Gould FG caps Bears' comeback win

Trailing 34-20 midway through the fourth quarter with playoff hopes on life support, there was nothing the Bears' offense had done to that point to indicate it was capable of salvaging the season.

It had accumulated just 164 yards, quarterback Rex Grossman had thrown an interception and lost a pair of fumbles, his receivers had dropped several passes, and the line had allowed 3 sacks.

In fact, the only 2 Bears touchdowns to that point were on scintillating returns by Devin Hester -- 75 yards on a punt return, 88 yards on a kickoff return.

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But just when things looked their bleakest, the offense came alive and the Bears somehow escaped with a 37-34 overtime victory over Denver, capped by a 39-yard Robbie Gould field goal.

"I think it's a tribute to the mental toughness of this team and the character of this team," offensive coordinator Ron Turner said. "It would have been easy to be frustrated, which I know everybody was to a certain point, and to go in the tank. But they just kept battling."

Instead, the Bears improved to 5-6 and are just 1 game out of the final playoff slot in the parity-rich but talent-poor NFC.

Trailing by a touchdown, it all came down to Grossman in the final minute Sunday, and the oft-maligned quarterback came through, hitting Bernard Berrian in the end zone for a 3-yard TD to send the game to overtime.

On the final drive of regulation, Grossman, whose passer rating was 29.5 through three quarters, completed a short pass, then threw back-to-back incompletions to set up a fourth-and-9.

It looked like the Bears were in trouble when Muhsin Muhammad couldn't hold on to Grossman's toss. But Broncos cornerback Dre Bly was penalized for illegal contact, giving the Bears an automatic first down and new life.

Grossman then completed passes of 9 yards to Bernard Berrian, 21 to Rashied Davis and 13 to Muhammad. Three Adrian Peterson runs set up the game-tying TD to Berrian, who made a diving catch in the end zone with 28 seconds left against seven-time Pro Bowl cornerback Champ Bailey.

Berrian was so close to being out of bounds, though, that the play had to survive a review before it officially was ruled a catch.

Grossman never had a doubt.

"I saw that he caught the ball clean," he said. "I couldn't tell if his knee was down. It was an amazing catch. The corner didn't bite (in) as much as we thought, but I threw it off his back shoulder and he did a good job of adjusting and pulling it in."

The victory never would have happened had cornerback Charles Tillman not blocked a punt by the Broncos' Todd Sauerbrun late in the game. The block was recovered by Brandon McGowan at the Denver 18.

Four plays later, Peterson scored on a 4-yard run to cut the deficit to 7 with 5:17 remaining.

Peterson replaced Cedric Benson in the second quarter when the starter was carted off after suffering what could be a season-ending ankle injury.

On his TD run, Peterson appeared dead in his tracks at the 2, surrounded by Broncos defenders and Bears blockers, but he kept his legs churning, and a couple of tons of humanity surged slowly forward into the end zone.

"That's how it goes sometimes," Peterson said. "Sometimes you got a wide-open touchdown run, and sometimes you have to claw and fight to get into the end zone."

The Bears won the coin flip in overtime, and on the first play Grossman hooked up with tight end Desmond Clark for 39 yards. Peterson (17 carries, 45 yards) got it 14 yards closer on four runs, and Grossman took a knee to center the ball for Gould's game-winner.

How they even got to that point can be traced directly to Hester.

The Bears trailed 13-6 at halftime but, thanks to Hester, outscored the Broncos 31-21 after the break, as the two teams combined for 49 second-half points. Late in the third quarter, the teams combined for 3 touchdowns in 27 seconds, including Hester's 88-yard kickoff return.

"It didn't sting Seattle, and it didn't sting the Raiders," said Bears special-teams standout Brendon Ayanbadejo. "But, oh, my goodness, someone took a baseball bat and hit the Denver Broncos upside the head, and his name was Devin Hester."

In just 27 NFL games, Hester has 10 kick-return touchdowns, 5 this season, plus a 108-yard return of a missed field goal last season and a TD on the opening kickoff of Super Bowl XLI.

After Hester's 75-yard punt return gave the Bears a 13-13 tie, Tillman gave the offense an easy scoring opportunity when he came up with the first interception of the season by a Bears cornerback with a full-out diving grab at the Broncos' 14.

But the offense wasted it when Grossman fumbled after a 5-yard run.

Fortunately for the Bears, when it came to clutch time, the offense regrouped just in time.

Bears bites

Whew bite: Thank you, Todd Sauerbrun.

The former Bears punter, never the most popular guy in Chicago, definitely won't be the man in Denver either after virtually daring Devin Hester to have a big day Sunday. Uh, Todd, he did. Twice.

Little late bite: Bears coach Lovie Smith told his players Saturday night that the playoffs started Sunday against Denver. Hint for next year, Coach: How about saying that before the season opener instead of midway through the year?

Up with people bite: Hey, what a game! The Bears are 5-6 and still in the playoff hunt!

Reality bite: How the heck are the Bears 5-6? They needed a miracle in Philly, Green Bay blew it against them, they barely squeaked by Oakland, and if it wasn't for Devin Hester they would have lost to Denver, too.

Yo bite: Those clamoring for more playing time for backup running back Adrian Peterson got their wish when starter Cedric Benson was injured. Until then, there hadn't been that many calls for Adrian since "Rocky."

No option bite: Meanwhile in the Skins Game on ABC, it looks like Stephen Ames #8230; oh, forget it.

Oh, my bite: "How is this happening?" said Bears play-by-play man Jeff Joniak after Devin Hester's 88-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.