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Gould's FG lifts Bears past Broncos in OT

Nov 26, 2007 - 2:46 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Special teams kept the Chicago Bears from being KO'd in the playoff race.

Robbie Gould kicked a 39-yard field goal in overtime and Devin Hester returned both a punt and kickoff for touchdowns as the Bears rallied to stun the Denver Broncos, 37-34, in overtime Sunday.

The Bears (5-6) erased a 14-point deficit in the final 5 1/2 minutes of regulation as beleaguered quarterback Rex Grossman led the tying and winning scoring drives.

"We executed and that's what it all boils down to," Grossman said. "Sometimes when you get a head of steam, it's hard to be stopped. Momentum is a crazy thing."

Grossman threw a 4-yard touchdown pass on 4th-and-goal to Bernard Berrian with 28 seconds left in the game to force overtime. Berrian stretched out and grasped the ball as tumbled out of bounds.

"I think it was a lot tougher than it looked," Berrian said. "The biggest thing was that I didn't want to slip and fall because of the surface we were playing on. It came down to the drive and determination of not wanting to have our season end here, especially at home."

After the Bears won the coin flip and received the kickoff in the extra session, Grossman quickly found tight end Desmond Clark for 39 yards to the Broncos' 37-yard line.

Adrian Peterson, subbing for the injured Cedric Benson, then ran the ball five straight times to set up Gould's winning kick.

"He's a strong runner with great vision," Grossman said. "He won't quit. He drives a pile."

Grossman finished 17-of-33 for 193 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Peterson had 45 yards rushing on 17 carries and five receptions for 41 yards.

"Offensively, you look at the stats and they don't look as good as you would like," Bears coach Lovie Smith said. "But in the end, when we needed to make some plays, we came through."

Besides the two electrifying returns by Hester, Chicago also got a blocked punt from Charles Tillman that set up Peterson's 4-yard TD run that cut the deficit to 34-27 with 5:17 to play.

Hester had a 75-yard punt return and an 88-yard kickoff return - the latter tying the score at 20-20 with 2:26 left in the quarter.

"I feel like we stepped up and made plays today," Hester said. "Any player that feels that they don't have to be the guy to step and make plays, then why are you out there? Every time I'm out there, I feel like I've got to be the guy that's going to make plays. That's just my mentality."

The second-year player out of Miami now has a career total of 10 return touchdowns - a franchise record - and is just three shy of the NFL record.

"He's the best I've ever seen," Denver coach Mike Shanahan said.

The Broncos (5-6) silenced the Chicago crowd by scoring immediately after Hester's kickoff return. On the first play from scrimmage, Jay Cutler hooked up with Brandon Marshall for a 68-yard touchdown to move ahead, 27-20.

Denver appeared to put the game away with a 10-play, 89-yard drive that tight end Tony Scheffler capped with a spectacular catch in the end zone to push the lead to 34-20 with 10:38 to play.

"You have to bury a team when you have a lead," Broncos safety John Lynch said. "You have to put them away in this league."

Cutler finished 17-of-31 for 302 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. Rookie running back Andre Hall, making his first career start, added 98 yards and a TD on 26 carries.

"Yeah, it's the NFL," Cutler said. "You have to play 60 minutes and teams aren't just going to give games away. The Bears played hard and this is definitely a tough one to swallow for all of us."

Benson went down in the second quarter with a left ankle injury. He returned to the sidelines in the second half in a cast and on crutches.

"Whenever you don't finish the game, of course, it's not good," Bears coach Lovie Smith said. "He has a pretty good ankle injury."