Another Win Out of Thin Air

Move over Damn Yankees, make room for Da Bears.

Is it mystical or a miracle? Have the Chicago Bears sold their souls to the devil? There is no rational explanation for what has happened two weeks in a row on a slippery, sloppy, messy field by a team playing with has-been quarterbacks, a coach who can’t get a vote of confidence and a couple of Michigan rookies who are speechless.

The Bears scored two touchdowns in the final 30 seconds to tie the Cleveland Browns, then, for the second time in eight days, Mike Brown snatched an opponents’ pass in midair and returned it for an overtime touchdown. Bears win 27-21. What is happening?

“I don’t know,” said Brown, a second-year free safety from Nebraska who looked up to the sky in amazement when he scored his second game-winning touchdown in two weeks. “This team believes. What can I say?”

The heroics began well after two-thirds of the Soldier Field crowd had choked surrounding streets with exit traffic. The Bears (6-1) have been so bad for so long, the loyalists still need convincing.

They had booed loudly as backup quarterback Shane Matthews kept having his passes batted down, at least a dozen, by Brown defenders, and they started leaving with about five minutes to go and the Bears’ listless offense walking off the field. Again.

When the Bears gave up the ball on downs with 5:39 left and with the deficit 21-7, what was the point of staying, really? When the Browns (4-3) didn’t have to punt until right after the two-minute warning, where was the hope?

“I’ll bet some people wished they hadn’t left,” Bear tackle James Williams said.

There was 1:52 left when the Bears got the ball at their 20 and it took them 1:24 to score, a leisurely eternity for a team needing two touchdowns to tie. Matthews connected with receiver Marty Booker for a nine-yard touchdown with 32 seconds left. There was a smattering of applause and some sarcastic comments about how the Bears had the Browns just where they wanted them.

Last week here, against San Francisco, the Bears trailed, 28-9. Rookie receiver David Terrell, out of Michigan, made two acrobatic fourth-quarter touchdown catches and his former Michigan teammate and fellow rookie, Anthony Thomas, had to run for a two-point conversion to tie the score. Then Brown won it 16 seconds into overtime, returning an interception 33 yards to give the Bears a 37-31 win.

Of course the Bears tried an onside kick. And of course, with 28 seconds left, and after, as Coach Dick Jauron described it, the biggest pile of players in NFL history was dug apart, it was determined Bear linebacker Bobby Howard had recovered the ball, on the Cleveland 47.

That seemed an awfully long way. Out of the shotgun Matthews came and found running back James Allen for four yards. And then for nine more. What was left of the crowd grumbled. Now there were eight seconds left and not much progress had been made.

The Bears called a final timeout. People were still leaving the stadium. Matthews heaved the ball with no other purpose except to have it reach the end zone and cause a free-for-all. Cleveland’s Percy Ellsworth jumped the highest but could only tip the ball and not bat it to the ground. Allen dove to pluck it from the orange ‘O’ at the end of CHICAGO in the end zone. As Allen cradled the touchdown pass, he landed on top of teammate Booker. “It didn’t hurt a bit,” Booker said.

In overtime, the Bears got the ball first, ran three plays and punted. The Bears, after a 52-yard punt, had the Browns just where they wanted them.

Cleveland quarterback Tim Couch connected with receiver Kevin Johnson for 16 yards. Then Couch was sacked for a five-yard loss. Which brought up a second-and-15 play. A pass. Intended for Jamel White. Tipped by Bear defensive end Bryan Robinson. Intercepted by Brown. Run exuberantly and untouched 16 yards to the end zone.

“I was in the right spot again,” Brown said. “When the ball was up in the air, I was like ‘I can’t believe it. Here we go again.”’

Matthews, who was playing because starter Jim Miller had a hip pointer, was 30 of 50 for 357 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. But many of his passes were tipped and nearly intercepted. “We killed ourselves today,” Matthews said. “I killed us, especially. I still can’t believe it. That was as poor as I could possibly play today. Who would have thought the game would end like that, with Mike Brown picking it off and running it back again? Maybe it’s our year. Who knows?”

It must be. The Bears have become the first NFL team to win consecutive overtime games.

Jauron was supposed to be a lame duck this year, killing time with a bad team until the season ended and General Manager Jerry Angelo could hire someone else. Even now, with the Bears leading the NFC Central, Angelo hasn’t given Jauron a vote of confidence.

And next season the Bears will play home games at the University of Illinois while creaky, leaky Soldier Field is renovated.

But when the team does return to the new Soldier Field, the 2001 Bears will know they have created two weeks of amazing memories. Because, as Couch says, “When you’re up 21-7 with 32 seconds to go, you feel like you’ve got the game won.”

Not here. Not now. Not with the Damn Bears.