Orton's air attack, special teams lead Bears over Vikings

This concept of throwing the football seems to be growing on the Bears.

Quarterback Kyle Orton, who seems to get better every week, led an offensive splurge that included 2 special-teams touchdowns and resulted in the highest-scoring game in franchise history, a 48-41 victory over the Vikings that pushed the Bears to 4-3 and kept them tied for first place in the NFC North with the Packers, while dropping Minnesota to 3-4.

In order to overcome a leaky defense that played with a severely injury-depleted secondary, the Bears got of the bus throwing, enjoyed success through the air all afternoon and also scored touchdowns off a blocked punt and a muffed punt. Orton completed 21 of 32 passes for 283 yards and a passer rating of 114.5, the second best of his career behind the 121.4 he put up against the Lions two weeks ago.

The Bears fell behind 7-0, then took leads of 14-7, 17-14 and 24-17, only to see the Vikings tie the game each time. It was 14-14 after one quarter, and the Bears took the lead for good at 27-24 on the final play of the first half, and then went ahead 48-31 on the first play of the fourth quarter. But the outcome wasn't assured until Bears rookie cornerback Zackary Bowman, playing in his first NFL game, intercepted Gus Frerotte at the Vikings' 41-yard line with 40 seconds remaining.

"It was a track meet," Bears coach Lovie Smith said, "and luckily we had a little bit more speed at the end."

Bowman's interception was the last of 4 by the Bears, and 3 of them came from players who might not have been on the field if the secondary was completely healthy. With starting cornerbacks Nate Vasher (wrist) and Charles Tillman (shoulder) sidelined, along with nickel back Danieal Manning, second-year players Corey Graham and Trumaine McBride started on the corners, and each produced his first pick of the season. The fourth interception came from safety Kevin Payne, his team-best third of the season.

That helped offset Frerotte's 298 passing yards and 2 TD throws plus 121 rushing yards and 2 TDs on the ground from Adrian Peterson.

"We were banged up, obviously, on defense," Orton said. "We just needed to score 1 more than they did."

After the Vikings closed to within 34-31 on Peterson's 55-yard TD run 4:20 into the second half, Orton's short flip to Marty Booker turned into a 51-yard TD when the 32-year-old wide receiver spun upfield in the midst of three Viking defenders and raced past them for the final 45 yards. Payne's interception and 50-yard return then gave the Bears the ball at the Minnesota 6-yard line, and Matt Forte's 1-yard TD run gave them a 48-31 lead which they barely held.

The increased confidence that the Bears' coaching staff has developed in Orton was evident from the beginning, even though Sunday's start was just his 25th in the NFL. He threw 20 times in the first half, while the Bears ran just six times for 8 yards. The four-year veteran has produced all of the top four passing games of his career in the past five weeks.

"He's got a real good feel for it mentally; and physically he's playing the best football that I've ever seen him play," Bears offensive coordinator Ron Turner said. "He's playing with a lot of confidence so, if we want to do anything, there's no hesitation to call it."

That's a good thing, considering the Bears, like most of the Vikings' opponents in recent years, could not run against a stout defense that had allowed an average of just 60.6 yards in the previous five games and limited the Bears to 53 yards on 22 attempts, a 2.4-yard average.

"They're really good against the run," Turner said. "So we came out, and the first play was a pass, and then we went no huddle, and when you go no huddle, the quarterback tends to throw a little more, and that's kind of the way it worked out."

It's been working out that way a lot lately for Orton, who has 10 touchdown passes in his last five games and just 4 interceptions, elevating his passer rating to 91.4. As is usually the case, Orton spread the ball around evenly, completing at least 2 passes to seven different receivers.

Tight end Greg Olsen led the Bears with 6 catches (for 74 yards, including an 18-yard TD, his second of the season), while Booker led the team with 79 receiving yards on 3 catches, including his second TD. The Bears' second-longest play of the day was a 35-yard reception by tight end Desmond Clark that he fumbled on a wicked hit just short of the goal line. But it resulted in a touchdown when wide receiver Rashied Davis fell on it in the end zone, just another contributor to the cause.

"That's huge," Olsen said of the Bears' team concept in the passing game. "It makes it hard on a defense to lock in on one particular guy and think that if they shut (him) down they're going to shut the offense down. That's definitely not the case with our offense."

Not as long as Orton's throwing the ball.

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=243971">Bears' offense all about team <span class="date">[10/20/08]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=243882">Bowman a fast healer <span class="date">[10/20/08]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=243888">You know what? Game balls for everyone <span class="date">[10/20/08]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=243972">After 2 early drops, Booker catches on <span class="date">[10/20/08]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=243879">Grading the Bears <span class="date">[10/20/08]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=243890">Imrem: Senseless to make sense of this <span class="date">[10/20/08]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=243881">Sunday's photo gallery <span class="date">[10/20/08]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>