 74'
CHI - Dithejane (3) (Lewandowski 5, Gutman 7) (WATCH) 88'
Discipline:
CHI - Allen (Caution) 45+1'
COL - Navarro (Caution) 51'
COL - Ojediran (Caution) 68'
COL - Ku-DiPietro (Caution) 70'
COL - Holding (Caution) 90'
CHI - Gutman (Caution) 90+2'
Chicago Fire FC: GK Brady, D Dean, D Elliott (capt.), D Mbokazi, D Allen (Gutman, 82'), M Salétros, M D'Avilla (Mekvabishvili, 63'), M Zinckernagel (Dithejane, 87'), M Bamba, F Gómez (Franco, 81'), F Haile-Selassie (Lewandowski, 63')
Subs not used: GK Cohen, D Barroso, D Hanche-Olsen, M Pineda
Head Coach: Gregg Berhalter
Colorado Rapids: GK Hansen, D Rosenberry (capt.) (Cobb, 62'), D Holding, D Williams, D Navarro, M Ojediran (Abu Farki, 77'), M Frederick, M Whittaker, F Aaronson, F Yapi (Phillip, 62'), F Minoungou (Ku-DiPietro, 67')
Subs not used: GK Beaudry, GK Dowd, D Travis, F Harris
Head Coach: Matt Wells
\\Stats Summary: COL / CHI
\\Shots: 15 / 14
Shots on Goal: 4 / 6
Saves: 2 / 2
Passing Accuracy: 89.6% / 81.6%
Corners: 5 / 6
Fouls: 11 / 14
Offsides: 0 / 5
Possession: 57.1% / 42.9%
Venue: DICK’S Sporting Goods Park (Commerce City, Colo.)
Attendance: 15,031
Referee: Malik Badawi
Assistant Referees: Jeremy Hanson, Felisha Mariscal
Fourth Official: Gerald Flores
VAR: Carol Anne Chenard
AVAR: Robert Schaap
