Lance Briggs shook his head at the thought of how close he and the Bears had come to something truly bad on a Sunday of extremes.
“It got scary there for a minute,” the linebacker said.
Very scary, in fact, and for more than a minute. The Bears, their No. 1-ranked defense and all their Pro Bowl defenders came within one more missed tackle of being caught from behind by a Packers team that had nothing to play for.
One by one, a succession of Bears redeemed themselves. Briggs repeatedly missed tackles in the first half. Then he deflected two Brett Favre passes and stepped in front of one in Green Bay’s right flat in the third quarter, returning it 10 yards for what looked like a decisive touchdown and a 24-7 lead.
“It was one of those where you think he isn’t going to throw it, he isn’t going to throw it, he’s going to throw it,” Briggs said.
The Bears, beaten for 15 first downs, nearly 200 yards of offense and conversions on five of eight third downs in the first half, picked themselves up and put Favre down when it mattered most.
They harassed the Green Bay legend into two intentional-grounding penalties and three interceptions in the second half, capping it with sacks by Tank Johnson and Alex Brown on two of the final three plays and a Chris Harris interception on the last play.
“All I was doing was just working hard, trying to get to the quarterback.” Johnson said. “He’s a great quarterback. He’s not going to give you anything.”
In the end, however, he gave Harris two interceptions, perhaps only fitting since Harris had given Favre and the Packers help with poor plays earlier. Harris, guilty of pass interference and a personal foul in the first half, missed a tackle that allowed receiver Donald Driver to sprint 56 yards to open the Packers’ last possession.
But he also intercepted a Favre pass early in the fourth quarter before his game-sealer at the Bears’ 13.
“The D-line got after him that last series and really got after him on that last one, and he had to throw one up, kind of a desperation move,” Harris said. “I just read it and broke over.
“I knew we had to hold on to that one. I didn’t want to be the one who was the weak link and give up a touchdown there.”
