For the second week in a row, the Bears came back from more than 14 points to win a game in overtime. The win against Cleveland was against all logic and odds, making it the more astonishing of the 2. A Hollywood script writer, submitting the events as they happened, would have had his script rejected for being way too hokey.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
The reason the Bears had to make a miraculous comeback was because they sucked for 58 of the 60 minutes of regulation. Shane Matthews seemed intent on throwing as many balls to Browns players as to Bears players, resulting in 3 interceptions and a multitude of batted balls. He also added a fumble, returned by the Browns for a touchdown, to cap his day of infamy. Meanwhile, the Bears defense was allowing Cleveland receivers to run amok in the secondary in key situations, which then allowed Tim Couch to become too comfortable finding them.
Then came the 2 minute warning and the fun began.
First, the Bear defense made a stand, preventing the Browns from running out the clock with a 14
point lead.Then Shane Matthews discovered it was much better to hit his own guys with passes, completing a touchdown to Marty Booker with less than 30 seconds on the clock.The extra point pulled the Bears to within 7, setting up the unlikely scenario of recovering an onside kick and scoring again to force overtime.Which of course is then exactly what happened. Who knows how many times the ball changed hands in the ensuing pileup, but the Bears ended up with it at the end. Then Shane Matthews did something he had never done in his life at any level of play: completed a 'Hail Mary' touchdown pass with no time on the clock. If not for Marty Booker providing a landing pad for James Allen, the pass would probably hit the ground. Instead, it hit Marty Booker's hip, as it oozed through Allen's arms allowing him to gather control, and sit in the end zone with the tying touchdown.
The overtime period was brief, as once again a tipped pass ended up in Mike Brown's hands, and once again he ran unmolested into the endzone for the winning touchdown. This left Tim Couch seated, with the same dazed look Jeff Garcia had just 7 days ago.
Lucky? Yes, I would have to acknowledge good luck playing a major role. But regardless of how lucky the bounces may be,
A Bears team of not long ago would have been content simply to get the game close. They would have made a half-hearted effort at an onside kick, and gone home as the losers they were. This team is NOT those Bears. This Bears team plays the full game and does not give up in spite of the situation, character elements not seen in a Bears team in quite some time.
Now they face a tough stretch of games against their NFC Central Division rivals. In order to keep their playoff dreams alive, they need to perform well against their divisional foes. They do, they get to the playoffs. They don't, they stay home in January. Sounds fair to me.
They begin finding out how legitimate they are this coming Sunday, against their traditional rival the Green Bay Packers. Spotting the Green Bay offense 4 turnovers will most probably mean the Brett Favre led Packers will be far enough ahead to make late game heroics moot. They need to play within themselves and not give Green Bay extra chances.
Compounding the scenario is the rivalry itself. The team that is supposed to win these games does so only half of the time. So can the Bears truly make a statement about themselves and vanquish the favored Packers in Soldier Field? This year, I say anything is possible. Bears 27 Packers 24 .... in overtime of course.