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It was neither pretty nor aesthetic in terms of style points, but the Bears managed to emerge with a much-needed 30-6 victory over the woeful Cleveland Browns Sunday at Soldier Field.
On a day honoring Hall of Fame running back Walter Payton, the Bears improved to 4-3 to remain within striking distance of NFC North rivals Minnesota and Green Bay. Meanwhile, the Browns sank to 1-7.
Both teams struggled offensively in the first quarter, but the Bears emerged with a 6-0 lead on field goals of 37 and 29 yards by Robbie Gould. A 35-yard interception return by Danieal Manning with 2:02 left in the first quarter set the Bears up at the Cleveland 13. But Jay Cutler could not get the Bears in the end zone with the advantageous field position.
Browns quarterback Derek Anderson was charged with a fumble as he attempted to hand off to Jamal Lewis early in the second quarter and it was recovered by Adewale Ogunleye at the Cleveland 46.
Once again the Bears could only cash in with a Gould field goal, this time from 32 yards, for a 9-0 lead. A third down sack by linebacker Kamerion Wimbley was the key play in preventing a Bears touchdown.
Wimbley later was charged with a late hit on Cutler with 6:20 left in the second period. Wimbley led with his helmet under the chin of Cutler on a third-down pass. The hit caused Cutler to draw blood after biting his tongue.
Matt Forte finally scored a touchdown from a yard out for the Bears with 1:56 left until halftime. Gould converted for a 16-0 lead.
The Browns got on the board with a touchdown early in the third period following a shanked 12-yard punt by Brad Maynard. Anderson scored from a yard out at the end of a 5-play, 30-yard drive. The extra point attempt was blocked by Israel Idonije and the Bears led 16-6.
Forte ran for a 10-yard TD, his second of the game, with 1:42 left in the third quarter. Gould converted and the Bears took a 23-6 lead. The score was set up by a 31-yard pass from Cutler to Johnny Knox.
Cutler threw his 11th interception of the season with 12:03 left in the game. Brodney Poole was credited with the pick after the Bears challenged the ruling on the field.
The Browns gave the ball right back, however, when Anderson passed to Mohamed Massaquoi. He was hit by Nick Roach and Charles Tillman recovered.
The Bears took to the Cleveland 2 after a 34-yard pass to Devin Hester set the offense up at the Cleveland 2. But the Bears could not score from there on four downs. Following an incomplete pass in the end zone on fourth down, Cutler sauntered over toward the Browns sideline and exchanged words with Browns defensive coordinator Rob Ryan.
The Bears' Tillman then intercepted an Anderson pass and returned it 21 yards for a touchdown to give the Bears a 30-6 lead.
The Bears run out of their new tunnel. (Chris Sweda / Tribune)
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Relax
We won
Okay, for those feeling pretty good about this win. Just being a REALIST here...even if the Bears had all these scoring opportunities in the red zone, inside the 10 yard line and DIDN'T take advantage of them (with touchdowns instead of field goals) against a Green Bay, Minnesota, even the Cardinals coming up...who HERE believes that those teams would not have scored on the Bears on their possessions to make this WIN...a LOSS! Does ANYBODY here believe, that with this performance-today, that the Bears can WIN against waaaay better teams than the Browns...ANYBODY? Yes, it is a win, but when you CAN'T show you can score in the Red Zone against good teams...they are just going to feed off that and kick your butt. When you face a Defense that is ranked 31st against the rush and 23rd against the pass and still CAN'T score, how can a REAL fan of the game BELIEVE this Bears team is any better than the one who lost last week to the Bengals! Bring in the Cardinals and show me you can win against a DECENT, not great, football team...and then maybe I will start to BELIEVE. But for now, THE BEARS ARE WHO DENNIS GREEN BELIEVED THEY WERE...A BEATABLE TEAM!
After watching the Bears beat Cleveland, we caught the FOX broadcast of the Vikings at Green Bay. Now, THAT was a football game. Favre just makes stuff happen. Peterson runs like he's made of teflon and there's no tomorrow. Need a touchdown? No problem. The Bears meet the Vikings on November 29 and if today's games were any example, the Bears will get their butts kicked.
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Sweet34-a on November 1, 2009 6:32 PM
stop whining. 30-6. what more or less did you want. yes, we are not playing (like GB vs. Minn) at that Heart rate you'd like yet, but, gez, what we win 50-0 it wold mean more to you.
You have to take in perspective. Let's take this win. be happy, and u gotta like how the Ravens tunrned korton into a no-show here on the Trib site."
There is more to it than the score. Once again the Bears could not punch it in against a less than stellar defense.
Just wondering what you think we would do against the Ravens defense????
I am still shocked one of those crappy wide receiver screens actually picked up positive yardage. Expect to see it 15 times a game now.
Tis a good thing the Defense came to play
Boy, Tommie Harris sure showed us today. I can't believe we ever doubted him. 2 tackles, 0 for loss. He should do the right thing and retire so we don't owe him anymore money. Seriously.
And can we please just move Williams over to left tackle and Omiyale over to right tackle like we should have after training camp? williams wasn't drafted to play RT and others like Ryan Clady are paying dividends from reps, so let's knock off the loyalty to vets crap. ACT LIKE A REAL FOOTBALL TEAM. TALENT FIRST.
Yayyy... the Denver Donkeys lost. Yayyy... the Bears won. Double win!!!
Hey! Last week I said Lovie Smith lost this team and the players have tuned Lovie and the coaches out! They weren't supposed to win another game! Awwww Crap! Now it looks like I don't know what i'm talking about!
What I don't get is why we can't score in the redzone. If you're at the 2 yard line and you have 4 downs, YOU HAVE TO SCORE A TOUCHDOWN. If we can't score, we need to replace our whole O Line.
stop whining. 30-6. what more or less did you want. yes, we are not playing (like GB vs. Minn) at that Heart rate you'd like yet, but, gez, what we win 50-0 it wold mean more to you.
You have to take in perspective. Let's take this win. be happy, and u gotta like how the Ravens tunrned korton into a no-show here on the Trib site.
Give it time folks. Until then, drink a beer, and enjoy.
I lost any faith I had in the Bears after last weeks game. Wow the won from the worst team in the league nothing special their. Imagine if you got paid per game you played if you lost you get nothing, now that would make some interesting game play.
I agree with many of the comments here. I am happy about the victory. But Cleveland is pretty bad. The problem here is the sentiments. If the Bears beat whom they are supposed to beat then they are not the worst team in rthe league and pathetic is a pretty strong word for a team that is 4-3. Also I question the strategy of some of those here. No the Bears cannot pass, pass, pass. Other teams, which also have professional coaches, might notice. Then they would simply adjust the defense. Among other things, they would rush more against an offensive line that is not exactly proving itself able to protect Cutler. You can if you wish focus on passing. But you still have to run often enough to show the other team it is there. I agree with those that believe the offensive line is pretty bad. But then I have been saying that since the Super Bowl year. I focused on Orlando Pace today. he may at one time have been one of the best in the league. But so far this year, it looks like those days are long past. The cameras showed him getting badly beaten a number of times. I don't know enough about football to rate Turner. I'm not sure what ANY offensive coordiator could do about play-calling with the present offensive line performance.
How many years do we have to read these "It-wasn't-pretty-but" stories every time they win? Just once I would like to see them play convincingly against a quality team, but it never happens. They do sometimes beat a good team, but it's always a coin toss whether they could do it again. I'm joining the camp that says the basic team is low average, with a grossly inflated self image, and in many cases, salaries to match. I don't know enough to say for sure whether the coaching is bad, but I can say without a doubt that anyone can see it's awfully weird. Even if they make it to the playoffs, they sure don't look like going anywhere.
The offensive line was horrible AGAIN. I almost think offensively we were worse than the the last game and that is hard to do. Horrible play calling and execution in the red zone. Several times we tried to pass down there and there was absolutely no one even remotely open. On one play we had one person in the end zone against 5 defenders. I just do not get it. What does Ron Turner have on someone in the Bears organization? He has got to go. Please Ron step down for the good of the Bear nation.
I know the score says bears won, but it still feels like they lost. I miss the good ol days - bears have the other team pinned on their own 1 yard line and the bears send everybody and swarm the QB.
Someone needs to tell the Bears they won today. Their official Website has them as 3-4 in the NFC North Standings. Dingbats.
At the risk of being called a rush-to-judgment reactionary fan, I must say, as I have for the last, oh, 30 games or so, Ron Turner must go. The game has passed him by.
the 85 team,those alive and ambulatory, could've beaten the browns today on sheer emotion for WP. this team is a pathetic bunch.
hahaha wow they beat the browns. that dont change a thing this whole orginazation is still a joke!!!! fire lovie smith and his gang of losers and hillenmeyer you can go with him cause id rather have the water boy in than you
Its hard to relax after watching that short yardage and red zone offense for 7 games. It is just sick. Cutler is good enough to win with his arm and this offense needs to play off that. Pass first, run second. I hate seeing run for 1 yd, run for 1 yd, 3rd and long - defense blitzes - Cutler has to checkdown for a 3 yd pass.
Pass, Pass, and Pass again!
Its hard to relax after watching that short yardage and red zone offense for 7 games. It is just sick. Cutler is good enough to win with his arm and this offense needs to play off that. Pass first, run second. I hate seeing run for 1 yd, run for 1 yd, 3rd and long - defense blitzes - Cutler has to checkdown for a 3 yd pass.
Pass, Pass, and Pass again!
The offensive line and the offensive play calling really seem sub-par this year. Also the team has not seemed prepared for any of the games much this year. Lots of mistakes, missed routes, etc
Blandest ... relax. Wait for the Denver fans to start posting.
Bears need to stop trying to force the run and become a pass first team. We have a QB good enough for that now. There is nothing wrong with passing to set up the run. There are plenty of good teams that pass first: NE, IND, PITT, SD, NO,