Offense gets it in gear as Bears flatten Eagles
For most of the season the Bears' defense has been carrying the offense, and at times the load has gotten pretty heavy, what with the sacks, the interceptions and the struggles in the running game.
But Sunday the offense pulled its weight and then some, giving arguably its best performance of the season and Jay Cutler's best performance as a Bear.
The surge couldn't have come at a better time because the defense allowed 398 yards against an explosive Eagles attack. The offensive outburst fueled a 31-26 Bears victory that gave them sole possession of first place in the NFC North at 8-3 and dropped the Eagles to 7-4.
Cutler's 146.2 passer rating, the highest of his five-year NFL career, included 4 TD passes, 247 yards on 14 of 21 completions and no interceptions.
“Offensively, Jay Cutler was outstanding throughout,” Bears coach Lovie Smith said. “Whether he was throwing the football or taking off running the ball, I just felt like he was in total control of our offense, distributing the ball around.
“With him playing like that, we're going to be hard to beat.”
The Bears' total of 349 yards was their third-highest output of the season. It included 131 yards on the ground, 61 on Matt Forte's second carry of the game. Cutler scrambled four times for 19 yards, turning potentially negative plays into positive ones.
During the Bears' four-game winning streak, Cutler has 9 TD passes and just 3 interceptions. While he declined to call Sunday's effort his best as a Bear, Cutler was impressed by the offense, which produced a season high in points.
“We had a lot of guys come to play,” he said. “Everyone's getting really comfortable in this system and with what their responsibilities are and what they're supposed to do each week.”
Hester's 46-yard return of the second-half kickoff got the Bears rolling after the break, and his 34-yard reception set up Greg Olsen's 9-yard TD catch to increase the lead to 28-13. Eagles cornerback Dimitri Patterson had inside position on Olsen, but the 6-foot-5 tight end reached in front of the defender and took the ball away for his team-best fifth TD catch.
A methodical, 17-play, 83-yard drive consumed 10:05 of clock time and ended with Robbie Gould's 23-yard field goal, leaving the Bears up 31-13 with 1:26 left in the third quarter.
Just as important, it provided a breather for a defense that had its collective cardiovascular fitness tested chasing Eagles quarterback Michael Vick around Soldier Field. Vick threw for 333 yards and 2 touchdowns, completing 29 of 44 attempts, and he ran nine times for 44 yards.
“That was kind of a signature moment in the game for us,” Cutler said of the long drive, which was the most time-consuming by the Bears in almost three years. “To grind out the clock and get the running game going, pick up some tough first downs on third down, and even though we only got 3 (points) out of it, to burn up that much time and really get our defense a rest and get some momentum going, it was huge.”
The Bears' defense allowed more than 23 points for the first time all season, but it sacked Vick four times for 40 yards and was responsible for providing the turning-point play in the game.
Late in the first half, the Bears seemed on the verge of frittering away what had been a 14-3 lead, after the Eagles took advantage of good field position and marched 42 yards to the Bears' 4-yard line. But just after the two-minute warning, Chris Harris intercepted a Vick pass two yards deep in the end zone that had been tipped at the line of scrimmage by Tommie Harris.
That accounted for a 14-point swing.
Chris Harris' 39-yard return was followed by an inspired run after the catch by Earl Bennett, who caught a short crossing route and broke three tackles for a 30-yard gain. Four plays later Bennett beat Quintin Mikell for a 6-yard TD, pushing the Bears lead to 21-13 just before halftime.
The Bears' record has been questioned by doubters because of the relative ease of their early schedule, but Sunday's victory over the NFC East leaders made a statement.
“They were considered the best team,” Chris Harris said. “Them and Atlanta were two of the best teams in the NFC. Nobody really talked about us. We don't care. We like it that way.
“We were picked to lose this game at home, which is kind of a slap in the face. But we have a great team, a resilient team.”
And for now, a first-place team.
• Follow Bob LeGere's Bears reports via Twitter@BobLeGere. Check out his blog, Bear Essentials at DailyHerald.com