Chicago Fumbles and Loses to Denver in OT

Chicago is tied with and holds the tie breakers against other teams who are in the hunt for wild card playoff positioning.  The Chicago Bears won the coin toss...the game was a different story.  Winning the coin toss, Chicago elected to kick to ball and receive it for the second half.  Now I felt pretty good about this move because it gives Haine a chance to get into the game without being on the field.  If you can understand my logic.  :-)

Tim Tebow, meet the Chicago Defense that you wanted to play against.  He was sacked during this first series and Denver ended up punting the ball.  Chicago mirrored Denver with their first possession; if not worse, by going 3 and out. 

Less than 4 minutes into the game, Chicago has its second sack on Tim Tebow.  This unconventional option offense is not fooling the Bears at all.  Briggs had already stated that he will not lose a game to this crap.  Note that quote from Briggs for he was called with a personal foul; hitting (tackle) Tim Tebow after a pass.  This call, to me, was not warranted and was only called after Tebow pointed to the refs and lobbied for the call.

Tim Tebow lobbied a call, so Chicago dialed up an interception on this drive.  "Peanut" Tillman answered the call with a terrific (classic) interception before falling out of bounds.  It had to be reviewed but during the review, you had a better appreciation of that play.  However, back on offense, Chicago did nothing with this turnover….

Offensively this game is not going anywhere and nothing the cheer about at all.  Here is an example of why Denver loves Tebow.  Julius Peppers gets a true BEAR HITTING SACK against Tim Tebow.  Chicago is hitting him hard early in the game.  But then on the very next play, Tim Tebow runs for a 16 yard first down.  The Denver Crowd goes CRAZY after the play as if he scored a touchdown.

Denver moves the ball in range for a field goal.  But Julius Peppers and the Chicago defense blocks the field goal attempt.  Now you have to believe Chicago is about to win this game.  The referee's calls were going against Chicago but had no effect on the score. 

Halftime
Chicago 0    Denver 0

With just 40 seconds off of the clock to start the second half, Chicago is already at a 3rd down situation and moving backwards.  Now count how many times I have typed Tebow so far within this Naperville, IL Blog.  Haine overthrows a wide-open receiver…4th down; punt. 

Denver has the ball and Mr. Tebow almost put 6 points on the board by going long.  The receiver missed the catch by inches and Chicago almost got burned on that play.  One of the tweets that went by stated that the Denver core of receivers was taught by Roy Williams on how to catch the ball. 

The Bears are back on offense and this time, Khalil Bell is on the field as the running back.  He was really moving the ball for Chicago.  However, Haine spoiled the positive movement by not feeling the pocket (sack) and putting the Bears in a long yardage situation for a 1st down.  He is further rattled into moving out of the pocket and into a 4th down.  AGRHHHH…!

Defensively, the Bears are playing at its peak.  Peppers was fooled on a play by Tebow but punished him on the next one.  Denver had 1 yard to go for a first down and Chicago held.  Perfect time for Devin Hester to get some special team points on the board.  Devin delivered with a fantastic run and great field position for Chicago. 

Great field position at hand, Marion Barber was a bruising RB offensively for Chicago and scored the first points in the game.  Denver receives the ball back and Tim Tebow tries to gain momentum with his feet and instead….3 and out.  GO BEARS!

Chicago's next offensive possession, Robbie Gould kicks a record breaking field goal to put Chicago ahead by 10 points.  Defensively, Chicago is putting their mark on this game.  Up by 10 points, the defense for Chicago is still pressing and Denver again punts the ball with no offensive production.  At this point, Tebow has only completed 3 passes for the day.

Haine should be comfortable with this lead and play as if there is no pressure at all to win this game.  Moving the ball would keep the clock running and a win for Chicago.  On a simple 3rd down play, he over throws a short screen pass that would have kept Chicago's possession alive.

Thanks to the defense of the Bears, after Denver has the ball and is moving into Chicago's territory, they sack Tim Tebow and then cause a fumble to where Chicago recovers the ball.  BEAR DOWN.  Chicago is running the ball and going nowhere trying to yet again, run out the clock.  BUT YOU HAVE TO GET A FIRST DOWN. 

Chicago Bear Fans, do I dare type this invented description...we have been Tebowed.  With 4:34 left in the game, Denver was able to score 10 points to force overtime.  By this time, you really have a national audience watching this game and my twitter feed is going crazy.  Some folks, who I do not follow for sports information, are tweeting about this game. 

Chicago loses this game in overtime.  If you look back at the game, as I have 3 times already, there were so many calls not called against Denver to where they shouldn't have won the game.  Moreover, if the Bears offense had moved the ball as they should have in the fourth quarter, Haine would not have had to console Barber on the bench after his mistakes in the game. 

The best quarterback in this contest was Brian Urlacher and not Tim Tebow.  Brian guided this defense all the way to the fourth quarter.  Now, he couldn't call the defensive scheme in the fourth, but why change what was working for you regardless of the score.  The Seattle Seahawks are up next.

Chicago 10    Denver 13