Bears drop preseason finale to Browns 13-10

CLEVELAND - In front of a small gathering in Thursday night's preseason finale, backup quarterback Todd Collins did in five minutes what Jay Cutler didn't do in 21/2 quarters five nights earlier.

Collins, who started while Cutler took the night off, got the Bears in the end zone and off to a 7-0 lead with 10 minutes left in the first quarter, but it couldn't prevent a 13-10 defeat at the hands of the Browns.

On just his second series under center, the 38-year-old, 16-year veteran threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to tight end Greg Olsen.

The Bears finished the preseason 0-4, while the Browns ended at 2-2 in front of an announced "paid" attendance of 62,299, which was more than double the number of those who actually showed up.

Collins could open the season as the No. 2 or the No. 3 quarterback, depending on how Caleb Hanie's sprained shoulder progresses.

He looked comfortable, completing his first 6 passes: a 9-yard screen to Chester Taylor, a 2-yard check down to Taylor, the TD to Olsen, a 9-yard flip to Johnny Knox, a 39-yard toss to a wide-open Juaquin Iglesias and a 10-yard toss to Devin Aromashodu.

He believes that was enough to earn him a spot on the team.

Collins wasn't signed until Aug. 23, nine days after Hanie was hurt. But in his first action with the Bears, he played the entire first half and completed 10 of 15 passes for 139 yards and 1 touchdown for a passer rating of 118.5.

"It was kind of a short time frame," Collins said. "But I have a number of years in the league, and I felt I did pretty well. It wasn't perfect, but on short notice it was decent."

"I think he did a good job," Olsen said. "It was tough - he didn't get many practice reps other than this week. But he's a veteran and he has been in there before."

But there was some confusion.

On the Bears' third possession, Collins, in shotgun formation, turned to signal for a timeout. Center Josh Beekman, filling in for veteran Olin Kreutz, snapped the ball off Collins' face mask, and the Browns recovered.

Three plays later, Montario Hardesty tied the game at 7-7 with a 1-yard run.

"It was pretty comfortable on most things," Collins said. "The formations and playcalling, some of them I wasn't as sharp as I needed to be, but overall I thought it was a pretty decent effort, other than the mishap we had on the shotgun snap."

Although the offensive line was without Kreutz, and backup Johan Asiata replaced starting left guard Roberto Garza after the second possession, pass protection was better than in the previous two games, in which the Bears surrendered 10 sacks.

Collins was sacked once but rarely was pressured on his other dropbacks, although by late in the second quarter, he was playing behind an entire second-team offensive line, which was facing the Browns' second-team D-line.

On the last possession of the half, Collins drove the Bears to a game-tying 46-yard field goal by Robbie Gould with 1:08 left. Collins completions of 22 and 18 yards to Rashied Davis, sandwiched around a 9-yard toss to Wolfe got the Bears into FG range, but 3 straight incompletions stalled the drive.

The Bears' first score was set up on a fumble recovery at the Browns' 19 by middle linebacker Kevin Malast.

He started the game because the Bears were taking precautions with Brian Urlacher's calf injury, and Hunter Hillenmeyer did not make the trip because of an illness. Malast, who faces a steep uphill battle for a roster spot, also sacked quarterback Colt McCoy late in the second quarter, forcing the Browns to settle for a field goal and a 10-7 lead 3:29 before halftime.

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<li><a href="/story/?id=405561">Bears GM: Collins needed playing time<span class="date"> [9/2/10]</span></a></li>

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