If there was ever a night the Bears were certain to lose, it was Monday night in the desert. Down 20 at the half. Down 20 again with eight seconds to go in the third quarter. But the Bears rallied with 21 unanswered points to snatch victory from the beak of defeat. Oh, those poor Arizona Cardinals. A recap of perhaps the greatest comeback by the Bears:
Robbie Gould kicks off. Here we go.
1. For a Bears’ defense that allowed more points in the first half than it had in its previous two games combined, holding Arizona without a first down to start the third quarter is a good sign.
2. The Bears take over at their 29 with 13:11 left in the third. The offense comes out humming. Thomas Jones is running for first downs, Rex Grossman is throwing for them. But the drive stalls at the Cardinals’ 5, leaving Lovie Smith a huge decision. Smith’s call? See John Mullin’s second key play below.
3. Arizona gets the ball back with 7:22 to go in the quarter. The Cardinals are on their way to another three-and-out but a roughing-the-kicker penalty keeps the drive alive. It ends with a Neil Rackers field goal, extending Arizona’s lead back to 20.
4. The Bears get the ball at their 23 with 1:41 to play in the quarter. But the offense can’t get much going and must punt. Whatever momentum they established is fading fast.
5. The Cardinals take over at their 15 with 50 seconds to play in the third. On the second play, Arizona QB Matt Leinart is sacked by rookie sensation Mark Anderson. The ball is picked up by Mike Brown at the 3 and run in for a score. The Bears may not be dead yet.
6. The Cardinals get the ball back just before the fourth quarter, but their drive stalls at the Bears’ 49 after seven plays. Devin Hester fair catches Scott Player’s punt at the Bears’ 16 but a penalty on Arizona puts the Bears at their 21.
7. Chicago gets the ball back with 11:47 to play. But a three-and-out gives Arizona the ball at its 21. The upside: Less than a minute off the clock.
8. Arizona’s ball with 10:53 remaining. The teams are trading three-and-outs, not a bad thing for the Cardinals. But Hester, showing some life, returns Player’s 44-yard punt to the Arizona 43.
9. Bears’ ball with 10:01 left. The Bears go deep to Bernard Berrian but miss. Jones runs 11 for a first down. A penalty puts Chicago at the Arizona 27. The drive stalls and, on fourth down, Grossman is picked off by DT Darnell Dockett. Dockett runs it back, giving Arizona a 29-10 lead. Smith challenges the call, and officials rule that Dockett was down. A disaster avoided.
10. Cardinals’ ball with 9:17 to go. The Bears` defense stiffens, forcing another three-and- out. Hester returns the punt 10 yards to the Bears’ 29.
11. Bears’ ball with 7:20 to go. After one first down, Grossman is intercepted on second-and-15 by safety Robert Griffith at the Arizona 34. The return is stopped at the 41.
12. Cardinals get the ball with 5:53 to go with a 13-point lead. Running out the clock seems to be the strategy as Edgerrin James’ number is called twice. The second time, Brian Urlacher–who seems to be covering the entire field–strips the ball. Charles Tillman picks it up, scampering 40 yards for the score.
13. Arizona gets the ball at its 19 after a 15-yard taunting penalty on the return backs them up. The Cardinals are completely unraveling. After a first down, Arizona is forced to punt on fourth-and-12 from its 33. It’s a good punt, driving Hester back to his 17. Eighty-three yards and a Gould extra point later, the Bears have the lead with 2:53 to play.
14. Leinart might be a rookie, but as veteran backup Kurt Warner tells him, “This is what you do.” Arizona drives to the Bears’ 23 with short passes. On fourth-and-2 with 52 seconds to play, Rackers sets up for a 40-yard field goal. It looks good. But it’s wide left. The Bears have dodged a bullet from an All-Pro kicker.
15. Bears’ ball with 47 seconds left. Grossman takes a knee. Game over. History made.
John Mullin’s other key plays
In a game decided by a single point, there are no insignificant plays. Beneath the headlines and highlights, however, several plays figured nearly as importantly in the Bears’ comeback victory as the ones that commanded the spotlight Monday night.
1. Rashied Davis’ grab
Situation: 9:30 remaining, third quarter, Bears possession, third-and-14 at the Arizona 35.
After a quietly emotional halftime, the Bears shut down the Cardinals with a three-and-out to start the quarter and the offense went from its 31 to Arizona’s 31. But then Thomas Jones was stuffed for a 4-yard loss and a Rex Grossman pass to Muhsin Muhammad was incomplete.
In 2005 the Bears converted just three of 29 third downs of 10 yards or longer over the last eight games. Now Davis, without a reception in the first half but with a 16-yarder earlier in the drive, lined up in the right slot. Against tight Arizona coverage he worked free toward the Bears’ sideline, where Grossman found him for a 15-yard completion–just the Bears’ second third-down conversion of the game.
Result: Without the catch the Bears face a field goal try from beyond 50 yards. Instead they continue on a drive toward a second momentous play, this one by someone not on the field.
2. Smith’s call
Situation: 7:24 remaining, third quarter, Bears possession, fourth-and-goal.
After the Davis grab, the Bears moved to the Arizona 3 on Bernard Berrian’s first catch of the game. But Jason McKie was hammered for a 2-yard loss and Grossman missed on throws to Muhammad and Berrian, bringing up a fourth down for a team down 20 points and unable to get closer than the Arizona 49 to that point.
The Bears desperately needed a touchdown, but they also desperately needed momentum. Coach Lovie Smith trusted that the game was far from out of reach, elected to take a Robbie Gould field goal and followed a rule: Take the points. “We knew we had to score a lot of points and we were just monitoring how long it would take us to get it going,” Smith said.
Result: Gould converted his 18th straight field goal and–more than a quarter later–the Cardinals were forced to try a long field goal to overcome Smith’s decision. It was wide left.
3. Ayanbadejo’s block
Situation: Final minute, fourth quarter, Bears returning an Arizona punt from their 17.
A play within a play, really, and one block to cite as representative of myriad hits by the Bears’ special teams. Devin Hester fielded Scott Player’s punt inside his 20 and circled right behind a cluster of blockers in the Bears’ “Six-box-red” return. He picked his way through the first wave of Cardinals behind a succession of Bears’ special teams hits by Todd Johnson and others.
But running back A.J. Schable had an angle on Hester and closed for a possible tackle that would’ve left the Bears near midfield. Brendon Ayanbadejo, the Bears’ All-Pro special teams force, got to Schable in time to take him out of the pursuit.
Result: Hester broke into full stride and into the open where only Player had a real bead on him. But having Hester in sight and hitting him are distinctly different. Hester beat the last of the coverage to finish an 83-yard touchdown return that provided the winning points.
ChicagoSports.com
Be honest–On Monday night’s Bears game …
79.4% watched to the end
8.2% turned it off in the third quarter
10.2% turned it off after the 4th interception
2.3% didn’t watch at all
3,151 total responses
