Bears hold on
CHICAGO – The Chicago Bears checked another item off their to-do list.
A division title, a first-round bye and now home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs have been secured.
But this much is also certain: Chicago will have to play better than it did in the second half Sunday or the stay in the postseason will be short.
The Bears squandered a 24-3 third-quarter lead, recovering in overtime behind plays from backups Rashied Davis and Adrian Peterson to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 34-31.
“Obviously, you give up 31 points, it’s not our best game. It was good enough to win, though,” Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher said.
“We’re 12-2, we have home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. What more do you want from us at this point in time?”
Robbie Gould, who missed earlier in overtime from 37 yards, connected on a 25-yarder with 3:37 left to give the Bears the victory.
The win, coupled with Washington’s upset of New Orleans, clinched the home-field advantage for the NFC North champion Bears (12-2).
“It’s not like we’re going to shut down our team. We have a few things to correct going into the playoffs,” coach Lovie Smith said, looking ahead to remaining regular-season games against the Lions and Packers.
Gould’s field goal came after Davis made an over-the-shoulder catch of 28 yards on a third-and-8 pass from Rex Grossman to get to the Tampa Bay 20.
Ronde Barber, defending on the play, said it wasn’t a catch and questioned why there wasn’t a booth review.
“The fact that they want the game to be over and they don’t feel like it needs to be reviewed, it’s fine with me,” Barber said. “But that ball hit the ground, man.”
Replays in overtime are instigated from the booth, not by coaches’ challenges.
“If you are not going to make the call or you’re scared to make the call, then what’s the use of having replay in the first place?” Barber asked.
Davis’ view, predictably, was a little different: “I made an adjustment to catch it and I caught it.”
Peterson, Chicago’s third-team tailback, then had runs of 2 and 11 yards to move the ball to the 7.
Trailing by three TDs, the Bucs (3-11) stunned the Bears with three fourth-quarter touchdowns, tying the game on Tim Rattay’s 44-yard TD pass to Ike Hilliard with 3:44 left.
Rattay, who replaced the struggling Bruce Gradkowski in the first half, also had a 64-yard TD pass to Joey Galloway that capped a 95-yard drive in the final quarter.
But Grossman, who finished 29 of 44 for 339 yards – all career highs – hit four straight passes in a 77-yard drive, and Cedric Benson’s 4-yard TD run made it a two-touchdown advantage with 9:23 to go.
But the Bears couldn’t put it away.