Bears beat out-of-sync Colts
INDIANAPOLIS – Chicago’s old formula got a new look Sunday night.
It still works.
The Bears relied on a strong running game to control the clock, scored on a turnover and took advantage of an Indianapolis offense that was out of sync, beating the Colts 29-13 in the first regular-season game at the new Lucas Oil Stadium.
“We’ve always been a running football team,” Bears quarterback Kyle Orton said. “Any time you can do that, control the ball, you’re going to have a good game. That’s how we play football.”
Matt Forte, the first Chicago rookie to start at running back since Walter Payton in 1975, ran 23 times for 123 yards — 50 on a first-quarter TD run in which he broke a tackle and then outran Bob Sanders, last season’s defensive player of the year, to the end zone.
Orton, who wrested the starting quarterback job from Rex Grossman, was 13-of-21 for 150 yards and had no turnovers.
The win ended Indy’s remarkable streak of 21 consecutive victories in September and October, the NFL’s longest pre-November streak since the Green Bay Packers won 23 in a row from 1928-32. It’s the first time since 2004 that Indy won’t start at least 7-0.
“It’s sickening,” Peyton Manning said. “First game new stadium, 15th game of the season — same stadium. It’s really disappointing to lose.”
But the Colts, and especially Manning working behind three new starters on the offensive line, weren’t themselves Sunday. Losing tight end Dallas Clark with a knee injury in the first half and Joseph Addai with a head injury in the fourth quarter, didn’t help, either.
The Colts defense, which allowed the fewest points in the NFL last season, allowed the Bears (1-0) to convert 10 of 16 third-down chances.
Chicago’s defense limited the Colts (0-1) to 53 yards rushing and forced Manning to win it with his arm.
Manning, in his first game action since he had surgery to remove an infected bursa sac from his left knee in mid-July, finished 30-of-49 for 257 yards with one TD but had trouble connecting with receivers down the field.