My Friends,

First off, can anybody explain to me why Kentucky Fried Chicken's theme song is "Sweet Home Alabama?"

It's only the packers, it's only the Lions, it's only the NFC North. The naysayers are running out of excuses.

 

You’ll probably hear a bit of “they got lucky,” too, but in my book the Bears made their own luck. Two years ago in Minnesota the Bears defense got the ball back with a chance to win the game late, the difference being Jonathan Quinn was at the controls after Rex Grossman had torn up his knee scoring on the previous series. Then there was last year’s final game that the coaching staff treated more like a final exhibition. Finally, the defense made the late-game statement, and the offense backed them up.

 

For most of the day it seemed the Bears were trying to give the game away. Grossman threw two bad interceptions and at least two others that could have easily been picked off, while the defense was spending a good part of the afternoon missing tackles. The zebras also did their part to stifle any momentum, calling 18 penalties on both teams, although they missed the one on the pick play Minnesota ran on its opening possession to set up their first score.

 

The first half was especially shoddy, with the Bears flagged nine times and the Vikings holding the ball well over 19 minutes. For a team Lovie Smith likes to tell us gets off the bus running, it’s hard to understand why Grossman threw seven times on first down and 20 times total while Thomas Jones only had six carries before halftime of a 6-3 game. The fact that it was close had a lot to do with Brad Maynard, who nailed two punts for a net of 46 yards.

 

The third quarter was better. It seemed like Ron Turner heeded Duke’s pleas to run as the Bears held the ball over nine minutes on their way to a 9-6 lead, before a brain cramp by Devin Hester caused him to field a punt at the six as time expired. Backed up against his goal line, Grossman threw an interception for a touchdown on the next play, and just like that, the Bears were chasing again.

 

The Bears answered with a career best 49-yard field goal by Robbie Gould (who along with Tommie Harris gets my game ball), but the defense couldn’t keep the Vikings from responding with one of their own. The question I kept asking myself was: has anybody seen Brian Urlacher?

 

After the Bears next possession went three-and-out, the Vikings got the ball with just under six minutes to play. When the Bears used their second timeout (the first being burned on Lovie Smith’s second bonehead challenge of the day early in the half) it was starting to feel like desperation time, and then déjà vu struck. Watching Tommie Harris rip that ball out with 3 ½ minutes to play brought back memories of Steve McMichael doing the same thing to Roger Vick of the Jets back in 1991. And Grossman didn’t fail the moment.

 

After it was over you felt like asking yourself “what just happened?” For as bad as they tackled, the Bears defense still only gave up 286 yards in holding their third straight opponent to under ten points. Not counting the three “knees” at the end, the Bears threw 41 passes and ran 18 times – hardly a ratio that’s going to win a lot of games in the NFL. Grossman still doesn’t know he has to eat the ball or get it out of bounds when there’s nothing there. Ron Turner hasn’t figured out how to get the running game going. And yet, the Bears went up to Minnesota and came away with a win for the first time in five years.

 

The defending NFC champion Seahawks await, having run out to a 35-0 lead on their way to a 42-30 drubbing of the Giants this afternoon. A performance like today’s won’t get it done against the ‘Hawks, but they’re coming to our house, and hopefully the Bears will have learned from their mistakes.

 

In the meantime, here’s hoping Desmond Clark is a quick healer.

 

3-0 in the division and overall. We’ll take it

 

LBF

9/24/2006