Bears Still Drama Kings on New Turf

New season, new venue. Doesn’t matter. Whether it’s by the shores of Lake Michigan or in the heart of the farmland, the Chicago Bears keep finding magical ways to produce victories.

This was supposed to be a time of transition for the Bears, who will play their home games downstate at the University of Illinois’ Memorial Stadium while Soldier Field undergoes a $600-million renovation. Instead their opening game looked a whole lot like last year, as the Bears used a late interception by free safety Mike Brown and a touchdown pass from Jim Miller to David Terrell with 28 seconds remaining to complete their comeback from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter and beat the Minnesota Vikings, 27-23.

“Deja vu?” Miller suggested.

Sure.

Last year the Bears trailed Minnesota by seven points in the fourth quarter and came back to win. They were down by 15 to San Francisco in the fourth quarter and rallied to win in overtime, when Brown returned an interception for a touchdown. The next week, the Bears rallied from 14 back in the fourth and Brown did it again with another interception return in overtime to beat the Cleveland Browns.

The Bears even trailed the lowly Detroit Lions by a touchdown in the fourth before coming back to win. That’s just how they do it. So after Minnesota’s Doug Brien kicked a 42-yard field goal to put the Vikings ahead, 23-13, with 9:07 left to play Sunday, the Bears knew the drill.

First they turned past the first page of their conservative playbook and threw to Marty Booker for a 54-yard gain. That took the Bears to the Minnesota 24-yard line. It was the most memorable part of Booker’s eight-catch, 198-yard day. Booker dropped a couple of passes, including one on Chicago’s last drive, but there would be no goats for the Bears on Sunday. They kept pulling heroes out of their pockets. The offensive line and running back Anthony Thomas produced nothing for most of the afternoon, but Thomas ran for gains of 11 and seven yards before rumbling into the end zone from one yard out to bring the Bears within

three.

Then it was Brown’s turn. He missed most of training camp because of a broken hand. He missed good chunks of this game because of heat exhaustion and required two bags of intravenous fluids. Yet where was he when it mattered, when Minnesota’s Daunte Culpepper threw a long pass to Randy Moss with less than three minutes to play? Right where he always is: the right place.

“I just happen to be in the spots that I’m supposed to be,” Brown said. “During the game, something’s going to happen, especially in the safety position.”

He ran over, jumped and picked off Culpepper’s pass at the 33-yard line, and returned it to midfield with 2:34 on the clock. The Bears moved down the field and scored the winning touchdown when Miller found Terrell in the end zone from nine yards out with 28 seconds left to play.

The same David Terrell who was out of favor with dropped passes throughout last season. The same one who was in trouble for an alleged altercation outside a nightclub this summer. The same one who was the biggest critic of playing at Memorial Stadium because he remembered playing there while he was at Michigan and the stench from the nearby farm that sometimes wafted over the field. Apparently everyone got a chance at redemption Sunday.

The Bears were dominated in the rough-and-tough stuff for much of the afternoon. Minnesota rushed for 64 yards in the first half while the Bears gained only nine yards on the ground. Miller fumbled at his 33 in the last minute of the first half, leading to an easy Moss touchdown catch. The defense that gave up only 13 points a game last season allowed 23.

“We overcame a lot of careless mistakes, and we just kept on working,” Miller said. “The game is 60 minutes and we definitely used all of them.

Said Larry Whigham, Brown’s backup: “I don’t know why we make it dramatic. But you can’t ask for anything better. And it’s not luck. We created it.”

They also carved out a memorable debut at their temporary home. There actually are some deep ties between the Bears and the University of Illinois. Franchise founder George Halas lettered in three sports here, and he used his school colors when he clad the Bears in orange and blue. Dick Butkus, one in a line of fierce Bear middle linebackers that includes Bill George, Mike Singletary and now Brian Urlacher, was an All-American at Illinois. All of that history hasn’t made the transition easier. The Bears take a 50-minute charter flight to Champaign on the eve of game day while their Chicago-area fans have to drive 2 1/2 hours to Champaign.

Enough of them made the trip to pack the stadium with 63,226 fans. If the players missed anything Sunday, it was the lakefront breeze. The year-old Astroplay surface at Illinois has a base of ground-up rubber tires. The rubber heated up Sunday to give the field temperatures between 110 and 120 degrees.

Still, the Bears won in a game that provided NFL-caliber excitement in a collegiate atmosphere. Did that change Terrell’s opinion of Memorial Stadium?

“I still don’t like it,” he said. “I’m a Michigan man. But I guess this is our new home.”

And it looks as if the Bears’ old winning formula didn’t get lost in the move.

J.A. Adande can be reached at: j.a.adande@latimes.com.