Bears Rally Around Miller

There’s something about Jim Miller that brings out the best in the Chicago Bears.

Maybe it’s his low-key personality or his blue-collar work ethic. Either way, the Bears seem to win when he’s in a game.

Miller came on for injured Shane Matthews to throw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes, with Marcus Robinson capping the comeback with a leaping 24-yard touchdown catch Sunday as the Bears beat the Minnesota Vikings, 17-10.

“That wasn’t an upset, we expected to win,” said Miller, who has come off the bench to lead the Bears to victories in each of the previous two seasons and is 4-1 as a starter. “We have a good team. And in the second half we started to show that.”

Miller, who came on in the second quarter after Matthews bruised his ribs, completed 18 of 29 passes for 204 yards. Marty Booker caught nine passes for 95 yards, and Robinson had seven catches for 99 yards as the Bears improved to 1-1.

The Vikings, in falling to 0-2 for the first time since 1984, continued to struggle on offense. Randy Moss again wasn’t much a factor and Cris Carter was visibly frustrated by Minnesota’s ineptitude.

“We came out and had some chances to score and to move the ball, but we didn’t score,” Minnesota Coach Dennis Green said. “The name of the game is moving the ball and scoring some points with your offensive unit, and we didn’t do that.”

Moss had five catches for a non-threatening 81 yards, and Carter had one catch for 13 yards. Daunte Culpepper was 24 for 36 for 233 yards with a touchdown and also rushed for 42 yards.

Moss, Carter and Culpepper all refused to talk after the game.

“You could just see it in their eyes they were getting frustrated,” said cornerback R.W. McQuarters, who was covering Carter. “I think the whole defense got the best of all of them.” The Vikings failed on a fake punt in the fourth quarter to set up the winning touchdown. Needing only two yards on second down, Michael Bennett rushed for a yard and then no gain.

Mitch Berger then tried the fake, but his pass to Harold Morrow was incomplete as Bobbie Howard shoved Morrow out of bounds. The Vikings also had an ineligible receiver downfield.

“That’s something that Mitch thought was there, and he tried to go for it,” Green said. “I think it comes down to when you are trying to get out there and make something happen, many times it’s not going to be there.”

That gave the Bears the ball at the Minnesota 45. Five plays later Robinson beat Robert Tate and Don Morgan in the deep left corner of the end zone and made a fingertip catch for the decisive touchdown with 3:39 left.

“That was a big catch in a crucial situation,” Viking defensive end Talance Sawyer said. “Tate was on him as tight as could be. The other guy just made a bigger play.”

It was only the Bears’ sixth win in the last 20 games with the Vikings.