Sep 23, 2012; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bears wide receiver Brandon Marshall (15) catches a pass over St. Louis Rams cornerback Cortland Finnegan (31) during the fourth quarter at Soldier Field. The Bears won 23-6. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
One of the most common lessons learned in life is that we must learn from our mistakes. The best way to go forward in life and football is to look back. We all learn from the past to build on the future. From now on, every week I will be giving you a retrospective look at every one of last season’s games until the start of the season.
Let’s face it; all fans look back on games and wish that things would have gone differently. I always look back at the 2010 NFC Championship game and think “Man, if Urlacher just would have made a better move on Rodgers…” That game is just one of the few. There is something to be learned from every game.
The Bears improved to 2-1 in Week 3, and we Bears fans gladly took the victory. The game was anything but pretty, but a win is a win. The last two times the Bears have played the Rams at Soldier Field, the game ended up a boring win. Here’s how it happened.
Game Summary
The Bears opened the game on offense and received a break on the first drive. An unnecessary roughness penalty on a Podlesh punt led to a free first down for the Bears. This led to a 54-yard Robbie Gould field goal. The Rams were then forced to punt. The zaniest play of the game happened on the Bears ensuing drive, on a Jay Cutler interception. here’s the clip:
The Rams failed to capitalize and neither team had much going until the middle of the second quarter. The Bears went on a nice 12 play, 81 yard drive that culminated in a Michael Bush touchdown. The Rams finally got a field goal towards the end of the half.
The third quarter was relatively uneventful. The Bears offense was shut down. The Rams did get a field goal to make it a 4 point game, but nothing very exciting happened. The fourth quarter started with a nice Bears drive that only ended in a field goal, putting the beloved up by a touchdown. Then came the play of the game. Sam Bradford dropped back from the Rams 39 yard-line and threw a quick slant over the middle. The ball was tipped by none other than Tim Jennings into the awaiting arms of Major Wright, who rushed 45 yards for a touchdown.
Here’s the clip of the play of the game:
The Bears never looked back. Gould tacked on another field goal. Jennings added a game clinching interception. The Bears won ugly, 23-6. The player of the game award goes to Tim Jennings. He was the one who caused the game clinching interception, and he played the role of shutdown corner the whole game. Israel Idonije is also mention worthy after getting 2.5 sacks.
Bright Spots
The defense. The Bears had 2 interceptions off of Sam Bradford and six sacks. They played a very solid game yet again. Sam Bradford only threw for 152 yards and Steven Jackson only ran for 29. Complete box score here.
Also, Brandon Marshall played a good game. 5 catches for 71 yards is still something we Bears fans weren’t used to at the time. Alshon Jeffery also had 5 catches of his own for 45 yards.
Things to build upon
The offense was pretty dreadful. Jay Cutler only threw for 183 yards and the running game was absent. It feels like this lack of offense thing is a recurring theme. Going into next season, the Bears need to learn that defense won’t always be there to bail out the offense. They got lucky this time, like all teams do, but they did not get lucky on other games throughout the season. This was the first of many ugly games. Luckily, it was a win.