Harbaugh Passes Bears Past Buccaneers : NFC: He completes 13 of 26 passes for a career-high 304 yards and two touchdowns as Chicago defeats Tampa Bay, 31-14.

It had been two weeks since Chicago Bear Coach Mike Ditka berated quarterback Jim Harbaugh for calling an audible that led to a key Minnesota touchdown during a loss to the Vikings.

Sunday, Ditka was forced to be more conciliatory as Harbaugh passed for a personal-best 304 yards, including an 83-yard touchdown pass play to Anthony Morgan, during the Bears’ 31-14 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Harbaugh completed 13 of 26 passes for two touchdowns, exceeding his previous best of 303 yards against the New York Jets last year. The pass play to Morgan was the longest ever against the Buccaneers and a yard short of Harbaugh’s longest, against Indianapolis last year.

“Jim had a good game and Anthony Morgan had a big, big play,” Ditka said. “We haven’t been able to get him into the offense as much as we’d like.”

Morgan’s touchdown came on a third-and-13 play and it gave the Bears a 21-7 lead.

“I expected to get TKO’d, but the two defenders collided and all I could think of was the end zone,” said Morgan, who had run a post pattern.

Harbaugh later threw an interception that Darryl Pollard returned 75 yards to set up a one-yard touchdown run by Reggie Cobb.

Late in the fourth quarter, the Bears’ Shaun Gayle intercepted Vinny Testaverde’s pass to set up a clinching 26-yard field goal by Kevin Butler with 2:59 to play.

The Buccaneers turned the ball over on downs at their nine-yard line and, two plays later, Darren Lewis scored on a seven-yard run.

“I thought our effort was good, but mental breakdowns really hurt us and they blitzed more than they had been doing before,” said Testaverde, who completed 16 of 32 passes for 171 yards and had two passed intercepted.

“It was a gutsy performance by the Bears,” Buccaneer Coach Sam Wyche said. “One thing I felt good about was the team was in the game. The score wouldn’t indicate it, but we were in this ballgame.”

The Bears took the opening kickoff and drove 85 yards in 14 plays, with Brad Muster scoring on a one-yard run.

On their next possession, the Bears went 74 yards in 11 plays and scored on a one-yard pass from Harbaugh to Muster for a 14-0 lead.

Tampa Bay did not have a first down until Cobb went 11 yards with 11:42 to play in the half.

Three plays later, Jim Morrissey intercepted Testaverde’s pass and returned it 22 yards to the Tampa Bay 33. A 55-yard field goal attempt by Butler fell short. Late in the first half, the Buccaneers drove 69 yards in nine plays, scoring on a 12-yard pass from Testaverde to Courtney Hawkins with 38 seconds remaining to cut the lead to 14-7.

Pollard then intercepted a pass and went 75 yards to the Chicago eight. Cobb scored from the one on the first play of the fourth quarter.