BEARS CLIP RAVENS 30-23 IN WILD ENDING

RB Anthony Thomas (31-129) is without a doubt the "heart and soul" of the Bears offense. Last week he almost single handily carried the Bears to victory with his 41 carries and his 207 yard rushing day. On the season Thomas is approaching the 1200 yard barrier as he now has 1,188 and 11 touchdowns. His every yard is needed as time after time the Bears special teams really puts it's defense in trouble.

In the opening quarter the Bears defense really dominated the line of scrimmage as the Colts had no positive yardage at the end of the quarter. In fact the Bears had limited the Colts to -1 yards. The Bears on the other hand offensively moved down the field but time after time the Ravens defense stiffened and forced a 31 and 51 yard field goal by Paul Edinger. The Ravens though got a huge special teams play from Jermaine Lewis at the 4:04 mark as he would take Brad Maynard's 41 yard punt back the other way for a 70 yard touchdown and a 7-6 Ravens lead. It would set the tone for the second quarter as the Ravens used the return as a momentum push.

Edinger gave the Bears back the lead at 9-7 early in the 2nd quarter but that lead would be short lived. The Ravens started at the Bears 42 thanks to a 29 yard return by Qadry Ismail after a short kickoff by Edinger. "We have got to get better in our kicking game and return coverage" stated Coach V. "It is flat out killing us" Dilfer then had made the mistake that ended the drive as Rosevelt Colvin picked it off. The Bears though turned right around and gave it right back as Jim Miller (16-28-211) hit Marty Booker over the middle for a 25 yard gain but Booker was unable to maintain control of the ball turning it over to the Ravens. Baltimore wasted no time in making the Bears pay for the mistake as on 1st and 10 Dilfer hit Ismail over the middle for a gain of 35 to the Bears 23. After stalling 4 plays later Matt Stover's 34 yard field goal made it a 10-9 Ravens lead.

Stover added a 34 yard field goal on the Ravens next possession to now make it a 13-9 game. The Bears then helped the Ravens once again to tack on 3 more before the end of the half as Miller mishandled the snap from center and Ray Lewis fell on the ball for Baltimore at the Bears 28. Thankfully the Bears defense stiffened and forced yet another Stover field goal, this time from 37 yards out and went into the locker room down 16-9. "We dodged a big bullet for sure by not being down by more" Miller stated.

Chicago took the ball first in the 3rd quarter and marched 47 yards in 11 plays before settling on Edinger's 4th field goal of the day to cut the lead to 16-12. Baltimore then found itself starting at the Bears 46 after yet another big return given up by the Bears special teams. Dilfer though threw yet another interception as RW McQuarters picked him off. Nothing came from it but the Bears did put together a 7 play drive at quarters end resulting in Edinger's 5th field goal of the day as time ran out in the 3rd quarter and the Ravens still leading 16-15.

The Bears still felt uneasy about this because they just couldn't seem to find a way to punch the ball into the end zone. Chicago though finally would find its way into the end zone after almost turning the ball over on the punt return. The Bears started from its own 18 and put the ball mostly in the hands of Thomas and some very timely Miller completions. None bigger than Millers hook up with James Allen out of the backfield for a 25 yard gain to the Ravens 31. Thomas' 5 yard plunge at the 4:17 mark and then a Miller to Booker 2 point conversion put the Bears up 23-16. At this time the only anticipation was how far would the Ravens return the kickoff. For the first time in quite a while the special teams limited the Ravens somewhat as they would start from its own 35.

Then lightning struck as someone in the Bears secondary missed his assignment and on the very first play Dilfer hit Shannon Sharpe (3-69) on a medium route that he would turn into a 65 yard touchdown run and just like that it was tied at 23. The Bears without a doubt were in shock that they had just seen their 7 point lead dissipate on one play. With 3:42 to play the Bears then began what would be the winning score.

Starting from its own 39 the Bears actually had thoughts about just trying to get a couple of first downs and take its chances in overtime. On 3rd and 12 though (DOG penalty moved it from a 3rd and 7) the Bears went to the classic screen pass as David Terrell (3-39) got some great blocking and rambled 20 yards to the Ravens 31 to give the Bears new life and only yards away from another field goal try. Facing a 3rd and 4 at the 25 with only 1:31 left the last thing the Bears wanted was to toss an interception and end any chance of winning this thing in regulation. With an already 74% chance of a FG the Bears handed it off to Thomas for security and he would break through the Ravens front 4 and rumble the entire 25 yards into the end zone and a Bears 30-23 lead. Now it was the Ravens turn to be shocked.

Again though the Ravens were far from dead as they got the ball at their own 43 to begin a last ditch attempt to tie it up. The Bears chose to squib it and was willing to give up some yardage but they did not want to give up the big return. Its not good when you have no faith in your special teams. The Ravens would convert a 3rd and 10 into a 17 yard gain to the Bears 40 with still 1 minute left. Two plays later though the Bears defense ended any comeback attempt as Tony Parrish came away with the Bears 3rd interception off of Dilfer in the game.

This was a much needed game for both teams as the Bears are trying to maintain a 2 game lead in their division and the Ravens needed a win to stay even with their divisional counterparts. Chicago is now 7-2 while the Ravens drop to 4-5.
--submitted by Bill Vogt--