'Disgusting' defeat for Bears

Another week, another colossal collapse by the Bears.

A week ago they blew a 17-3 lead in the final 22 minutes, but it was worse Sunday in the home opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

This time the Bears led 24-14 with just more than three minutes left in regulation but lost 27-24 in overtime.

Even worse, Brian Griese, the quarterback they traded to the Bucs for a sixth-round pick in the off-season, threw 67 times for 407 yards and was never sacked.

"It's disgusting," safety Mike Brown said. "The defense was in position to win the football game again, and we couldn't capitalize. It's very disappointing because we pride ourselves on being a good defense, and good defenses don't let teams score 10 points in six minutes."

These last two outings probably eliminate the Bears from the "good defense" category.

But some of the blame has to fall on an offense that was incapable of staying on the field long enough for the weary defenders to catch their breath.

Through three quarters, the Bears held a 9-minute edge in time of possession. But starting with the Bucs' fourth-quarter field-goal drive that began with 6:38 left and brought them to within 24-17 with 3:11 remaining, Tampa Bay ran 44 offensive plays for 270 yards, while the Bears ran only 10 plays for 45 yards.

"I'm blaming the entire football team, starting with me," Bears coach Lovie Smith said. "It's about the offense not being able to convert third downs and (keeping) the defense off the football field.

"And it's on the defense, too. If you have to play (defense), their offense is playing, too. They're tired also. Special teams - we all had a big part in this loss."

The Bucs (2-1) went 79 yards in 1:42 to tie it with seven seconds left, and on their second possession of overtime drove 90 yards on 12 plays to set up Matt Bryant's game-winning 21-yard field goal.

That winning drive appeared to be over after 3 plays when Griese's third-and-9 pass to Jerramy Stevens picked up just 2 yards. But as Bears defenders dragged themselves to the sideline at the end of the play, they were stopped in their tracks by a penalty for unnecessary roughness on Charles Tillman.

The Bears' cornerback retaliated on wide receiver Michael Clayton after two Bucs, including offensive tackle Jeremy Trueblood, had Bears defensive end Adewale Ogunleye pinned on the ground, the latest in a series of after-the-whistle skirmishes on a day that featured chippy play from the opening kickoff.

Given new life and a fresh set of downs at their 25-yard line, the Bucs converted a third-and-10 when Griese threw to Michael Clayton for 17 yards and 4 plays later added 38 yards, when Antonio Bryant got behind Nate Vasher to haul in Griese's 38th completion of the day.

"For a team that prides itself on defense to give up 10 points in five or six minutes or whatever it was, that's just unacceptable, and it's ridiculous," defensive end Alex Brown said. "When this offense gives us a 10-point lead with six minutes to go in the game, you would think that we would win that game.

"Something's wrong."

It seemed all right for the Bears even after Robbie Gould missed a 49-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter, snapping his streak of 14 in a row, including 3 Sunday.

On the Bears' next possession, Kyle Orton's 19-yard TD pass to Brandon Lloyd (6 catches, 124 yards) put the Bears ahead 24-14. But the Bears managed only 1 more first down in the final 6:38 of regulation and 10:39 of overtime.

"We've got to finish the game; we've got to get off the field," nose tackle Dusty Dvoracek said. "We've got to stop them on (third) down; we've got to create a turnover."

Actually, the defense forced 4 turnovers, twice as many as they got in the first two games combined.

Given the ball in advantageous field position three times in the first half after the defense forced 2 turnovers and Garrett Wolfe sprinted 38 yards on a fake punt, the Bears' offense never got inside the Bucs' 10 and came away with just the 3 Gould field goals and a 14-9 halftime deficit.

The offense also had the ball with 3:11 left in regulation and a 7-point lead, but it went 3 plays and out, taking just 82 seconds off the clock.

"We had an opportunity," Orton said. "As an offense, you get the ball and you want to close the game out in the victory offense. But it's just another example that we weren't able to do it."

Orton threw for a career-high 268 yards and had a passer rating of 83.9, but he also was intercepted twice and sacked three times.

Interceptions by Vasher and Kevin Payne set up both of the Bears' second-half TDs.

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=236646">Bears in no rush to get to Griese </a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=236603">Tillman penalty gives Bucs new life </a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=236601">Griese keeps his poise</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=236563">Imrem: Heat of battle or not, just no excuse for loss </a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=236629">Scenes from the game</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>