Morning Box Score: Bears Beat Browns
By Benjy Lipsman in News on Nov 2, 2009 4:00PM
Having fallen to .500 by losing two straight after a 3-1 start to the year, the Bears looked to right the ship against the 1-6 Cleveland Browns at Soldier Field on Sunday. While the Bears came away with a 30-6 victory, it was hardly the reassuring victory the team and fans were looking for. Sure the Bears managed to score 30 points on Sunday, but the team's offense repeatedly encountered trouble when it found itself inside the redzone against the league's worst defense. On three separate occasions the team had to settle for field goals and once even turned the ball over on downs. The Bears may have scored 30 points, but that they didn't capitalize on opportunities to score forty or more was a failure.
Matt Forte gained 90 yards rushing, but needed 26 carries to do so -- only 3.5 yards per attempt. Jay Cutler managed only a 66.7 rating by completing 17 of 30 passes for 225 yards and an interception. His favorite target on the day was Devin Hester, who racked up 81 yards on 7 catches.
The Bears' defense played a more respectable game, intercepting the ball twice and recovering three fumbles while holding the Browns to less than 200 yards of offense. Then again, they did all that against the Cleveland Browns. The defense gave the offense excellent field position all day, which the offense usually didn't capitalize fully on. While the offense had trouble finding the end zone, Charles Tillman found it after his fourth quarter pick -- scoring the Bears' first defensive TD of the year. "We've got to get better," Cutler said. "Coming into November and December, you've got to be playing your best football to make a push to the playoffs." The Bears host the 4-3 Arizona Cardinals next week. If they have any hopes of thinking about the postseason, we'll need to see a much better effort against the defending NFC champs.
The Bears also paid tribute to Walter Payton at halftime of yesterday's game. We'll have more on that tribute a little later this morning.