Bears blow by Giants, 38-20, after early deficit

On a miserable night, when gusting winds blew sheets of rain sideways, the Chicago Bears made everything perfectly clear. When it comes to the once-muddled NFC, there’s the Bears ... and everyone else.

“All we’ve done right now is put ourselves in position,” Coach Lovie Smith said Sunday, after his team’s 38-20 victory over the New York Giants at the Meadowlands. “The playoff run starts in November, and in the second half we like being 1-0.”

Now, the rest of the conference is chasing Chicago (8-1), which opened a two-game lead on Seattle, New Orleans and the Giants. Not only that, but the Bears have only two winning teams remaining on their schedule: the New York Jets and New England.

Sunday’s victory will be remembered for the comeback and the runback.

In the process of overcoming a 10-point deficit, the Bears secured a slice of NFL history. Returner Devin Hester fielded a short field-goal attempt in the fourth quarter and ran it back a record-tying 108 yards, matching the feat of teammate Nathan Vasher last season.

It was a spirit-sapper for the Giants, who were within four points when they tried the kick. Hester didn’t bolt out the end zone, but instead began the return with a casual walk as if he planned to take a knee.

As his special-teams coach, Dave Toub, pleadingly screamed for him to down the ball, Hester broke into a sprint and dashed down the sideline for the score.

It was a risky move. Had Hester downed the ball in the end zone, the Bears would have taken over at their 42, the spot of the kick. The only reason Hester was back there was in case the Giants opted for a pooch punt.

“I probably would have downed it if I’d seen the defenders coming at me full steam ahead,” he said. “But it seemed like all of them were kind of walking off the field like the play was over. That’s when I decided to take it out.”

That bizarre touchdown, which came with 11 minutes, 20 seconds to play and gave the Bears a 31-20 lead, is expected to earn Hester a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. After Vasher scored that way against San Francisco last November, he got a request to send his helmet and jersey to Canton, Ohio.

Although it was the most enduring play of the game, Hester’s runback probably wasn’t the most important. That came near the end of the first half, when the Bears were trailing, 13-3, and had a third and 22 at their 28. Instead of calling a pass play, they ran a draw with Thomas Jones and picked up 26 yards and a first down. Four plays later, Rex Grossman threw his first of three touchdown passes.

“We knew they were going to drop back in a prevent-type defense, which is usually what you tend to do in that situation,” Grossman said. “[Jones] was able to make a few guys miss and make a huge play.”

Chicago went on to score two more touchdowns in the third quarter to take a 24-13 lead they would never relinquish. By that point, in part because the weather was so nasty, thousands of people made their way to the exits.

It was a bitter defeat for the Giants (6-3), who came into the showdown with a five-game winning streak. Their injury problems are worse than most; they had five starters missing Sunday, and that’s before they lost left tackle Luke Petitgout to a broken leg and cornerback Sam Madison to a bum hamstring.

Upstaged by Grossman, Giants quarterback Eli Manning was sacked twice and had two passes intercepted. He completed 14 of 32 passes for 121 yards, no touchdowns, and a dreary rating of 28.3.

“It’s very disappointing,” Manning said. “In the first half we had the opportunity to take advantage of some good field position and turnovers by our defense.... We need to figure out a way to get better and I have to play better football.”

As for the Bears? Well, it doesn’t get much better than a convincing victory away from home over a highly touted opponent. Asked if this further legitimizes Chicago after last week’s embarrassing defeat to Miami, Grossman bristled.

“I’m not sure who rates us,” he said. “The NFL is not really a rated league like in college.... What does that even mean? I just know that we got a quality win on the road, and that’s huge for us.”

Soon after, Grossman and the Bears showered, dressed and headed for the bus. It wasn’t raining anymore. The skies, and their forecast, were remarkably clear.

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sam.farmer@latimes.com