Quarterback Erik Kramer routinely saved seasons when he was with the Detroit Lions. In the process, he won games that put the Lions in the playoffs, then won in the playoffs.
But guiding an 0-7 team back from a 15-point deficit Monday night in Miami somehow meant more than many of those others.
“I would say that, in a way, this is the most satisfying win I’ve ever had,” Kramer reflected. “I’ve played in some big games before and won them, but this, just the way it all came down, we grow from an experience like this.”
Monday’s 36-33 overtime victory over the Miami Dolphins was satisfying for more than Kramer. It was nothing less than one of the most important victories by a Bears team this decade, certainly in the last five years under coach Dave Wannstedt.
It left the Bears 1-7 at the season’s halfway point. But it was a victory that, with its excitement and character statement by a team trailing in the fourth quarter by more than two touchdowns, stopped the emotional drain.
The victory also stopped, at least for a week, any slippage in the Wannstedt regime. When Bears President Michael McCaskey said Monday that he did not envision making a coaching change this year, it was followed by a caveat that he would be looking for signs of progress and continued fight from Wannstedt’s Bears. McCaskey saw plenty of both Monday night.
But most important was what the victory represented to the Wannstedt program. Had the Bears gone through an eighth consecutive week of routine with nothing to show for it, even Wannstedt acknowledged it could have put a strain on the players’ faith in his program.
“I think everyone knows how tough the first couple months have been,” he said. “The toughest thing is, when the players are playing as hard as they do and practice as hard as they have been, you have to get some kind of return for what you’ve been putting into it. You keep telling them the same things over and over again, and they keep buying into it.”
What the players clearly continued to buy into was the belief in what effort can accomplish. For seven games, all the effort resulted in nothing. Then came Monday night.
For Carl Reeves, it was recovering the fumble caused by Barry Minter’s sack of Dan Marino to set up Jeff Jaeger’s winning field goal. It was, Reeves said simply, the biggest play of his pro career. And he matter-of-factly said that there was never an instant of doubt that he would emerge from the pileup with the ball.
“Anytime a ball hits the ground in a game, practice, whatever, I’m coming up with it,” Reeves said. “If I have to grab somebody by the groin, spit in their eye, whatever–if they don’t let go of it, I’m going to get it.”
Did he have to do that sort of thing in this pileup? “Yes. I had to do that. Yes. We came down here for one purpose: to win a game. Mission accomplished.”
The Miami game was also significant for what didn’t come out of it. Marty Carter, Curtis Conway and Raymont Harris were all hurt at various times during the game. Harris and Carter were forced out of the game with a shoulder injury and dislocated finger, respectively.
All three are projected to play Sunday against the Washington Redskins. Had any or more than one of them been lost for an extended period, the Bears would be virtually back where they were in the early weeks of this season, when Conway and the offensive line were beset by injuries and the losses began to flow.
Conway and numerous teammates played through periods of dehydration and cramps Monday. Fullback Tony Carter suffered a concussion early, then returned later in the game. And despite the health concerns, the Bears made winning plays.
“You don’t take a win like this lightly,” Kramer said. “We’ve shown that we can compete with anybody. We gave them two scores, did everything we could to try to give the game away, yet we still came back and had enough steam at the end. We had guys dropping out with cramps, getting dinged up. Whoever was left stepped up and made plays.”
The one-point loss to the Green Bay Packers before the bye did not kill the spirit of the team. Had the Miami game gone the other way, though, the Green Bay game would have been an aberration. Now it was simply the first of two games against good teams in which the Bears proved that they belong.
Two touchdowns down with 7 minutes remaining, they thought they were still in the Miami game. Turns out they were.
“We never gave up,” Conway said. “It wasn’t a case of whether or not we had a chance. We just never gave up. We’re never going to give up.”
