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Dan Peters
Sports Editor
Suburban
Journals of Chicago
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Early
effort Monday Night Creates Some Doubts, but with Pushing, Shoving,
Running, and using the time well, the Bears win 27 to 24.
games photos
by Mark Rotor
by Dan Peters
Coming
off their third preseason opening
win in head coach Lovie Smith's
four-year tenure with the team, The
Bears traveled to Indy to
face their second-straight AFC South
opponent this preseason when they took
the field against the team that beat them in Super Bowl
XLI.. The Colts Rex
Grossman was on target with a majority of his passes and even scored a
touchdown in Monday night’s 27-24 preseason win over the Colts.
But a problem that plagued him at times last year once again showed
up… and often.
Something as
simple as a snap of the football, could haunt the Bears again this
season. Most experts will say it’s almost so simple, a fifth
grader can do it.
photos
by Mark Rotor
Grossman lost
a fumble on a sack and threw an interception on the Bears’ first
two possessions and later fumbled two exchanges from
center Olin Kreutz before exiting with the rest of the No. 1 offense
midway through the second quarter.
“We did
some good things early, but the turnovers really hurt us,” said
Coach Lovie Smith. Same old story. Here we go again. At least
it’s still pre-season and we can still work on it.
Rex Grossman
completed 9 of 11 passes for 59 yards with a 51.1 passer rating during
his time in the game. But his continued inability to take care of the
football was reminiscent of his performance in the Bears’ Super
Bowl loss to the Colts and no doubt will remain a hot topic of
conversation for some time. And there was no rain as an excuse this
time as the game was played inside the Colt’s own backyard.
“Anytime they
keep score you want to win, so we feel good about that,” Smith
said. “We had a few mistakes in the first half that you need to
eliminate; quarterback-center exchanges, we should be beyond that, but
it happens from time to time. We need to get that fixed.”
“It’s
something we will fix,” Grossman said. “It wasn’t a
problem last year until the Super Bowl, but that was other conditions
that caused that. It hadn’t happened at all in training camp and
it shouldn’t and it won’t be a problem during the regular
season.”
Ex-Bear Jay
Hilgenberg was at the RCA Dome Monday. He said four
important words “ You can’t have
it” He later Made
reference to his
on practice on snaps during his time with the Bears… “That’s all we
worked on, that exchange.
He was
referring to snapping the football. “I had to
snap it so hard, I had a huge bruise on the side of my leg after
a couple of days. It’s
something that they’re going to have to practice and start
working on. Just drive it in there.”
Ted Marchibroda,
former Bears offensive coordinator said all he wanted to hear was
the ball “slap the quarterback’s
hands” on the snap of the football. “I used to tell my
centers, ‘You can’t bring
that ball up hard enough,’ There’s no magic to it.”
Robbie
"Pure" Gould misses a rare 53 yard field goal attempt, but fares better later.
photos
by Mark Rotor
The Bears
special teams provided the Bears' early highlights, producing three
huge plays that led directly to all 17 of Chicago’s first half
points. Danieal Manning’s 72-yard kickoff return set up Robbie
Gould’s 32-
yard field goal, the Bears scored two touchdowns in a 1:24 span midway
through the second quarter.
On his only
return of the game, Devin Hester brought back a punt 50 yards in
electrifying fashion to the Indianapolis 24. The dynamic All-Pro return
specialist might have gone the distance had he not been tripped
up by teammate Brandon Rideau.
“We
have such great blockers on our team,” Hester said. “I give
those guys all the credit. They opened up everything for me and I hit
it up in there. We had great success with our return game.”
After a pass
interference penalty in the end zone gave the Bears a first down at the
1, Grossman fumbled the exchange. Cedric Benson tried unsuccessfully to
pick it up before the ball caromed back to Kreutz, who smothered it at
the 3.
Two plays
later, Grossman dove over from the 1 to give the Bears a
10-7 lead with 8:05 left in the second quarter.
On the
ensuing kickoff, Ricky Manning Jr. ripped the ball out of T.J.
Rushing’s arms after a 23-yard return and Mike Hass recovered at
the Indianapolis 24.
Four plays
later, Griese hit Berrian with a 9-yard TD strike on a quick slant to
widen the margin to 17-7. Griese exited after three series having
completed 10 of 13 passes for 131 yards and a 133.8 passer rating.
Maybe Rex should be taking notes from Mr. Griese. Thanks
to their special teams, the Bears scored a field goal and two
touchdowns on three straight drives that began at the Indianapolis 19,
24 and 24.
“We’ve
been good on special teams for a long time,” Smith said.
“We have good players. Normally, during the second game you want
to see some improvement and [we
saw it].”
On the
game’s opening possession, Grossman completed his first four
passes for 39 yards including by a 27-yard strike down the left
sideline to Berrian after the quarterback had scrambled out of the
pocket. But defensive end Robert Mathis sacked Grossman, forcing a
fumble that defensive tackle Ed Johnson recovered at the Indianapolis
31.
Grossman’s
second turnover came when cornerback Marlin Jackson intercepted a pass
over the middle intended for Rashied Davis and returned it four yards
to the Chicago 17.
“The
first drive was pretty encouraging, except for the last play,”
Grossman said. “I was trying to throw and [Mathis] made a good
play. The interception was disappointing. The guy jumped the route. I
read
the wrong coverage.
“But
for the most part, a quarter and a half of play is just a slice of a
game and you’re going to have adversity at times during a game.
You’ve just got to bounce back and start to get a good rhythm and
stick with it.”
The Colts reached
the 1-yard line, but were held out of the end zone by
an inspired Bears defense. On third-and-goal, Dusty Dvoracek hit
Joseph Addai in the backfield and Adewale Ogunleye stopped the
running back for no gain. Hunter Hillenmeyer then broke up Peyton
Manning’s pass intended for Addai at the goal line on fourth down.
Manning played three
series, completing 5 of 8 passes for 61 yards.
The Colts
scored on their final two possessions of the second quarter, tying the
game 17-17 on Jim Sorgi’s 9-yard TD pass to receiver Aaron
Moorehead with 2:57 remaining and Adam Vinatieri’s 36-yard field
goal on the final play of the half.
Brian
Griese Looks Sharp and does not lose the football
photos
by Mark Rotor
The Bears
responded as Griese directed a 7-play, 69-yard drive capped by Adrian
Peterson’s 1-yard TD run which gave Chicago a 24-17 lead with
9:21 left in the third quarter.
Rookie safety
Kevin Payne’s diving interception then set up Nick Novak’s
35-yard field goal, widening the margin to 27-17 with 4:35 left
in the third period. Fellow rookies Corey Graham and Tim Mixon also
picked off passes in the second half.
The Colts
eventually answered as Josh Betts tossed a 4-yard TD pass
to receiver Craphonso Thorpe with 2:01 remaining in the game. But the
Bears ran out the clock to secure the victory.
Well, some
things are good… The last time the Bears went
unblemished on the road during the preseason was 1994 when the Bears
defeated the Arizona Cardinals and the Kansas
City Chiefs en route to a 4-0 mark.
Bears 27- Colts 24
CHI: B. Griese (10-13, 131) , B. Berrian (4-49)
IND: J. Betts (12-20, 125) , A. Moorehead (4-52)
Play by Play Report
© Oak Park Journal photo
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