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Dan Peters
Sports Editor
Suburban
Journals of Chicago
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Bears win
exciting overtime thriller, one game away from
the Super Bowl.
by Dan Peters
The Chicago Bears, the city of Chicago and
mostly their devoted fans braved some cold weather and some very tense
moments in the Bears thrilling come from behind victory Sunday. Good
teams find a way to win, and the Bears showed everyone just what
they are made of.
Rashied Davis was never the Bears’ No. 1 option in the passing game,
but that hasn’t stopped the second-year pro from producing impact plays
throughout the season, and again in key drives in today’s victory. Two
years ago, Davis was playing in the Arena Football League with the San
Jose Saber Cats. Now in just a few short weeks, he may be playing in
the Super Bowl.
“I always want to be the guy to catch every ball, but I know that
it’s not going to come to me first a lot,” Davis said. “I just have to
be ready when it comes to me.”
Davis was ready Sunday, catching four passes for 84 yards. His 30-yard
reception from Rex Grossman in overtime set up Robbie Gould’s winning
49-yard field goal. That pass play became the most important pass of
Grossman’s career. Earlier, on the game’s opening possession, Davis
caught a 37-yard pass that led to Thomas Jones 9-yard TD run.
Both catches came on third-and-10.
“He’s getting better all the time,” offensive coordinator Ron
Turner said of Davis, who was converted to receiver after playing
cornerback in his first season with the Bears in 2005.
“I think he’s grown into the position. Rex has a lot of confidence in
him in the slot. We talked all last year that we needed to get a good,
consistent slot receiver—someone to make some plays in there—and
Rashied has given us that.”
Four of Davis’ biggest catches of the season—including his 37- and
30-yarders Sunday—have come on the same pass route. He ran an identical
skinny-post pattern on his winning 24-yard TD reception in a Week 3
victory at Minnesota and on a 28-yard catch that set up Gould’s
overtime field goal Dec. 17 against Tampa Bay.
“That play’s been pretty big for us in crucial situations,” Turner
said. “It’s a play that we feel is an all-purpose play that’s good
versus really any coverage. It has a lot of options that I think Rex
feels real comfortable with and the guys executed real well.”
One of the key moments from Sunday’s game….
Noticing that Seattle free safety Ken Hamlin had a tendency to step up
to cover crossing routes, the Bears sent Mushin Muhammed over the
middle and Bernard Berrian on a post pattern. Hamlin hesitated
for an instant, which allowed Berrian to beat rookie cornerback Kelly
Jennings for a 68-yard TD pass from Rex Grossman, giving the Bears a
14-7 second-quarter lead. "When the ball bounces your way," Berrien
said, "sometimes that's because
it's meant to be." Other times, it meant absolutely nothing.
“That was a play that coach Turner did a great job of scheming up,”
Grossman said. “We had a cross by Moose and (Hamlin) settled his feet a
little bit. That’s all Bernard needs to get by him. He’s got tremendous
ability to be able to do that. Not too many receivers can get down the
field like Bernard.”
“We felt the safety had a tendency to jump some crossing routes at
times, and if he did we felt we had a shot behind him,” Turner said.
“If he didn’t, then we felt we had a shot at some intermediate routes.
We had great protection and Bernard can run. Rex had time and laid it
out there. It was a great throw and a great route.”
The pass play was the longest in the careers of both Grossman and
Berrian, topping a 62-yard connection between the two earlier this
season against Buffalo.
It was also the second longest pass play in Bears post-season history,
trailing only Willie Gault’s 75-yard TD in a victory over
the Redskins in Washington on Dec. 30, 1984.
Bernard Berrian caught five passes for 105 yards, his third 100-yard
game of the season and the fourth most in Bears post-season history. He
had a career-high 108 yards and 1 TD on just three receptions in
Chicago’s 37-6 win over Seattle Oct. 1 at Soldier Field.
Good Rex or Bad Rex?
Today, “Good Rex showed up at Soldier Field, and he showed up early.
Grossman quieted his critics and skeptical fans from the get go,
showing he can step up when it counts. He will have to do so again next
week if the Bears are to advance to their second Super Bowl.
“The most important thing is we won," Grossman said. "I don't care how
we do it, I really don't." Neither does the town that would like
to adopt him but can't get comfortable with a quarterback who plays
like Pro Bowler one week and a rookie
the next. Grossman is hardly the first quarterback in Chicago to
be accused of having multiple personalities.
Former Bears Head coach Mike Ditka was so exasperated with Jim McMahon
back in the day that he referred to the punky quarterback as "Sybil."
But McMahon was a model of consistency - on the field, anyway -
compared to Grossman.
After Sunday's 27-24 victory, Grossman was asked: "How long have the
last two weeks been?" Thankful for an easy question, Grossman
smirked. "Fourteen days," he said. Without prompting, he added, "I
think you give yourselves too much credit how (the criticism) affects
me. It affects my family more than it affects me."
All The Right Moves…
Facing fourth-and-one at the Seattle 7 late in the first half, coach
Lovie Smith never considered settling for a field goal. It proved to be
the right choice when Jones not only picked up a first down but scored
his second rushing touchdown of the game to give the Bears a 21-14
lead.
“When you get it down that close, we felt like we could run the
ball on them, and we had had a little bit of success,” Smith said. “We
just felt like that was a time that we needed to get seven instead of
three. ”Smith’s decision empowered members of the offense, especially
those who play up front.
“As an offensive lineman, you always want to know that your coach
believes in you and then you want to try to reward him with a play like
that,” said All-Pro center Olin Kreutz “It’s a gutsy decision by
him. It’s obviously what we all wanted. He made a great call.”
"There was no kind of hesitation to even think about it," Grossman
said. "If we can’t get a half yard, then we don’t deserve any points.
They just did a great job blasting out the hole and getting a
touchdown. It just shows how good they are because everyone knows we’re
running it. To run it right up the middle and get a touchdown, that
says a lot."
Thomas Jones and Robbie Gould add their names to Bears Playoff history…
Thomas Jones became the sixth player in Bears history to rush for two
touchdowns in a playoff game and the first since Jim McMahon in Super
Bowl XX. The last Bears running back to rush for two TDs in a playoff
game was Walter Payton in a first-round loss to the Eagles in 1979.
The first post-season touchdown of Jones’ seven-year NFL career gave
the Bears their first lead in a playoff game since Jan. 19, 2002 when
they led the Philadelphia Eagles 14-13 in the third quarter in an
eventual 33-19 loss at Soldier Field.
Robbie Gould, should be MVP of today’s game, connecting on two clutch
field goals, the final 49 yarder was the game winner. “What can I
say? A year ago I ‘m pounding nails, and now I’m hitting
game-winning kicks and going to the NFC Championships.” Gould
said. His Seattle counterpart, Josh Brown was complimentary after
the game. “He played it perfectly toward the right upright and it faded
in. He earned his Pro Bowl check today.”
The Bears did get banged up a bit, but nothing serious we hope..
In the first half, receiver Mark Bradley was carted to the locker
room after hurting his ankle while making a 5-yard catch midway through
the second quarter. Fullback Jason Mckie exited in the second
half after aggravating an ankle injury that forced him to miss the
regular-season finale against the Packers. He was replaced by
third-string tight end Gabe Reid.
The Bears Sack Men coming your gonna get bent…
After registering five sacks in the regular-season meeting with the
Seahawks, the Bears posted three sacks in Sunday’s rematch with Adewale
Ogunleye, Alex Brown and Terry “Tank Johnson” all dropping
quarterback Matt Hasselbeck to the Soldier Field turf.
The three sacks are the most by the Bears in a post-season game since
they sacked Jeff Hostetler three times in a 31-3 loss to the New York
Giants at Giants Stadium on Jan. 13, 1991.
Ricky Manning, Jr intercepted Matt Hasselbeck for the third time
this season in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game. The interception
came just one play after Grossman’s pass slipped through Muhammad’s
hands and was intercepted by Seattle cornerback Pete Hunter.
Manning intercepted Hasselbeck twice in the regular-season meeting
between the clubs, setting up a field goal and a touchdown as the Bears
cruised to a 20-3 lead.
Next Up for the Bears… The No.1 offense, the New Orleans Saints… The
Bears will need a better game to stop Duce McAllister and rookie phenom
Reggie Bush. One suggestion to slow them down.. Leave the tarp off the
new turf installed at Soldier field the past few weeks. This will
create a muddy quagmire and surely slow down the duo from the Big Easy.
The Winner next
week rolls on to Miami and the Super Bowl.
© Oak Park Journal photo
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