Patriots Pull Off a Comeback of Super Proportion

Tom Brady’s poise and David Patten’s fancy footwork combined to give the New England Patriots one of their most memorable comeback victories.

With a wild finish that saw officials spend nearly as much time viewing replays as patrolling the field, the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots came back from a three-touchdown deficit in the second half to beat the Chicago Bears, 33-30, Sunday.

“When you’re down three touchdowns in the third quarter, it shows what kind of fight you have,” Brady said after his 20-yard touchdown pass to Patten with 21 seconds left gave the Patriots an improbable victory -- and sent the stunned Bears to their seventh consecutive loss.

“We were down three touchdowns, and then we scored and we’re down two, and I said, ‘Man, we’ve got a shot,’ ” Brady added.

On a third and three from the Bear 20, he found Patten in the back of the end zone. Patten had a step on defensive back R.W. McQuarters and dived to haul in the pass.

Officials initially ruled a touchdown, but they reviewed the play.

They upheld the ruling on the field, saying that Patten had his right foot down and was able to drag his left foot in the end zone before going out.

“That was one of the best catches I’ve ever seen under pressure,” Brady said.

McQuarters wasn’t so sure it was a catch at all. “From the looks of it, the receiver’s foot was past the line,” he said. “I thought the second one was questionable. I guess it could have gone either way. It hurts.”

“This was a wild one. I can’t remember ever being in a game like that one before,” Patriot Coach Bill Belichick said.

Neither can the frustrated Bears. Their latest loss in this most disappointing season was one they’ll never forget.

Not once, but twice in the final minute, video replays didn’t go their way.

Chicago (2-7) led, 27-6, in the third quarter and took a 30-19 lead with 5:22 left on Paul Edinger’s 32-yard field goal, and the Bears thought they had stopped New England’s final drive when defensive lineman Brian Robinson stepped in front of Brady’s pass with just under a minute left for an apparent interception.

But Robinson juggled the ball as he was going down before losing it. Officials initially ruled that he had intercepted the pass and fumbled before teammate Rosevelt Colvin recovered.

But officials reviewed the play and said Robinson never had possession, resulting in an incomplete pass. That gave the Patriots one final chance, with a fourth down at the Bear 30 with 54 seconds to go.

New England (5-4) was out of timeouts, but Brady sneaked three yards on fourth down to keep the drive going.