4-1, Weird Fun
4-1, Weird Fun
Buc ‘Em Up, Bears
October 8, 2020
Bears 20, Buccaneers 19
Thursday Night Throwdown
Nick Foles can’t (consistently) throw, David Montgomery can’t (really) run, the officials can’t see, and Tom Brady can’t count.
These facts all conspired to create a 20-19 victory for the Chicago Bears over the Tampa Buccaneers at chilly, vacant Soldier Field on Thursday night, leaving the Bears with a 4-1 record.
The Bears fell behind 13-0 largely because Foles, starting his second game at quarterback for the Bears, was missing passes left, right, short, and deep and Brady, who has been playing in the NFL since the Coolidge Administration, was able to stay upright enough to cobble together three scoring drives, one thanks to a Foles interception that may have been his fault, may have been receiver Allen Robinson’s fault, may have been a great play by Bucs cornerback Carlton Davis, or might have been Mitch Trubisky spitting into the wind from the Bears sideline.
How did the Bears win this strange game full of penalties (11 for the Bucs, six for the Bears) and punishing hits? One reason is that the Bears had the most punishing slobknocker of them all. Cornerback Kyle Fuller tattooed Tampa running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn late in the second quarter, forcing him to fumble and giving the Bears the ball deep in Tampa territory, setting up a beautiful Foles touchdown pass to Jimmy Graham for a 14-13 halftime lead after scoring another touchdown just a minute before.
The Fuller play was, at first, ruled an incomplete pass and there was even concern that it was a dirty hit. It wasn’t. And we were surprised, relieved, and pleased that the officials looked at the play long enough to make the right call. The Bears benefitted from a few flags in this one but if a team deserves luck, why not us?
In the end, this slugfest came down to Foles engineering a drive that set up Bears kicker Cairo Santos nailing a 38-yard field goal with less than two minutes to play to put Chicago up, 20-19. But the Bears seem to error even when they do well, or at least they keep us on the edge of our recliner, as they appeared to have possibly left far too much time on the clock for Brady.
But Brady, after twenty years in the league and a lot of hard hits in this one (Khalil Mack, two sacks, should have had a few more) seemed to have honestly lost track of what down it was and on fourth down he threw an incomplete pass and then held up four fingers. He looked stunned. So did we. Brady thought he had another down coming. The officials said “no, Tom, even though you’re Tom Brady four downs is all you get so go home, fella.”
Bears 20, Bad Counters, 19.
It is quite irresponsible for us to reach this far and not give you this name: Cordarrelle Patterson, who not only has lovely hair but might be our favorite Bear. The kick returner/running back/receiver/future Mayor of Coolville compiled 164 all-purpose yards. #84 is a man, baby.
He needed to be because the Bears managed 35 yards rushing in this game. We won’t repeat it. Yes, Tampa has a darn good defense. We just won’t say anymore.
We will say that some of us thought the Bears would win four games this year. Total. Now they have four victories a week into October. Smoke? Mirrors? Luck? Pluck? Cordarrelle-Khalil-Kyle?
Bears win, Brady loses and we don’t know where this is going but we’re not asking for it to stop. --TK
Thursday, October 8, 2020