For a while, Sunday night’s 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, as they surged to a hard-fought 38-20 victory over the New York Giants.
Thomas headlined the second-half rebound with 113 yards rushing on 30 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.
Key was Jones’ 26-yard run off a draw play on third-and-22 on the last possession of the first half. That play sustained the drive and was the first carry of 20-plus yards for the Bears since Oct. 1.
The possession culminated with a 22-yard pass to Muhsin Muhammad followed by a 29-yarder to Mark Bradley for a touchdown to draw the Bears within 13-10.
“That was definitely something that gave us momentum, especially for us to get a touchdown,” Jones said. “That sequence of plays was really big.”
Quarterback Rex Grossman called Jones’ run “huge.”
“We knew they were going to drop back into a prevent-type defense,” Grossman said. “He was able to make a few guys miss and make a huge play.”
It was especially dramatic in light of how things looked at the start. With the Giants missing key players on the defensive line in Michael Strahan, Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora, plus using rookies at nose tackle and right end, the Bears might have expected a breakthrough in their inconsistent running game.
Instead they were hampered by fumbles, false starts and, with a few exceptions, another week in which it apparently was pass or bust for Grossman.
The Bears totaled just 31 yards on 11 carries in the first half for an average of 2.8 yards per carry. If not for that 26-yard gain by Jones . . . well, the math is simple.
It added up, however, as the Bears hung with 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.
What happened?
“We settled down and got used to all the different dogs and slants they were doing, put a hat on a hat and let Thomas do the rest and had some positive plays,” tackle Fred Miller said.
The players said the coaching staff’s adjustments were as clutch as they had ever been.
“They were doing a lot of stuff in the first half that had me confused,” center Olin Kreutz said.
“We weren’t getting guys on the right people. That’s why the running game was slow in the first half. The second half everything kind of slowed down, and we started running some plays that worked.”
And the ground game came around in the nick of time.
“This is a big win for our team because we’re coming off a loss, and I think all week everyone was still feeling that loss and had a bad taste in their mouth about it,” Jones said.
“For us to come up to New York, a hostile environment and in pretty bad weather and play that well as a team, that says a lot about our character, a lot about our heart.”
