Something happened to the Bears on Sunday night. Something good, something lucky, something or other. But something.
Quarterback Brian Griese and tight end Desmond Clark connected on a 34-yard touchdown pass to give the Bears a 27-20 lead with 2 minutes 5 seconds left in the game.
Brandon McGowan’s interception in the end zone with one second left sealed it.
This was the 1-3 Bears?
Can’t be.
Considering the Bears had been part befuddled offense and part gimpy defense going into the game, this was a minor miracle.
And considering they were getting their brains beat in for most of the first half by the heretofore descended-from-the-gods Packers, it probably should be upgraded to a major miracle.
Something happened to the Bears in the second half. Their defense woke up and made actual stops, rather than relying completely on turnovers.
The Bears somehow trailed only 17-7 at halftime. How this happened can be attributed to Charles Tillman’s ability to relieve Packers receiver James Jones of the football. If it weren’t for Jones’ fumbles, the Bears probably would have been down by three touchdowns at halftime.
The Packers had 191 yards of total offense to the Bears’ 20. In the first quarter.
So this is where the Bears were heading into the second half, with a banged-up defense and an offense that appears to be running the four-corners offense. Cedric Benson showed flashes of ability amid long stretches of mundane ball carrying.
And then after scratching and clawing to get back in the game, Griese lofted a perfect pass over the middle to Clark on a play-action. You could feel the air get sucked out of Lambeau Field.
The Bears finally discovered the existence of rookie tight end Greg Olsen, who caught a 19-yard touchdown pass from Griese in the third quarter to cut the lead to 20-17. It was set up by a Brian Urlacher interception off a rash pass by Brett Favre, who has been prone to that throughout his career but not so much lately.
But the bigger point is, the Bears caused a turnover and took advantage of it.
And after that Olsen touchdown, the Bears held the Packers to a three-and-out. Something elemental had changed.
Green Bay’s Charles Woodson fumbled a punt, thanks to Brendon Ayanbadejo’s strip and Brad Maynard’s recovery. It was the Packers’ fourth turnover of the night, and it led to Robbie Gould’s 36-yard field goal to tie it at 20 in the fourth quarter.
Give coach Lovie Smith partial credit for the turnovers. He is constantly reminding his players that turnovers change games.
Early in the game, Smith probably wanted to start reminding his guys to tackle. There were too many missed tackles to count, but suffice it to say that wild mustangs don’t run as free as some of the Packers did Sunday night.
So, yes, it could have been a lot worse, if that was any consolation to the Bears.
How much of this had to do with Bears’ injuries is hard to quantify because Smith treats his players’ medical condition as if national security were at stake. Tillman had been out with an ankle injury, but he looked fine Sunday. Lance Briggs and Adam Archuleta also were back.
If we assume that the Bears were at less than full strength on defense and tack on the fact that Favre is football royalty, then we can see why the Bears were in so much danger Sunday night.
Favre reportedly turns 38 Wednesday, but this can’t be true. He’s playing as if he’s 30 and in line for another Most Valuable Player Award. He was 19-for-22 for 243 yards and a touchdown in the first half.
It’s silly to attempt to compare what the Packers have at quarterback and what the Bears have at quarterback, like comparing cinderblock and Legos. But when you have a quarterback who strikes fear in the opposition instead of a quarterback who inspires blood lust, it’s a whole lot easier to run a proper offense.
And then something changed.
The Packers’ strategy can be summed up thusly: We don’t care if you get 500 yards of total offense, but we’re not going to let Devin Hester beat us. This would explain why they refused to kick to him. The Packers are one of the few teams to have figured this out.
The Packers were 4-0 heading into this game for a reason.
Griese had his struggles, forcing a pass to Olsen that was picked off by Brady Poppinga in the fourth quarter. But he kept his cool and came back with the touchdown pass to Clark.
Justin Timberlake was here Sunday night, which doesn’t mean a whole lot to me, other than the fact I Googled his song list and he sings “Cry Me a River,” which seemed just about right for the Packers late in the game. The only way this could be better is if Justin is off key.
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rmorrissey@tribune.com
