CHICAGO (WBBM) -- Brian Urlacher was cruising 85 yards into the end zone with his first career interception for a touchdown. There were less than 13 minutes left and his score made it 35-7, the Bears sweeping their rivals from Green Bay Sunday afternoon.
Suddenly, the –1 field temperature seemed a whole lot warmer. Chicago, with no post-season a year after winning the National Football conference, had ruined Green Bay’s chances for home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. With one game left, they can also impact New Orleans’ chances in the season finale a week from now.
"He's had two great, back-to-back games," coach Lovie Smith said of Urlacher, who had two sacks, an interception and a fumble recovery in Monday's loss at Minnesota.
The Packers had not had a punt blocked in more than 190 attempts, 12 seasons. The Bears blocked two. Those plays as much as anything set the pace for this wipeout win.
Danieal Manning had six tackles, Urlacher, Alex Brown and Jamar Williams five each. Brown had the other interception.
Favre was 2-of-7 in the first half, and Brown, starting for the injured Mark Anderson, quickly put to rest the notion the quarterback would turn things around in the second half when he picked off a pass at the 35.
Brown joked he'll embellish the story of that interception over the years, saying, "It'll get better as I get older. Give me 20, 25 years, I'll score on that play. I'll shake three people. I'll stiff-arm Donald Driver. Oh, yeah, it'll get better as the years go on."
The Chicago offense was good enough. Including Urlacher’s return, the Bears had 29 unanswered points. Third-string quarterback Kyle Orton was 8-of-14 with a touchdown. Running back Adrian Peterson, another backup pressed into starting service, had 90 yards rushing by the half, with a score.
Brett Favre, the legendary Packer quarterback, was 17-of-32 with the two interceptions. His receivers dropped more chances than they made.
"I've been playing 17 years, and that was the worst condition I've ever played in," Favre said. "Excuse? No excuse. It was, but they handled it better than we did. We have historically handled it well. It's kind of our ace in the hole, but today, obviously, it wasn't."
Favre said "it was a tossup" every time he unleashed a pass: "Just when you thought you had it figured out, it would switch around on you."
Chicago kicker Robbie Gould had two field goals and Peterson’s run from the 8 accounted for the first-half scoring. Green Bay’s Ryan Grant ripped through the first wave of defenders and was free on the only highlight play of the visitors’ afternoon, 66 yards for a touchdown. It was 13-7 at the break.
Desmond Clark caught a three-yard TD pass from Orton and another connection on the conversion, to Greg Olsen, made it 21-7. Corey Graham took a blocked punt home for seven yards and it was 28-7 at the end of three quarters.
"We've got a lot of things to look at this week, filmwise," cornerback Charles Woodson said. "A lot of guys have to evaluate themselves on how they handled the conditions, being down." |
