Bears Claw Their Way Back

Almost five minutes after the game was over, the Chicago Bears were still on their feet, cheering. Mike Brown held the ball in the air and pointed at the crowd.

After a victory like this, a little extra celebration was in order.

Brown’s 33-yard interception return in overtime capped a wild game Sunday and gave Chicago a 37-31 victory over the San Francisco 49ers in the shortest extra period in NFL history.

“This,” Brown said, “is unbelievable.”

Trailing, 28-9, the Bears rallied behind rookie David Terrell’s two touchdown catches in the fourth quarter and former Michigan teammate Anthony Thomas’ run for a two-point conversion to tie the score. Then, on the first play of overtime, Brown picked off a pass intended for Terrell Owens and returned it for the game-winning score.

That would be the same Terrell Owens who burned the Bears for an NFL-record 20 catches in a game last year.

“I was just trying to make the play, I don’t know what happened,” Owens said. “I was open, I was trying to make the play.”

Instead, it bounced off his shoulder pads and into Brown’s hands to give the Bears (5-1) their fifth straight win--their longest winning streak since 1991. Overtime lasted only 16 seconds, eclipsing the previous record by one second.

Thomas finished with 127 yards, his second 100-yard game in a row. Shane Matthews, who replaced injured quarterback Jim Miller in the second quarter, completed 25 of 31 passes for 166 yards.

“I can’t tell you how good it feels,” Bear Coach Dick Jauron said. “I thought San Francisco did a lot of good things. I know they’re good, but to come away with that--that was fantastic.”

The Bears’ stunning victory spoiled a big day for Garrison Hearst, who scored his first touchdown since December 1998. Hearst, who missed the last two seasons with a severe ankle injury, caught four passes for 105 yards and rushed for 46 yards.

Jeff Garcia was 21 for 29, but it was his last throw to Owens that cost the 49ers (4-2) the game.

“It was a major disappointment, but it is something that we’ll just have to get over,” Garcia said. “We had an excellent opportunity to be 5-1, and that’s what’s so disheartening, allowing the game to slip out of our hands like that.”

Off to their best start in 11 years, the Bears looked out of sync early. Instead of the Chicago defense making the plays, it was the young 49ers who came up big.

Julian Peterson returned a fumble 26 yards for San Francisco’s first score, and Zack Bronson returned an interception 97 yards to give the 49ers a 28-9 lead with 8:18 left in the third quarter.

But the Bears came back. Though he hadn’t played since injuring his ribs Sept. 23, Matthews led them to three scores in the last 20 minutes, including the touchdown passes to Terrell--13 yards with 4:08 to play and four yards with 26 seconds left, after which Thomas’ two-point run tied it.