Bears Hang On, Beat Bucs in London
By Chuck Sudo in News on Oct 24, 2011 1:30PM
The Bears treated their preparation for yesterday's matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in London as just another game, saving the sightseeing for later. But sloppy play late meant they had to hang on for dear life for a 24-18 win at Wembley Stadium.
Matt Forte carried the Bears early. Forte weaved his way through the Tampa Bay defense and scored on a 32-yard run to give establish an early 7-0 lead. Forte rushed for 145 yards on 14 carries and caught two passes for 38 yards as he became the first player this season to gain over 1,000 all-purpose yards from scrimmage.
The running game didn't stop with Forte. Marion Barber gained 39 yards on six carries, including a 12-yard touchdown run to establish a 21-5 lead in the third quarter. With the way the Bears were playing on both offense and defense the game looked in hand. That's when the Bucs began to claw their way back into the game. Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman tossed touchdown passes to Kellen Winslow and Dezmon Briscoe to cut the lead to 21-18. Bears receivers started dropping more passes and the tightened defense tightened against the run. The Bears pass defense played more prevent late.
Robbie Gould added an insurance field goal before D.J. Moore intercepted Freeman late in the game to seal the Bears win. Freeman passed for 264 yards, but threw four interceptions. Jay Cutler was 17 for 32 with 266 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. Roy Williams finally caught a touchdown pass and had something to celebrate other than catching first downs.
The difference maker in this game was Matt Forte. Forte has been the Bears' best player on both sides of the ball this season and, with each game, is adding value to whatever contract he signs in the offseason, whether with the Bears or another team. The Bears enter the bye week at 4-3, a game behind the Detroit Lions in the NFC North. With Green Bay rolling along as the NFL's only unbeaten team, the Bears are clearly playing for the Wild Card at this point. They've rebounded well from a 2-3 start, but the holes in their game that earned the Bears those three losses are still there and, unless Lovie Smith and his coaching staff can do some serious camouflage during the bye week, those holes will eb exploited later in the season.
Fortunately Smith and his staff can look back to the bye week last season as a reference point. The Bears limped into last year's bye in a similar fashion but came out of it and wound up winning the NFC North title.