Bears Blitz

Published by Ty Schalter on November 10, 2015
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

Long after all but the most diehard Chicago Bears fans had gone to bed Monday, Jay Cutler delivered a scintillating fourth-quarter performance—and a badly needed win.

Rookie tailback Jeremy Langford had a breakout performance, racking up 142 all-purpose yards, a touchdown and a two-point conversion on 21 touches in the 22-19 win. His effort and effectiveness in pass protection even earned him ESPN color commentator Jon Gruden‘s “Gruden Grinder” award.

Langford‘s Swiss army knife versatility might raise comparisons to the man he’s filling in for, Matt Forte, but the 23-year-old flashed open-field speed and cutting ability surpassing the two-time Pro Bowlers’.

Cutler, who’s displayed toughness and passion throughout this disappointing 2015 season, proved that not only is he still all-in for head coach John Fox and his teammates, but that offensive coordinator Adam Gase is helping him to play some of the best football of his life.

Despite having lost Brandon Marshall via a spring trade—and his replacement, No. 7 overall pick Kevin White, to injury before the season even started—Cutler continues to avoid mistakes better than he ever has and manufacture just enough offense to be there at the finish.

Since getting demolished 26-0 in Seattle in Week 3, the Bears have now played five straight games settled by a field goal or less; they’re 3-1-1 in regulation over that stretch. 

On the other side of the ball, despair: In what might be the last Monday Night Football ever hosted in Qualcomm Stadium, what little postseason hopes Chargers fans had were snuffed out.

“We just don’t have the answers right now,” Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers said in his postgame press conference, as broadcast on ESPN. “It’s not surrendering and saying we’re not good enough, but we are what we are—and right now that’s a 2-7 team on a five-game skid.”

If the first quarter had been the only quarter, though, Rivers would have been singing a much happier tune.

The Bears took the opening kick and drove into Chargers territory, but a rare Robbie Gould miss kept the game scoreless. Chargers tailbacks Melvin Gordon and Danny Woodhead slashed through the Bears defense on the ensuing drive. And Woodhead capped it by sneaking into the back corner of the end zone all alone and catching an undefended 14-yard touchdown pass.

On the subsequent drive, Langford flashed for the first time. Lined up wide, he burned the linebacker covering him and made a beautiful full-stretch catch for a 31-yard gain:

The drive ended early, though, when a strip-sack by Melvin Ingram was covered up by the newly healthy Eric Weddle. Though the Chargers didn’t score on the ensuing possession, Cutler helped out the opposing offense by tossing a pick-six to Jason Verrett a few possessions later:

Josh Lambo missed the extra point, but the 13-0 Chargers lead looked almost insurmountable.

Cutler immediately bounced back, hitting Alshon Jeffery for 47 yards on the very next play from scrimmage. Cutler kept feeding Jeffery all the way down to the 1-yard line, where he hit tight end Martellus Bennett for the Bears’ first touchdown of the game—and Cutler’s 138th of his Chicago career, passing Sid Luckman for No. 1 on the Bears’ all-time list:

Chicago wouldn’t score again until the fourth quarter, and it looked like it might not score ever again. In fact, neither team put up a single point in the ugly third quarter, with the Chargers’ 16-7 halftime cushion looking as if it might be the final score, too.

Langford, though, continued to shoulder much of the offensive load for the Bears, and his effort paid off at the start of the fourth quarter when he punched in a one-yard touchdown run.

Rivers nearly kept the Chargers two scores ahead with a touchdown pass of his own, but it was nullified when the officials flagged guard D.J. Fluker for being too far downfield. Fatefully, the Chargers would have to settle for a field goal.

Cutler was finally in rhythm, and he marched the Bears 55 yards in eight plays. Langford figured in heavily, as did Jeffery, who finished with 10 catches for 151 yards. But it was little-used tight end Zach Miller who made the the catch of the game—and maybe one of the catches of the year—on a 25-yard touchdown connection with Cutler:

“It was an amazing feeling,” Miller told the ESPN postgame hosts. “We’ve had troubles finishing the last couple of weeks, and to come up big in that situation feels great.” Miller’s score, punctuated by a two-point conversion plunge from Langford, put the Bears up by the final score of 22-19. “For Jay to throw that ball and trust me to go make a play, that’s a great feeling,” Miller said.

The Bears, at 3-5, are 3.5 games behind both the Green Bay Packers (6-2) and Minnesota Vikings (6-2) in the NFC North race. With one of those two teams in a wild-card spot, the 6-3 Atlanta Falcons in the other and four other NFC teams with four wins, the Bears probably can’t make up enough ground in eight games to make the playoffs.

Even so, Cutler’s interception rate coming into the game was just 1.9 percent, a career best and far below his career average of 3.3 percent. His sack rate of 4.2 percent is also much better than his career average of 6.1 percent; it would be a career best save a fluky 2008 in which he led the NFL in sack avoidance with just a 1.8 percent rate.

If Gase has finally solved Cutler and ironed out the longstanding kinks in the quarterback’s game, the Bears are going to be in incredible shape when he gets White and Forte back. Better yet, the Bears have not only found an effective backup for Forte in Langford, they may have found his successor.

If the Bears can continue to play such entertaining, competitive football, Chicago fans will have plenty of reasons to cheer down the stretch—and even more reasons to be excited for Fox’s tenure with the team.

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