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10-18-2006, 09:36 AM
From Chicago Bears.com...
Inspired defense plays takeaway to fuel rally
By Larry Mayer
LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Wobbly in the knees after a woeful first half performance, the Bears defense picked itself off the canvas and helped deliver a stunning knockout punch Monday night in Arizona.
Chicago scored its first two defensive touchdowns of the season on fumble returns of 3 yards by Mike Brown and 40 yards by Charles Tillman in rallying from a late 23-3 deficit to shock the Cardinals 24-23.
Charles Tillman's 40-yard fumble return TD drew the Bears to within 23-17 with 5:00 left in Monday night's game against Arizona.
“We challenged them in terms of takeaways,” defensive coordinator Ron Rivera said about an emotional locker room discussion that took place with the Bears trailing 20-0 at halftime.
“We knew we needed to get takeaways. Coaches talked about it just before we went out (for the third quarter) and the guys responded in terms of making plays when we had to make plays.”
Mark Anderson’s blindside sack of Matt Leinart resulted in the fumble that Brown returned for a score that made it 23-10 with :02 left in the third quarter. Tillman later closed the gap to 23-17 with 5:00 remaining in the game after Brian Urlacher ripped the ball away from running back Edgerrin James.
“We always preach (creating turnovers), but there’s more emphasis on it when we’re down like that,” said Urlacher, who registered a team-high 19 tackles. “We’ve got to get the ball back.”
The Bears completed their remarkable comeback when rookie Devin Hester returned a punt 83 yards for a touchdown with 2:58 to play, then held on for the victory as Neil Rackers missed a 40-yard field goal attempt wide left with :47 on the clock.
The rally was fueled in part by two key adjustments. After the defense was burned by quick passes in the first half, Rivera called a couple different blitzes that the Bears hadn’t utilized since early in the season. He also shifted to more man-to-man press coverage.
“We didn’t play very well in the first half obviously,” Rivera said. “In the second half we did a couple things differently. We challenged them and just told them basically to play what we call and not to get carried away with trying to do too many things, and the guys responded.”
While the defense played exceptionally well in the second half, the Bears were aided by a Cardinals offense that turned ultra-conservative while trying to protect its lead. The strategy cost offensive coordinator Keith Rowen his job Tuesday when he was fired by head coach Dennis Green.
From the time the Bears trailed 23-3 to when they took the lead on Hester’s punt return, the Chicago defense limited the Cardinals to 34 total yards on 21 plays over six possessions. Carrying on the first play of all six drives, James was held to a total of just two yards.
In staking the Cardinals to a surprising 14-0 lead, Leinart looked more like a seasoned veteran than a rookie making his second NFL start. The 10th overall pick in the draft tossed two touchdown passes in the first quarter against a defense that had permitted a total of just two TDs in the first five games of the season.
“We expected to win coming out here, but the way we did was not like us,” Urlacher said. “We usually like to get up early and play well the whole game, but we didn’t play well on defense in the first half. You’ve got to give them credit for that. They moved it on us and did a good job.”
Leinart finished the game having completed 24 of 42 passes for 232 yards as the Cardinals outgained the Bears 286-168.
“That team on the other side did a heck of a job,” Rivera said. “They played hard. They played tremendous football and that young quarterback is going to be something special some day.”
The Bears held James to 55 yards on 36 carries, an average of just 1.5 yards. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time in NFL history that a back had that many attempts without averaging at least two yards per carry.
The Bears rallied despite suffering key losses in their secondary. Brown was carted to the locker room with a sprained foot shortly after his TD and nickel back Ricky Manning Jr. exited with a hamstring injury in the first half.
With safety Chris Harris already inactive due to a quad injury, reserves Todd Johnson, Cameron Worrell and Hester all contributed in the secondary after Brown and Manning went down.
“(Defensive backs coach) Steve Wilks did a real nice job of mixing and matching guys, putting guys in certain situations to help out,” Rivera said. “I thought the way he handled the defensive backfield was very good. We rotated guys in and used pretty much all of our defensive backs.”
For the first time in years the bears might finally make it back to the Super Bowl and win.
Inspired defense plays takeaway to fuel rally
By Larry Mayer
LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Wobbly in the knees after a woeful first half performance, the Bears defense picked itself off the canvas and helped deliver a stunning knockout punch Monday night in Arizona.
Chicago scored its first two defensive touchdowns of the season on fumble returns of 3 yards by Mike Brown and 40 yards by Charles Tillman in rallying from a late 23-3 deficit to shock the Cardinals 24-23.
Charles Tillman's 40-yard fumble return TD drew the Bears to within 23-17 with 5:00 left in Monday night's game against Arizona.
“We challenged them in terms of takeaways,” defensive coordinator Ron Rivera said about an emotional locker room discussion that took place with the Bears trailing 20-0 at halftime.
“We knew we needed to get takeaways. Coaches talked about it just before we went out (for the third quarter) and the guys responded in terms of making plays when we had to make plays.”
Mark Anderson’s blindside sack of Matt Leinart resulted in the fumble that Brown returned for a score that made it 23-10 with :02 left in the third quarter. Tillman later closed the gap to 23-17 with 5:00 remaining in the game after Brian Urlacher ripped the ball away from running back Edgerrin James.
“We always preach (creating turnovers), but there’s more emphasis on it when we’re down like that,” said Urlacher, who registered a team-high 19 tackles. “We’ve got to get the ball back.”
The Bears completed their remarkable comeback when rookie Devin Hester returned a punt 83 yards for a touchdown with 2:58 to play, then held on for the victory as Neil Rackers missed a 40-yard field goal attempt wide left with :47 on the clock.
The rally was fueled in part by two key adjustments. After the defense was burned by quick passes in the first half, Rivera called a couple different blitzes that the Bears hadn’t utilized since early in the season. He also shifted to more man-to-man press coverage.
“We didn’t play very well in the first half obviously,” Rivera said. “In the second half we did a couple things differently. We challenged them and just told them basically to play what we call and not to get carried away with trying to do too many things, and the guys responded.”
While the defense played exceptionally well in the second half, the Bears were aided by a Cardinals offense that turned ultra-conservative while trying to protect its lead. The strategy cost offensive coordinator Keith Rowen his job Tuesday when he was fired by head coach Dennis Green.
From the time the Bears trailed 23-3 to when they took the lead on Hester’s punt return, the Chicago defense limited the Cardinals to 34 total yards on 21 plays over six possessions. Carrying on the first play of all six drives, James was held to a total of just two yards.
In staking the Cardinals to a surprising 14-0 lead, Leinart looked more like a seasoned veteran than a rookie making his second NFL start. The 10th overall pick in the draft tossed two touchdown passes in the first quarter against a defense that had permitted a total of just two TDs in the first five games of the season.
“We expected to win coming out here, but the way we did was not like us,” Urlacher said. “We usually like to get up early and play well the whole game, but we didn’t play well on defense in the first half. You’ve got to give them credit for that. They moved it on us and did a good job.”
Leinart finished the game having completed 24 of 42 passes for 232 yards as the Cardinals outgained the Bears 286-168.
“That team on the other side did a heck of a job,” Rivera said. “They played hard. They played tremendous football and that young quarterback is going to be something special some day.”
The Bears held James to 55 yards on 36 carries, an average of just 1.5 yards. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time in NFL history that a back had that many attempts without averaging at least two yards per carry.
The Bears rallied despite suffering key losses in their secondary. Brown was carted to the locker room with a sprained foot shortly after his TD and nickel back Ricky Manning Jr. exited with a hamstring injury in the first half.
With safety Chris Harris already inactive due to a quad injury, reserves Todd Johnson, Cameron Worrell and Hester all contributed in the secondary after Brown and Manning went down.
“(Defensive backs coach) Steve Wilks did a real nice job of mixing and matching guys, putting guys in certain situations to help out,” Rivera said. “I thought the way he handled the defensive backfield was very good. We rotated guys in and used pretty much all of our defensive backs.”
For the first time in years the bears might finally make it back to the Super Bowl and win.