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Bears stun Eagles with last-second TD

Oct 22, 2007 - 3:22 AM By Vince DiGregorio PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) - Brian Griese pumped some life back into the Chicago Bears on Sunday.

Griese directed a long scoring drive in the final minutes and the Philadelphia Eagles again paid for their inability to get the ball in the end zone as the Bears posted a 19-16 victory.

Trailing 16-12, Griese and the Bears took over on their own 3 with 1:53 to play. The veteran quarterback calmly guided Chicago down the field on an 11-play, 97-yard drive that took 1:44.

"I was confident," Griese said. "The mood in the huddle was good. The key to that drive from our standpoint was getting a few completions, getting out of that hole. The biggest thing is just getting started."

Griese capped the march with a 15-yard TD pass to Muhsin Muhammad, who beat Eagles safety Sean Considine on the play. Considine never turned to look for the ball and Griese found Muhammad in the back of the end zone for the game-winning score.

"Brian gave me the opportunity to catch that ball," Muhammad said. "(Considine) had his back turned to the ball and (Griese) threw kind of a jumpball out there. I just made a little move and adjusted to the ball in the air.

"I knew I just had to buy some time and give one of our guys a chance to go up and get the ball," Griese said. "That's what 'Moose' did. I tried to put it on his back shoulder and give him a chance to make a play.

Consedine felt he had no other option on the play.

"You can only back pedal so much before I had to turn my back," Considine said. "It was just one of the deals when you have your back turned to the quarterback. You can't see the ball coming."

What made the winning drive more amazing was that the audio in Griese's helmet was not working.

"Unfortunately, the audio in my helmet went out right before that drive (started)," Griese said. "I felt really good. Calling my own plays in that situation. The last play of the (drive), I ran over to the sideline because we had a clock stoppage, so I got the last play."

It was a huge win for the Bears (3-4), who were coming off a home loss to Minnesota in which the Vikings ran all over them.

"If we're in a hole at 2-5, it's not a good situation," said Griese, who finished 27-of-41 passing for 322 yards. "Now, we're at a point where if we can get to .500 for our bye week, I would feel very good about going forward for the rest of the season."

On the flip side, it was a crushing loss for the Eagles (2-4), who have a pair of road games with a home date with the NFC East-leading Dallas Cowboys in between.

"We feel like we have hope, but we need a drastic change," Eagles wide receiver Reggie Brown said. "We need to get on a roll soon. We can't keep going through these inconsistencies as a team. We won't make it to the playoffs like that."

Donovan McNabb threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Matt Schobel with 4:57 left in the fourth quarter to give the Eagles a 16-12 lead but it wasn't enough to finish off the Bears.

"It's unfortunate, because we kind of swung it our way and things were in a position for us to seal the deal and we just didn't do it," McNabb said. "I just didn't think (Chicago) would go 97 yards to score, but give them credit."

McNabb completed 21 of 34 passes for 226 yards and a touchdown.

For a while, it seemed that Philadelphia kicker David Akers and his counterpart Robbie Gould would decide the game in a battle of field goals.

Trailing 9-3 entering the third quarter, it appeared that a touchdown would finally be scored as Chicago took the opening drive all the way down to the Philadelphia 1-yard line.

But on third and goal, Griese fumbled the snap for a 3-yard loss and the Bears had to settle for a 22-yard field goal by Gould.

"I take the blame on that one," Griese said. "That's why it was a field goal game. We just didn't execute in the red zone."

After the Eagles failed to score on their next possession, Gould tied the score, 9-9, after booting a 41-yarder on the second play in the fourth quarter.

Philadelphia then went three and out and Gould connected on a 45-yd field goal to give the Bears their first lead at 12-9.

Philadelphia took a 3-0 lead on its first possession after Akers capped a 16-play, 89-yard scoring drive with a 24-yard field goal with 1:01 left in the first quarter.

The drive consumed nine minutes and 13 seconds, but stalled inside the 10-yard line as the Eagles continued to have trouble scoring touchdowns from the red zone.

"As an offense, our goal is to score touchdowns," said Eagles running back Brian Westbrook, who had a combined 119 yards from scrimmage. "We can't keep relying on Dave to kick field goals for us. It's frustrating that we can't punch it in."

The Bears answered with a lengthy drive of their own on their second possession and drove down to the Philadelphia 21 in 14 plays, but Gould was wide left on a 39-yard field goal attempt.

The Eagles took over at their own 29 and marched to the Bears 14, but the drive again stalled in the red zone and Akers converted on a 33-yard field goal to make it, 6-0 with 4:08 left in the second quarter.

"It's kind of a position that we're not used to," McNabb said. "We get down there easily and then all of a sudden, you get a miss here and you find yourself in third-and-five, third-and-six and if you don't get (the first down), you kick another field goal. It does somewhat feel like you hit a brick wall (in the red zone)."

Chicago finally got on the board when Gould culminated a 7-play, 61-yard drive with a 31-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 6-3.

However, there was enough time on the clock for Philadelphia to mount a scoring drive which ended in an Akers 37-yard field goal with 22 seconds until halftime.