Tomczak Heirs It Out at Finish; Bears Win

Mike Tomczak demonstrated Sunday that he is the true heir to Jim McMahon as the Chicago Bears’ quarterback: He doesn’t look pretty, but he wins.

The man who inherited the job when McMahon was traded to San Diego this summer spent the first three quarters hearing boos from the Soldier Field crowd of 64,730 as only the defensive work of Dan Hampton and the running of Neal Anderson kept the Bears close to the Cincinnati Bengals.

Then Tomczak went out in the fourth and led a 95-yard drive that gave the Bears a 17-14 victory, running his record as a starter to 16-3 and giving Chicago its sixth straight opening-day triumph.

The winning touchdown came on a 20-yard pass to tight end James Thornton with 4:54 remaining. Tomczak also ran 11 yards for a touchdown with 10 seconds left in the first half to make the score 7-7.

“I was very pleased with Mike’s performance,” Coach Mike Ditka said of his quarterback, who was six of 16 for 80 yards with two interceptions before going four for seven for 79 yards on that final drive.

“I don’t care how much people boo, scream or holler or say whatever they want to say. He did a fine job.”

So did Anderson, who carried 21 times for a career-high 146 yards, and Hampton, the 32-year-old defensive tackle they call “Danimal.” He blocked a first-quarter field-goal attempt by Jim Gallery, had two sacks, batted down two passes and broke through to dump Ickey Woods for no gain on a fourth-and-one at the Chicago 18 in the second quarter.

Hampton’s blocked field goal prevented a score on Cincinnati’s first possession, but Rickey Dixon picked off Tomczak’s first pass of the game and returned it to the Chicago 25 to set up a four-yard pass from Boomer Esiason to James Brooks that made the score 7-0.

The Bears seemed set to tie the score on their next possession, driving 71 yards to Cincinnati’s one-foot line. But Leo Barker stopped Anderson on third down and Skip McClendon and Reggie Williams held Brad Muster on fourth.

The Bengals then drove 81 yards to the Chicago 18 before the Bears returned the favor when Hampton stopped Woods on fourth and one.

The Bengals took a 14-7 lead with 6:32 left in the third quarter on a 66-yard drive that began after Dixon’s second interception stopped a Chicago drive. The score came on a five-yard ramble around left end by Woods.