A game squarely in the Bears’ hands, in which they never trailed through the first 58 minutes, slipped away in the closing seconds, costing them a chance to reach .500 for the first time since Week 2.
Instead they failed to control either the ball or the New York Giants when they most needed to and suffered a devastating 21-16 loss to the Giants that all but ended their slim playoff hopes with four games remaining.
The Minnesota Vikings did their part earlier with a 42-10 destruction of the Detroit Lions — the fourth straight loss for the Lions — that left both teams at 6-6. But the Bears (5-7) failed to move into a three-way tie in the NFC North behind the 10-2 Green Bay Packers.
After the Giants pulled within 16-14 midway through the fourth quarter, they kicked off out of bounds to keep away from Devin Hester. That gave the Bears the ball at the 40. But a third-down sack of Rex Grossman, the sixth of the game, forced a punt that Brad Maynard and the coverage unit left at the New York 23 with just under five minutes to play.
Just as the offense was unable to turn its opportunity into points, the defense then was unable to stop the Giants with the game on the line. Eli Manning, struggling through a shoddy game until the final drive, mixed runs and passes to move the ball to a first-and-goal at the Bears’ 2.
Reuben Droughns then scored around right end to complete a nine-play drive over 77 yards for a 21-16 lead with 1 minute 33 seconds left.
Manning, possibly more vilified in New York than Grossman in Chicago, showed why in the first half by twice turning the ball over to the Bears, once on an interception on a dismal throw, and once when he simply let the ball fall out of his hand on a pass attempt. The first led to a Bears touchdown and the second to a 35-yard Robbie Gould field goal.
Manning also cost the Giants a vital score with an underthrown pass on third-and-goal from the Chicago 1 late in the third quarter. He tried lofting it to Plaxico Burress, but Charles Tillman, standing in front of Burress, made the interception.
Grossman, who completed his first eight passes of the game, suffered five sacks in the first half but had 258 passing yards to Manning’s 100 through three quarters.
The Bears had chances to put the game away but missed scoring opportunities in the first three quarters on passes to wide-open receivers.
The Bears began the day with changes, benching struggling strong safety Adam Archuleta in favor of Brandon McGowan and electing to leave cornerback Nathan Vasher on the sidelines for another week in favor of rookie Trumaine McBride.
Adrian Peterson, starting for the injured Cedric Benson at running back, finished the end of the third quarter as the Bears’ leading rusher (59 yards) and receiver.
The offense came out with a no-huddle, hurry-up offense on the Bears’ first possession and immediately had the Giants reeling.
After Manning threw a pass directly to Brian Urlacher instead of to target Jeremy Shockey, Grossman went to work — fast. Pressure prevented him from seeing Bernard Berrian breaking deep behind the New York defense, but Grossman sidestepped and went to Peterson, who had curled out of the backfield toward the left sideline, for 29 yards.
A 2-yard sack was followed by strikes to Desmond Clark for 13 and 11 yards and one to Muhsin Muhammad for 11 to put the Bears at the New York 15. Peterson burst through gaping holes for 9 and 5 yards, and Grossman finished the 79-yard drive by threading a 1-yard pass to Clark in the back of the end zone for the touchdown.
But Hester, who has given the Bears so many infusions of emotion and momentum, cost them both in the second quarter. Grossman, who completed eight of his nine first-quarter passes, should have had a second TD when, from the Bears’ 18, Hester burst behind the Giants and Grossman hit him in stride.
But Hester gave himself a poor angle to make the grab and had the perfectly thrown pass glance off his shoulder pads. Instead of a 14-0 lead, the Bears had no score and New York suddenly caught a break.
UP NEXT
At Washington
Thursday: 7:15 p.m., NFL Network, WPWR-CH. 50
– The Bears have three days to prepare for the Redskins, which is one more day than the Redskins have because Sean Taylor’s funeral is Monday in Miami. The entire team is flying there for the service. It would be understandable if the circumstances led to shoddy play, especially by the Redskins. In addition to having an insufficient amount of time to prepare, they could be emotionally drained.
— Tribune
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BEARS HITS
The Bears still have a mathematical shot to make the playoffs in an NFC of mediocre teams. A team that gives up 14 fourth-quarter points at home isn’t a playoff contender. Lovie Smith was the one who compared the final six games to the NCAA Tournament. Consider Sunday the bracket buster.
– From the no-huddle offense in the opening series, Rex Grossman took command. This wasn’t Good Rex or Bad Rex but New Rex, a quarterback making decisions like a guy who gets it. Eli Manning? Grossman looked like the wiser long-term investment of the two. Performances like this might matter when the Bears start planning for 2008.
– The defense came into the game relying on two young, unproven players in the secondary: strong safety Brandon McGowan and rookie cornerback Trumaine McBride. No collapse comes down to two players, but McGowan and McBride had individual breakdowns deep in Bears territory on the Giants’ fourth-quarter scoring drives.
— Tribune
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POLL POSITION
Chicagosports.com asked: “Bears lose. Who gets the blame?”
6.3% Rex Grossman
(8-20 in 2nd half)
10.8% Devin Hester
(CATCH the ball, man!)
15.4% Joe Buck
(I just don’t like him)
27.4% Coaching
(where’d no-huddle go?)
40.1% Run defense
(171 yards, 2 TDs)
