The Chicago Bears have a long way to go before they regain their Monsters of the Midway title, but they were good enough Sunday afternoon to defeat the Carolina Panthers 34-29 before 62,135 at Soldier Field.
The Chicago Bears have a long way to go before they regain their Monsters of the Midway title, but they were good enough Sunday afternoon to defeat the Carolina Panthers 34-29 before 62,135 at Soldier Field.
The home team won this game with exceptional special teams and great running. The defense wasn’t up to par and gave up 543 total yards to Carolina. Quarterback Jay Cutler underperformed, completing just 9 of 17 passes for 102 yards and a passer rating of 46.7.
Rookie quarterback Cam Newton gave the Bears fits throughout the game while compiling some pretty heady statistics (27 of 46 for 374 yards 1 TD, 35 yards rushing and two touchdowns) and proving that his first three impressive outings in the NFL were no fluke.
On the first drive of the game Newton and running back DeAngelo Williams 10 rushes for 82 yards) drove down the field against a porous Bear defense and Olindo Mare knocked in a 29-yard field goal for an early 3-0 lead.
Then it was Bears running back Matt Forte’s time to make his presence felt, and on the second play from scrimmage he broke free for a 46-yard run. The drive stalled however, and they had to settle for a 20-yard field goal by Robbie Gould to even the score 3-3.
Forte would go on to have a career day (25 rushes for 205 yards and 1 touchdown), joining Bears’ greats Walter Payton and Gale Sayers as the only other players in team history to run for over 200 yards in a game.
“Downhill running is what gets the running game started,” Forte said. “We started running downhill in the first quarter and then kept it going throughout the entire game.”
The Chicago defense soon got in on the scoring action as well, when cornerback D.J. Moore intercepted a tipped Cam Newton pass and ran it in from 20 yards out for a TD to put the Bears up 10-3.
Showing a lot of poise for a rookie, Newton took the reigns for Carolina and deftly ran 14 yards for a big first down. Soon after that he found veteran wide receiver Steve Smith for a 53-yard completion to the Bear 1 yard line. The 6-foot-5, 248 pound Newton ran it in himself and the extra point evened the score 10-10.
But in the blink of an eye return sensation Devin Hester returned the Panther kickoff 73 yards. Cutler went to work on the short field and hit Roy Williams for a first down. Then Forte continued his impressive body of work on the day by running it in from 17 yards.
Hester was not done yet, and at the beginning of the second quarter he snagged a punt and streaked 69 yards to the end zone. It was his 11th punt return for a TD in his career, setting a new NFL record.
“It comes in spurts,” Hester said of scoring on special teams. “Returning a punt or kickoff is one of the hardest things to do in the NFL.”
Showing the confidence and poise of a veteran QB, Newton orchestrated an 8-play 64-yard drive, capping the effort with a 2-yard TD run to keep the Panthers within striking distance at 24-17.
In the third quarter the Panthers continued to move the ball well against the Bear defense, getting nice runs from Jonathan Stewart (8 rushes for 52 yards), but the bend-don’t-break theory was in effect for Chicago and they stopped the drive short of a TD. Carolina attempted a field goal, which Julius Peppers blocked.
“We wanted to be sitting here at 2-2 after this game and finish up this first quarter of the season on a high note and we were able to do that,” said head coach Lovie Smith.
Copyright 2011 Chicago Defender
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