MVN - Most Valuable Network

Bears Battle Back, Bash the Pack

We’ve been playing great first halves, and then tailing off, the key for us is to finish. -Bears Linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer

Hillenmeyer couldn’t have said it any better, as the Bears defense has looked as good as ever the last few weeks, until the 3rd quarter. Then the bottom has fallen out, accentuated by the Lions record 34 4th quarter points a week ago.

At first it appeared this team had given up on the season, as they allowed the Green Bay Packers to march down the field for a 7-0 lead to open the game, and then march down the field again on their second possession. Thankfully Charles Tillman manned up, and forced a fumble by rookie receiver James Jones.

Unfortunately Brian Griese looked as though he was still stuck in his best Rex Grossman impression, as the Bears went 3 and out on their first three possessions, and only another Jones fumble kept the team in the game.

Going into the half, the Green Bay Packers lead 17-7 and looked like the obviously better team, but for the first time since their week 2 win over the Chiefs the Chicago Bears outplayed an opponent, outscoring the Packers 20-3 in the 2nd half, to rally back and win the game punctuated by a brilliant play call that had Brian Griese lob a pass to Desmond Clark on 3rd and 2 when it appeared the Bears were setting up for a go ahead field goal. Clark had a step on his man, and took the pass 34 yards into the endzone, and the eventual winning score.

For his part, Griese did exactly what the Bears needed him to do, he didn’t try and beat the Packers on his own, but instead managed the game intelligently and effectively, and in the end finished with a nice 214 yards with 2 TDs and just 1 INT. He also threw the ball a much more manageable 25 times, compared to the ungodly 52 times he chucked it up last week.

Lance Briggs led the defense with a mind boggling 16 tackles, and Brian Urhlacher helped get Brett Favre another record, this time one Favre won’t be so proud of, as he now has the NFL mark for most interceptions in a career. Considering how many he’s thrown the last few seasons, I was actually shocked to learn he just now got that mark.

The win puts the Bears back in the thick of things, the same way a loss would have put them squarely behind the 8-ball. With the Lions getting hammered today, and the Packers suddenly looking human, the division race looks far from over

If you want updates From the Midway delivered directly to your inbox, be sure and sign up for our new email updates, just click the link below
Subscribe to From the Midway by Email

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 7th, 2007 at 11:09 pm and is filed under Hunter Hillenmeyer, Brian Griese, Desmond Clark, Chicago Bears, Charles Tillman, Lance Briggs, Brian Urlacher, Game Recap. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.