Snoozing, losing: Saints' road woes continue
Brian Griese. Dan Orlovsky. Kerry Collins. Gus Frerotte.
Those are the pedestrian, run-of-the-mill quarterbacks who absolutely shredded the Bears' defense this season.
So, with Drew Brees and his 4,100 passing yards entering Soldier Field on Thursday, Bears fans must have expected a bloodbath of epic proportions.
Do we hear 300 yards? 350? 400? 450?
Wrong. Instead of producing monster numbers, Brees found himself under constant pressure and missing on pass after pass in a 27-24 overtime loss that essentially ended the Saints' season.
"The first half went about as bad as it could for us," said Brees, who was 10-for-24 for 93 yards with an interception in the first 30 minutes. "We just didn't execute the way we normally execute."
Said Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher: "They have the No. 1 quarterback in the NFL and they're running the ball better than they have in the past. It was a big challenge for us."
The loss dropped the Saints to 7-7, 1-6 on the road, and gave them a third straight late-season loss in Chicago.
"Who's in charge of the schedule?" wondered tight end Billy Miller. "We keep having to come to Chicago late in the season. The last couple of times, we've had playoff opportunities. It's one of those teams that's got our number."
Like most of his teammates, Brees refused to blame the weather on the offense's problems.
"Early on," said Brees, "maybe just kind of getting used to the elements and how guys were getting in and out of cuts and how the ball is traveling through the air. Overall, I thought it was pretty neutral."
Brees has eight 300-yard games this season, but six of them have come in the Superdome. He has helped the Saints weather injury after injury to stay in playoff contention, but he wasn't able to weather the Bears' defense most of the night.
Brees finished 24-for-43 for 232 yards with 2 TD passes and 2 interceptions. He did lead New Orleans to a late 24-21 lead, but much of that credit should go to the Bears' offense for constantly turning the ball over.
The play that might have made the difference in the game came on the Saints' opening drive of the second half. Trailing 21-7, the Saints had a first-and-goal at the 9-yard line. Brees attempted to get a pass up and over Adewale Ogunleye, but the Bears' defensive end picked it off.
"I threw the ball a little big lower than I wanted to," Brees said. "I thought I would kind of surprise him, throw it over his head quickly. A defensive end, I figured he'd be running trying to hit me.
"He got his hand up; it was just one of those unlucky bounces. Just like it was unlucky that I called heads on the overtime flip. The ball didn't bounce our way today."
Brees was asked afterward if the loss was frustrating.
He had an obvious answer.
"Well, yeah, the fact that it was 21-7 and we score 17 unanswered to take the lead with three minutes left. With everything at stake, for us to be able to do that in the second half was awesome. But we've got to find a way to close it out."