For a while Sunday night, the rain was generating more forward motion than the Bears’ running game.
Granted, it was some kind of rain.
But for the Bears’ offense, it was some kind of mad scramble early.
Four of seven first-quarter carries went for minus yardage, and all seven, including a 9-yard gain by Thomas Jones, accounted for just 1 yard total.
But the Bears found their footing in the third quarter, not coincidentally springing the passing game and snaring a hard-fought 38-20 victory over the New York Giants.
Jones headlined the second-half rebound with 107 yards on 28 carries for the night, including a 2-yard TD in the fourth quarter to cap the prime-time showdown against arguably the Bears’ toughest NFC rival.
With the Giants missing key players on the defensive line–ends Michael Strahan, Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora–and starting rookies at nose tackle and right end, the expectation was that the Bears would begin to stabilize their inconsistent running game.
Instead, they were hampered by fumbles, false starts and, with a few exceptions, another week in which it was pass or bust for Rex Grossman.
Averaging 3.4 yards per carry coming into the game and ranking 29th in the league, the Bears totaled 31 yards on 11 carries in the first half for an average of 2.8 yards per carry. If not for a 26-yard gain by Jones in the second quarter, which was the first carry of 20-plus yards for the Bears since Oct. 1, well, the math is simple.
Cedric Benson rushed three times for minus-4 yards against a Giants team that was ranked eighth against the run going into Sunday night and had given up an average of just 63 yards over the last three games.
Jones’ 26-yarder did lead to the Bears’ first and only touchdown of the first half. That was an eight-play, 74-yard scoring drive in the first half that culminated with 22- and 29-yard completions to Muhsin Muhammad and Mark Bradley, respectively, with Bradley scoring.
And the Bears went back to Jones in the second half. He carried the ball on 12 of 21 plays in the third quarter for 49 yards and helped set up passing touchdowns on two consecutive drives as the Bears took their first lead of the game at 17-13 and then extended it to 23-13 before the final outcome.
