Veterans shut down Eagles offense
PHILADELPHIA — This was supposed to be the track meet that showed once and for all that the Bears' linebackers had lost a step.
Michael Vick, LeSean cMcCoy, Jeremy Maclin, and DeSean Jackson would be able to run circles around a defense with more players closer to retirement than their prime.
Instead, when the Eagles' great offensive speed finally did become apparent in a 30-24 Bears victory, it was the Bears' young and faster players who got victimized. The old guys — Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs, Charles Tillman, Julius Peppers — and the cover-2 zone held up under fire.
“We had a little adversity in the third quarter there when we gave up two straight touchdowns on defense but our offense got us back into the game and we finally got a stop there on defense,” Urlacher said. “We played a lot of zone so we could see the guy throwing the football. And their receivers are so fast, we just wanted to get as many eyes on the football as we can. And in zone we were able to do that.”
The Bears held Vick to 213 yards passing on 21 of 38. He ran for only 23 yards on four tries against them.
In the first half, Urlacher showed glimpses of play like he produced in another Bears' Monday night contest — the 2006 victory over Arizona when it almost seemed he willed their comeback. In the first half alone, Urlacher had 7 tackles, including 1 for loss, and deflected 2 passes.
Briggs, meanwhile, tracked down Vick from behind in the open field on a scramble and deflected a pass that resulted in safety Major Wright's first interception of the season and killed a Philadelphia red-zone threat.
In the third quarter, Briggs hauled down McCoy in the open field after 7 yards on what could have been a 16-yard TD run and forced Vick to throw away a pass on a rollout by tracking him down in the open field.
“I think we were physical tonight,” Tillman said. “One of the things going into the game that we knew we had to do was outhit them and I think we accomplished that tonight.”
It was the Bears' young speed that wound up costing them the lead in the second half.
Wright, who has displayed a knack for missing open-field tackles in his season and a half as a Bear, came in too fast, failed to break down and tackle, and looked silly when McCoy spun past him for the critical third-down conversion in the Eagles' drive to a go-ahead score. He later was benched for several series.
Earlier on the game-tying third-quarter drive by Philadelphia, the Eagles took advantage of Chris Conte playing far too deep and caught a 21-yard seam rout well behind Urlacher and in front of the Bears' rookie safety.
In the end, the Bears' defense stood up to Vick, McCoy and speed with scheme, team play and intelligence. The cover-2 contained Philadelphia's speed again.
“I think they did get a little frustrated toward the end,” Tillman said. “I think the DBs played pretty good tonight.
“They make big plays. We wanted to make them grind it out and we were pretty successful with that.”