Well the Patriots finally got a win over a good team, beating the 9-1 Bears 17-13. As expected, this game was all about turnovers. We knew that we could force Grossman into some and that the Bears D was great at creating them. Both those things came true as there were a total of 9 turnovers in the game. Most of the turnovers occurred in the red zone, ending long drives and still leaving the offense with a long field to go. In the end, the Pats came up clutch when they needed it most, going on a long scoring drive after that the Bears had just tied it 10-10 in the fourth quarter. Some sloppy play but a good win.
The Bears determination to create turnovers is incredible. They have such speed and they all converge on the ball and try to hit or rip it out. Maroney’s fumble in the first half was caused by Lance Briggs simply tearing the ball out of Maroney’s hands. Brady’s second interception occured when the ball was tipped off Troy Brown’s hand, then Daneal Manning purposely tipped it up again, and Charles Tillman was able to run underneath it and catch it for the interception. It’s funny that on SportsCenter, Chris Berman always says “Knock it down!!” but the Bears actually try to tip it up, assuming that their speed on defense will allow them to get enough interceptions that way to offset any completions that occur that way. Manning looked like he was trying to set up a spike in volleyball on the play.
The Patriots did come up clutch when the Bears put the pressure on early in the fourth when the tied it 10-10. The Patriots drove right down the field and got a TD to take the lead back 17-10. The key play on the drive was Brady running for 12 yards on 3rd and 9 by juking LB Brian Urlacher. Pretty incredible stuff. The Pats almost lost the ball again a few plays later as Brady ran a QB sneak and lost the ball but was able to recover.
The Patriots defense played really well. They did allow quite a few rushing yards but otherwise held their ground. The Bears only touchdown came because of a questionable pass interference call on Ellis Hobbs. The Pats were able to pressure Rex Grossman into mistakes, recovering a key fumble inside the 10 yard line to prevent the Bears from taking an early lead, and Asante Samuel picked Grossman off 3 times!
There were a lot of great performances by the Pats in the game. Brady was excellent, running and throwing the ball very well against the best D in the league. Troy Brown made some great plays on offense, defense, and special teams. He was knocking down passes, blitzing the quarterback, making clutch catches, and fielding punts. Absolutely incredible! Richard Seymour had a big day with a sack, field goal block, and a fumble recovery. Asante Samuel had 3 picks and was very good in man coverage all day. And kicker Stephen Gostowski was good as well, making a 52 yard field goal at the end of the first half.
This was my first game back at Gillette Stadium since moving to Texas this summer. It was really good to be back, the crowd seemed pretty into the game. The new FieldTurf looked great, even up close you can’t tell its not real grass except for the rubber pellets. One interesting note from the game was from when Tedy Bruschi went down with an injury. The whole crowd started chanting “TED-Y! TED-Y!”, and as soon as we did he jumped up and sprinted off the field. It was like a scene out of Rocky.
