advertisement

Rozner: Cutler, Bears show their toughness

The Bears weren't looking at merely a horrific start to the season.

They were staring into the abyss of an 0-2 hole and very possibly an 0-3 beginning after facing the Jets in New Jersey next Monday night, with upcoming games against the Packers, Panthers and Falcons.

But down 17-0 in the first half and looking like one of the worst teams in football doing it, the Bears rallied for their first victory on the road against the Niners since 1985, opening Levi's Stadium with a 28-20 victory Sunday night.

Marc Trestman wanted a tougher team this year. Well, he's got it. That was double-tough, the Bears returning from the grave on the road in a brutal environment.

They had every right to quit.

They might have even had notions of giving up.

They could have called it a season right there, knowing teams that start 0-2 have made the playoffs 12 percent of the time in the last 24 years.

Instead, it was a gut-check of biblical proportions across the board for all three units, none of which had any reason to think they could rebound from a truly ugly first half of football.

"We were backed into a corner and we rallied around our guys," said guard Kyle Long. "Credit the defense for all those turnovers."

With injuries all over the field, receivers that shouldn't have been in the lineup and after losing safety Chris Conte, tackle Jeremiah Ratliff and corner Charles Tillman during the game, the Bears decided they wouldn't go quietly into the Northern California night.

It started late in the first half when Jay Cutler took a brutal hit to the sternum that would have ended many a quarterback. But he scraped himself up, led the Bears down the field, and Brandon Marshall made a spectacular catch for a touchdown that got the Bears on the board with 13 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

That may be the play the Bears look back on as the one that got them back into the 2014 season.

After a San Francisco drive to start the second half went 84 yards on 14 plays and lasted 9:04, resulting in a field goal and 20-7 Niners lead, the Bears came back and went 80 yards, and Cutler found Marshall again to cut it to 20-14 early in the fourth.

Enter Kyle Fuller, the first-round pick who took the place of Tillman. He stole the ball from Michael Crabtree for a brilliant interception and on the next play Cutler hit Martellus Bennett for a short TD pass and the Bears were ahead 21-20.

The next play by Fuller was even more impressive. As he watched Niners QB Colin Kaepernick scramble to his left, then rear back and fire, Fuller left his coverage, jumped in front Derek Carrier and picked off his second pass of the night.

"Kyle Fuller, right?" Long said. "(GM) Phil Emery looking pretty smart right now."

With a short field, the Bears went 42 yards in four plays and Cutler hooked up with Marshall for the third time, making it 28-20 Bears, and then the defense bent but didn't break on the final Niners possession as they won in improbable fashion.

Cutler hit on 15 of his last 16 and 11 in a row as he racked up 4 touchdown passes, looking all the while like the man the Bears handed all that money to in January.

"We just kept plugging," Cutler said of the comeback. "We knew we could do some stuff and we just had to figure it out. We just had to convert."

They did and in the process they saved a season that was teetering on the brink with a tough first half of the schedule that doesn't get any easier in the next month.

They weren't worried about that on the way back from the Bay Area late Monday night. They were snug in their seats and secure in the knowledge that they were alive and well.

And once again dreaming of the postseason.

• Hear Barry Rozner on WSCR 670-AM and follow him @BarryRozner on Twitter.

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.