Bears Pluck Win From Eagles

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Oct 22, 2007 1:17PM

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