Bears vs. Falcons: Belated Notes from the Game

Sunday, December 25, 2005 | Dave

The Bears' D isnt the only thing in Illinois reminiscent of 1985. So is my dial-up which is reason for the belated post.

I had the pleasure of taking my brother (pictured) and my father to the Bears/Falcons game as their Christmas present. Some notes from stadium:

It was freezing. The wind chill was –4 to start the second half and ultimately dropped to -7. That was the temp on the field. High in the stands with the wind coming at you directly off Lake Michigan it was significantly colder. In fact it was so cold that even though I was drinking my beer quickly, by the time I got to the last quarter it was a beer slushy, a very thick beer slushy. Large numbers of people were going to the bathroom just to stand under the heating vents.

Nevertheless that didn’t stop my brother from marking the Bears’ second half TD by risking frostbite and exposure. 54,771 fans in attendance. It appeared only a dozen or so took their shirts off. One of those was my brother. Originally we hoped to convince my dad to do the shirtless thing and the three of us would be “G� “S� “H� respectively. He refused cause he’s old and I thought better of it after 10 seconds outside. Max, only 24 hrs removed from 5 months in warm Hawaii, had to be forced to put his clothes back on.

Vick on the other hand was absolutely miserable. He was always buried in the coat on the sidelines and by the 4th quarter seemed to only care about leaving. There was one play where he avoided a tackle and then simply laid down even though there were yards between him and the next defender.

Most of the crowd, myself included, completely missed Moose yelling at Orton on the sidelines. The first indication that something was going on was at the end of halftime when people noticed Rex taking practice snaps from Kreutz on the sideline and there was this growing murmur passing through the crowd. People went crazy when he ran out to the huddle and the place absolutely exploded when he hit Moose with that bullet on his first snap. I don’t know if how well the energy translated on TV and god knows if anything will ultimately come of it, but it was one of the coolest moments Id ever seen in sports.

Finally, during halftime there was a contest to win a house. Five contestants were paired with 5 different ’85 Bears and each tried to open a different freestanding door. The door that opened won the house. Gary Fencik’s partner won. Mongo reacted to this by kicking his door down and stomping it.

And, as always, notes and numbers:

OFFENSE:

Orton: 2 for 10 for 10 yards. 0-7 on 3rd downs. 1.2 yards per attempt.
He had less than 93 passing yards in 3 of his 14 starts. In all fairness he was the QB for 10 wins (He was credited with the Falcons win because he started) making him third all time for wins by a QB in a rookie season. He threw for 1,810 yards, 9 TDs and 13 INTs with a 52% completion rating and a passer rating of 59.9 last among qualifying QBs.

Grossman, only 129 days after breaking his ankle was: 9 for 16 for 93 yards, 5.8 yards per attempt, 0 TDs, 1 INT, a 47.1 passer rating and intangibles and inspiration that are uncharitable. He converted 3 of his first 4 3rd down attempts. In the previous 6 halves: 3 for 36. His start today against the Packers will be the 28th QB change in the last 106 games.

TJ: 27 carries for 91 yards and 1 TD. That’s 8 TDs this season, a career high
Bernard Berrian: no muffed punts. Good enough to be the 7th Bears player this season to be an NFL player of the week.
The Bears rank 26th in the NFL with a time of possession of 28:26 and are the only team with a winning record and a possession time of under 29 minutes.

The longest pass completion of the first half for either team was 12 yards.

DEFENSE:

The NFL’s #1 rushing attack was held to 114 yards and the Falcons were held to 231 total.

Vick: 13 of 32 passes for 122 yards, 35 yards rushing, 0 TDs and 2 INT

Urlacher: 12 tackles 1 PD.

Mike Green: 1 big INT and a simply monstrous hit on Jenkins to cause Vasher’s INT. I guess I picked the wrong weekend to jump off the then lonely Mike Green bandwagon.

Adewale Ogunleye: 1 sack. That’s 10 on the season. The first Bear to hit that mark since Richard Dent in ‘93

This is only the second time the Bears have had double digit wins in the last 14 years.

The Bears allowed only 61 pts in their 8 home games including only 1 TD in the last 6 in Soldier Field, a NFL record. That TD being the only TD allowed in the last 80 possessions.

They have held 10 of 14 opponents to less than 14 points.

They have currently allowed 151 total points. If they allow 13 points or fewer in the remaining two games combined they will beat the current record, held by the 2000 Ravens. If they allow less than 36 pts they can break the franchise record of 187 set in ’86.

Since the 16 game season began, 7 teams have allowed less than 200 points. Four of those won the Super Bowl including the ’85 Bears.