Bears Are Better Coordinated

The Chicago Bears’ reworked offense flourished Sunday with a new guy calling the plays and a fresh approach that had been missing most of the season.

“It’s called the run-and-Shoop offense,” tackle James “Big Cat” Williams said after the Bears beat the New England Patriots, 24-17, with one of their best offensive performances this season.

Quarterback coach John Shoop directed the offense for the first time. He was given the duty when offensive coordinator Gary Crowton left to become coach at Brigham Young.

“It wasn’t the fact of being simpler, but Shoop put plays together the way they’re supposed to,” Williams said. “We actually put a game plan together that was very nice. I don’t know how many times we ran the ball, but this is the way football should be.”

James Allen passed 1,000 yards rushing with a rugged 37-carry, 97-yard performance, and Shane Matthews, who had been struggling since becoming a starter, completed a club-record 15 consecutive passes.

“We kept them off-balance with the way we were running the ball, and then we hit a couple of quick passes,” Matthews said. “We just simplified things.”

Matthews completed his 14th consecutive pass to Allen on the first play of the fourth quarter to and it resulted in a six-yard touchdown that put the Bears (4-10) ahead, 24-10.

“We were organized. We had a lot of runs and a lot of passes that looked a lot alike,” Shoop said of his play calling.

Allen became Chicago’s first 1,000-yard rusher since Raymont Harris in 1997 when he broke free for a 16-yard touchdown early in the third quarter. Harris was on the opposite sideline Sunday, having re-signed last week with the Patriots (4-10).