Chicago Bears 2011 regular season Review: A collapse of epic proportions – NFL Special Part III
At Philadelphia
The Chicago Bears had built up some good momentum, entering into their week nine clash against the Philadelphia Eagles.
They also had a whole week off with a bye week before the clash with Philadelphia, and that freshness would come in handy facing a gritty Eagles' side.
Bears took a 17-10 lead in the first half of the game and it looked like the Bears would go on for an easy win, but two third quarter rushing touchdowns by Eagles' Ronnie Brown and LeSean McCoy made things interesting as the Bears trailed by four points.
With the game anybody’s for the taking Bears' quarterback, Jay Cutler sent his second touchdown pass of the game to make it 27-24 early in the final quarter.
Matt Forte then drove the Bears forward into field goal range in a late play and Robbie Gould stepped up to send a 22-yard field goal through the prongs to give Chicago a 30-24 win and their third straight.
Against Detroit
The Detroit Lions next visited Soldier Field and Chicago were out for revenge for their defeat earlier in the season.
The Bears who were looking for a fourth straight victory completely outclassed Detroit at home as Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford was picked off four times, two of which were returned by Chicago for touchdowns.
The Bears took the lead early in the first quarter with Matt Forte rushing for six yards to open the scoring.
Devin Hester’s 82-yard punt return in the second quarter made it 20-0 for Chicago. The Lions could only respond with two field goals as the Bears held a big 20-6 lead at the end of the first half.
The third quarter saw Chicago increase their lead to 37-6 as Stafford was intercepted three times in the quarter with two being returned for costly touchdowns.
Chicago was rolling straight to victory and Stafford’s touchdown pass to Tony Scheffler late in the fourth quarter was just a consolation as the Bears won their fourth straight 37-13.
Against San Diego Chargers
This game was the turning point in the Bears' season, and after week 11, the team would never be the same again.
Chicago cruised to a fifth straight win over the Chargers as Jay Cutler put in his best performance yet but unfortunately for him and Bears the quarterback injured his thumb badly and was diagnosed to be kept out of the field for the rest of the season.
In the game however, Cutler was brilliant passing for 286-yards and two touchdowns as he led Chicago to a 7-3 regular season record as the Bears won in comprehensive fashion 31-20.
The quarterback also scored a single rushing touchdown.
Although Cutler performed brilliantly in the post game press conference Coach Lovie Smith announced that the quarterback had injured his thumb and would no longer take part in the season as he requires immediate surgery.
The blow would be massive to the Bears prospects of reaching the playoffs and their offence will become a shadow of its self under the leadership of Cutler.
The win over the Chargers will be the last Bears win until a final day victory over the Minnesota Vikings.
To be continued..
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