November 18, 2007
Bears blow early lead, fall in shootout to Seahawks
By Larry Mayer
SEATTLE – Cedric Benson finally busted loose with 63 yards on his first two carries, the Bears took a rare 10-0 lead in the first quarter and Rex Grossman delivered an efficient, virtually mistake-free performance in his first start in eight weeks.
But those positive developments weren’t enough to prevent the Bears from falling to the Seattle Seahawks 30-23 Sunday at Qwest Field. The deflating loss dropped the defending NFC champions to 4-6, seriously damaging their playoff hopes.
“When you come out with a 10-point lead there on the road, it’s definitely a good start,” said coach Lovie Smith. “We felt like we needed to get off to a good start to try to get the fans out of it and all that, but we weren’t able to hold the lead.”
Seattle (6-4) erased the early deficit behind quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, who completed 30 of 44 passes for 337 yards with 2 touchdowns and a 106.0 passer rating.
Hasselbeck’s 4-yard TD pass to Nate Burleson on the opening drive of the second half broke a 17-17 tie, giving the Seahawks a 24-17 lead they would never relinquish.
“He’s a guy that can move out of the pocket and move away from the rush, keep his head down the field and make the pass, and he did that today,” said defensive end Alex Brown. “He made a lot of plays with his feet, not just his arm.”
The Bears offense compiled 345 total yards, but failed to capitalize on two key scoring chances while trailing by seven points in the second half.
Adewale Ogunleye generated the Bears’ only takeaway of the game when he stripped Hasselbeck on a 1-yard run and Brian Urlacher recovered the fumble at the Seattle 39. But Benson was stopped for no gain on fourth-and-one with 6:57 left in the third quarter.
“When they fumbled, we had an opportunity to score some points and we went four-and-out,” Grossman said. “That was another pivotal series in the game that we all wish we had back.”
Grossman later completed passes of 22 yards to Muhsin Muhammad and 23 yards to Bernard Berrian on back-to-back plays, giving the Bears a first down at the Seattle 42. But defensive end Patrick Kerney then stripped Grossman on a sack and defensive end Darryl Tapp returned the fumble 9 yards to the Chicago 47 with 5:43 remaining in the game.
“We got an early lead on them and made a lot of good plays, but we didn’t score enough points in the second half,” Grossman said. “That’s what it came down to. For whatever reason, we didn’t finish our drives in the second half and that came back to bite us.”
Grossman looked sharp in his first start since Week 3, completing 24 of 37 passes for 266 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions and an 86.1 passer rating.
Early on, Grossman and the Bears received a major boost from the running game.
Benson’s career-long 43-yard touchdown run on the game’s second play from scrimmage gave the Bears a 7-0 lead just :55 into the contest. The third-year pro took an inside handoff and bounced outside to his right to score the Chicago offense’s first first-quarter TD of the season.
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Bears blow early lead, fall in shootout to Seahawks - Chicago Bears
BEARS BLOW early lead, fall in shootout to Seahawks
BEARS BLOW early lead, fall in shootout to Seahawks
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