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This time, their late comeback attempt worked. For the second week, the Bears drove down the field in the final two minutes to score a critical touchdown. But unlike last week's loss to the Vikings, the Bears put the final points on the board and held on to beat the Philadelphia Eagles 19-16.
For the first three quarters, neither team had any success getting the ball into the end zone. Repeated trips into the "red zone" resulted in field goals at best. The Eagles kicked three in the first half while the Bears got one, resulting in a 9-3 game at the half.
The Bears scored three unanswered field goals in the second half to take a 12-9 lead before Philly scored a TD with less than five minutes to go in the game. The Bears couldn't possibly counter, could they?
Getting the ball back with two minutes left in the clock, Brian Griese drove the Bears down the field -- hitting Bernard Berrian and Devin Hester on two key completions before finding Muhsin Muhammad in the back of the end zone for the game winning touchdown.
Griese seems to have settled into the role of starting QB. He completed 66% of his passes for 322 yards and the TD, while avoiding any turnovers. Now, of only the Bears could solve their running game problems...
While the offense won the game, the defense played much better than in previous weeks and kept the game close enough to allow for the comeback. They limited the Eagles to just the one touchdown in the second half.
At 3-4, the season isn't lost yet. A 2-5 start surely would have been the end, but a win next week against the Lions would get the Bears back to .500. Can they still salvage their season, or will we look back on these wins and lament the lower draft pick?
Photo by REUTERS/Tim Shaffer
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Nice recovery by the Bears. The announcers said that Berrian whiffed on a block on McKie's red zone run. The truth was worse—Berrian didn't even try to block Omar Gaither. He stood there like an idiot. I like Berrian, but that pissed me off. The team has its back against the wall and he effectively cost them a TD.
Berrian is looking like he is pretty soft, and is starting to get a reputation around the league as such. Tough corners are jamming him on the line and he can not shed the jams. He has no elusiveness, just speed, which does you no good if you cant get some open field to run in. He is going to be looking for top receiver money this off season, with his new agent Rosenhaus, and unless he turns this year around he will be laughed at by every GM in the league. Pantagrapher you are so right, he pulled up on that missed block at the goal line. He really looked like a scared little boy out there.
When I heard Brian Baldinger make that comment about Berrian on the air yesterday, I knew people would be repeating it today. The pass was in the air and Berrian was not at the line of scrimmage. If he had blocked the linebacker at that point, it would have been offensive pass interference. The only places you can block when the ball is in the air is at the line of scrimmage and the offensive backfield. That being said, I do think Berrian is a little soft, but he's getting criticized for not committing a stupid penalty at the goal line.
I just figured Berrian was lined up in the slot so he could block—otherwise, it's a critically flawed formation. It's a quick fullback screen; the ball is in the air for a split second. If it's too early to block, roll out a step and then block. I'd be willing to believe he was concerned about being called for pass interference were this not a pattern of behavior—you think Hines Ward would have just stood there?
Berrian had his back to the fullback, so he did not know if the ball was caught or not. The way Berrian has been playing this year, his field awareness has been pretty miserable. I am inclined to believe that he just chickened out on the block, not that he had the smarts to not get a pass interference call.
It seems to me if it is pass interference that play is designed horribly. Can a receiver not block within 5 yards regardless if the ball has been caught or not?
He could have just run a pattern that would have put himself "conveniently" in the way of the linebacker at the right moment. It would technically be a pick, but they rarely call it.
Hines Ward would have set a pick. He would have turned toward the QB as if expecting a pass and put his hip and backside into the linebacker, but Berrian isn't Hines Ward. Ward is one of the canniest receivers out there. Good point, Pantagrapher.
Did you guys see the undeserved offensive pass interference on Olson? He sure as hell didn't push off, he got bumped by the Eagles linebacker at it assisted him hith his pattern.