BEARS 37, Denver 34, OT: That Was Unexpected

“Miracle” doesn’t really cover it.

“Oh, you lucky bastards” is much more accurate.

True, the BEARS overtime win against Denver on Sunday was pretty impressive, coming as it did with the BEARS down two touchdowns with slightly more than 5 minutes left. But let’s not forget that for 54 minutes this was a picture of a franchise imploding on itself.

The team struggled on offense, rolling up a meager 160 yards through three quarters -- at which point Devin Hester had more kick return yards, including his two touchdowns. I really hope this isn’t a sign that the offense actually misses Cedric Bensen, who injured his ankle in the second quarter and didn’t return.

The team struggled on defense, giving up four touchdowns and also allowing more than 400 yards for the second straight week. Of course, most of that was in the third quarter, and if you take that away the defense was mostly solid (although Adam Archuleta was made to look like a 5-foot-10 untalented stiff several times, including the Broncos’ first touchdown). But the defense’s failure to play four quarters is a nagging theme this year, as much as the multiple injuries and the quarterback-go-round.

Even the game-tying touchdown was a struggle. The drive was kept alive by a cheap penalty on a fourth down, and Bernard Berrian had to make a marvelous diving catch on another fourth down for the score.

Penalties and a Rex Grossman fumble held the BEARS to a mere three points off of two Denver turnovers – and wiped out an athletic touchdown catch by Greg Olson. Even 2007 BEARS MVP Hester got into the act, fumbling in the first quarter on a very ill-advised attempt to field a bouncing punt.

Of course, he would be forgiven, thanks to his mesmerizing kick returns, twice tying the game in the third. Hester gets harder and harder to believe with every seemingly effortless touchdown. As a side note, it was fun to watch former BEARS punting goat Todd Sauerbrun wipe himself out trying unsuccessfully to stop Hester on each of his scores.

While those returns kept the BEARS in the game for a while, it was another special teams play that turned the tide, that being Charles Tillman’s blocked punt with 7:14 left and the BEARS down by two touchdowns. Four plays later, Adrian Peterson – showing a level of heart Bensen has never had – gut-checked the ball through a pile of tacklers into the end zone, and made the comeback possible.

The rest is denouement. The BEARS won the overtime coin toss, the first play was a 39-yard pass from Rex Grossman to Dwight Clark that brought the BEARS to the brink of field goal range, and a few plays later Robbie Gould cemented it. (Thanks in part to that chunk of yards, Grossman ended the day with decent numbers, but I still spent most of the day wishing he was Jay Cutler.)

So after all this, the BEARS are somehow still relevant to the playoff race. And a win next week over the Giants, who looked terrible today, suddenly seems realistic. That flicker of hope isn’t extinguished yet.