November 11, 2007
Defense, bomb lead Bears to victory
By Larry Mayer
Rex Grossman’s 59 yard touchdown pass to Bernard Berrian with 3:11 remaining gave the Bears the lead, and Cedric Benson provided insurance with a three-yard touchdown burst in a hard fought 17-6 comeback win over the Oakland Raiders at McCafee Coliseum.
Grossman entered the game late in the first half after Brian Griese exited with a left shoulder injury while being sacked. Grossman and Berrian combined to produce the first touchdown in a game of that featured 18 combined punts, nine by each team.
Adewale Ogunleye's fourth quarter sack and strip of Josh McCown put an end to the competitive phase of the Bears win in Oakland.
"It’s a great feeling to come in and pull one out," Grossman said. "It was a tough game, and just being able to come in and help your team, it’s a great feeling. It was unbelievable; something you can’t describe to someone that has never been in that position."
Berrian beat Raiders cornerback Chris Carr on the game-changing play and Grossman hit him in stride. Carr was in the game because Oakland cornerbacks Nnamdi Asomugha and Fabian Washington were both inactive for the game due to injuries.
"It was a match-up that we were looking for all game," Grossman said. "We called several plays to get something like that, and they would be in a different coverage that would take it away. And finally the play with the coverage matched up and we executed perfectly."
Adewale Ogunleye clinched the Bears' victory with his third sack of the game, which produced a fumble of Raiders quarterback Josh McCown. Oakland started that drive at their own 25 with 1:48 remaining, but on first down, Ogunleye beat Raiders right tackle Cornell Green and stripped the ball from McCown, who never saw Ogunleye. The ball rolled toward the Oakland end zone until Israel Idonije fell on the ball at three. Benson went up right up the middle on the following play to close out the scoring.
Ogunleye's sack-and-strip capped a defensive effort that kept Chicago alive until Berrian's touchdown finally gave them the lead. The Bears allowed a season-low 193 yards in the game. Raiders runningback Justin Fargas, who entered the game averaging 5.4 yards per carry, had just 81 yards on 23 carries (3.5 avg.), and McCown threw for just 108 yards on 14-of-27 passing.
"Defensively, we had an excellent week of practice," Bears coach Lovie Smith said. "I thought we had corrected some things, and it was good to see it out there on the football field today. After we let the quarterback have that first long run, from there the guys really calmed down, played hard, and just did all the thinks that we expected our defense to do."
Perhaps the best thing Chicago’s defense did during the game was get off the field on third downs. The Bears allowed Oakland to convert on just three of their 15 third down attempts. Oakland had three second half turnovers and six second half possessions of three or fewer plays, four of which ended in punts, and two in lost fumbles. Sebastian Janikowski’s 37-yard field goal on Oakland’s first possession of the game gave the Raiders a 3-0 lead with 9:18 left in the first quarter. On Oakland’s first play from scrimmage, quarterback Josh McCown faked a handoff and dashed 24 yards to the Chicago 40.
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Defense, bomb lead Bears to victory - Chicago Bears
Defense, bomb lead Bears to victory
Defense, bomb lead Bears to victory
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