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Dan Peters
Sports Editor
Suburban
Journals of Chicago
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Bears Clinch
Home Field for Playoffs. “Air Grossman” back on track win in Overtime 34-31
by Dan Peters
The Chicago Bears
added another feather to their hat today, a first-round bye and now
home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.
The win, coupled
with Washington's upset of New Orleans, clinched the home-field
advantage for the NFC North champion Bears (12-2).
The Bears must play
significantly better than they did in the second half Sunday or the
trip in the postseason will be a short one.
The Bears blew a
24-3 third-quarter lead, recovering in overtime behind plays from
backups Rashied Davis and Adrian Peterson to beat the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers 34-31.
Trailing by three
TDs, the Bucs (3-11) stunned the Bears with three fourth-quarter
touchdowns, tying the game on Tim Rattay's 44-yard TD pass to Ike
Hilliard with 3:44 left
Rattay, who replaced
the struggling Bruce Gradkowski in the first half, also had a 64-yard
TD pass to Joey Galloway that capped a 95-yard
drive in the final quarter.
"Tim took charge and
made great throws, stood in there and took a couple of shots and got us
going," Hilliard said
Robbie Gould, who
missed earlier in overtime from 37 yards, connected on a 25-yarder with
3:37 left to give the Bears the victory.
Gould's field goal
came after Davis made an impressive over-the- shoulder catch of 28
yards on a third-and-8 pass from Rex Grossman
to get to the Tampa Bay 20.
Ronde Barber,
defending on the play, said it wasn't a catch and questioned why there
wasn't a booth review.
"The fact that they
want the game to be over and they don't feel like it needs to be
reviewed, it's fine with me," Barber said. "But that ball hit the
ground, man."
Replays in overtime
are instigated from the booth, not by coaches' challenges.
"If you are not
going to make the call or you're scared to make the call, then what's
the use of having replay in the first place?" Barber asked.
Davis' view,
predictably, was a little different: "I made an adjustment
to catch it and I caught it."
That made it 24-10,
and moments later the Bucs got back in the game when Bears rookie kick
return star Devin Hester _ who had two TDs
last Monday fumbled the ensuing kickoff after a hit by Blue Adams,
with Wesly Mallard recovering at the Chicago 16. And the comeback
was on.
"Obviously, you give
up 31 points, it's not our best game. It was good enough to win,
though," Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher said.
"We're 12-2, we have
home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. What more do you want
from us at this point in time?"
"It's not like we're
going to shut down our team. We have a few things
to correct going into the playoffs," coach Lovie Smith said, looking
ahead to remaining regular-season games against the Lions and Packers.
Air Grossman…
Grossman, who
finished 29-of-44 for 339 yards _ all career highs _ hit four straight
passes in a 77-yard drive, and Cedric Benson's 4-yard TD run made it a
two-touchdown advantage with 9:23 to go. Grossman became a member of
the “300” club, ending a streak of 73 straight games without a
300-yard passer dating back to 2000. the previos 300 plus yard games:
Shane Matthews,
November 4, 2001 against the Cleveland Browns (357) Bears 27 Cleveland
21 (OT) Jim Miller, October 7,
2002 agaimst the Green Bay Packers (353) Packers 34 Bears 21
And now Rex Grossman
today. 339 yards in the overtime win.
Rumbling &
Stumbling Bears..
Hester, who has an
NFL-record six returns for TDs this season, lined up as a wide receiver
late in the first quarter, but Grossman's pass to him on the outside
was too way low and incomplete. Hester fumbled three times on kicks,
losing just one.
Chicago tight end
Desmond Clark caught seven passes for 125 yards
and a pair of touchdowns, all but one of the receptions in the first
half when the Bears built a 21-3 lead.
Clark's 100-yard
receiving game was the first by a Bears tight end since Emery Moorehead
had 114 against the Bucs in 1985.
Battered, bruised
and abused Bears….
Bears starting nose
tackle Tank Johnson, arrested Thursday for possession of firearms
without proper identification, was inactive. Early Saturday morning,
Johnson was at a downtown Chicago bar when his friend, Willie B. Posey,
was shot to death during a fight. Head coach Smith held Johnson out of
today’s game.
Smith said no
decision has been made on Johnson's future with the Bears.A Bears team
spokesman said Johnson was not even at Soldier Field on Sunday
The Bears were
missing both starting defensive tackles, because
Tommie Harris is already out after surgery on a torn hamstring. Also
missing.. Mike Brown who was injured much earleir in the season
The Bears defense
will look forward to the first round bye to get healthy and hopefully
march their way to Miami in February.
Notes:
The Bears
were booed at the end of regulation when they ran out the clock and
decided to go to overtime instead of trying to score with the
ball deep in their end. ...
Rattay
finished 20-of-35 for 268 yards. ...
The Bears
also played without starting left tackle John Tait (ankle)
and defensive back Nathan Vasher (hamstring), who were inactive. ...
The Tampa Bay
Bucs have lost seven of eight..
Next Up.. The
Detroit Lions on Christmas Eve.
© Oak Park Journal photo
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