BEARS 27, Seahawks 24, OT: We're Doing This The Fun Way, Not The Easy Way

The win is all that matters.

So what if the BEARS once had a seemingly Secretariat-like lead over the rest of the NFC that has now shrunk down to just a nose. There’s one length left in this race, and only one horse left to hold off.

I really don’t care if the BEARS rush the ball 55 times in the NFC championship and win 4-3 on two safeties. I also don’t care if they have to win it on an overtime field goal after giving up three touchdowns, although that bothers me a little more, which we’ll get to in a bit. I just care that they win, win, win.

The BEARS started out on Sunday looking like they were going with a philosophy of run the ball and don’t fuck up, which I highly applaud. The opening drive featured nine runs and three passes, and ended with a Thomas Jones touchdown. That’s exactly what you want to see when you’re planning to win a game on defense.

Overall, they ended up with a slightly higher mix of passes than runs. This looked like it was going to backfire when the BEARS took over the ball at midfield with two minutes left and went three-and-out on three pass plays and the shaky defense immediately gave up two quick first downs. But they found just enough of their old form to stymie Matt Hasselbeck at midfield at the end of the game, and again in overtime.

And for the day that Rex Grossman had, it’s hard to argue with a 50-50 pass-run mix. His numbers were certainly solid – 21 for 38 for 282 yards and a 68-yard touchdown strike to Bernard Berrian on the first play after a Seattle touchdown. In fact, his 282 yards were the most of any quarterback this weekend. He did have a fumble and an interception, but you could make an argument that neither one was primarily his fault.

For my money, the player of the game was Rasheed Davis, whose 4 catches for 84 yards included two huge third-and-10 conversions. That’s huge in terms of yardage and importance. The first was a 37-yard catch-and-run on the opening drive in which he took the ball away from Seatle defender Justin Babeneaux, and the second was a 30-yard pickup to set up the overtime field goal that Robbie Gould kicked a very, very, very long way.

Overall, the only thing I would have wanted to see more of out of the offense was Cedric Benson. Even with Jones’ two touchdown runs, I feel more confident in Benson to pick up tough yardage.

The defense was another story. If the BEARS had lost by failing to move the ball with two minutes left, it would have been easy to blame the offense. But when this team puts up 21 points in the first half, the offense has done its job and this team should win easily. Shaun Alexander exposed the normally staunch run defense, with seven carries of 10 or more yards. (Three of those came on the final drive of regulation and the first drive of overtime, causing concerned text messages to flutter back and forth across BEARS Nation.)

There were a couple plays in which Chris Harris had Alexander played perfectly, but Alexander ran through him as if he were a cardboard cutout of himself. Perhaps this is actually good news for next week’s game against the Saints and Reggie Bush and Deuce McAllister, who, though highly talented, are not as oversized as Alexander.

Bottom line, though, is that the BEARS are one win away from making this a successful season. It may turn out to be more difficult than it once appeared to hold off the best of the rest of the conference and get that last win, but it’s there for the taking. This team just needs to reach out to its championship past and collectively give the New Orleans Saints a Walter Payton-like stiffarm to beat them down.