Bears 37 - Patriots 14
The Bears bounced back nicely from last week with a convincing 37-14 win over the visiting Patriots. This one got out of hand pretty early with the Patriots turning the ball over on their first two drives, including a highly unrealistic fumble by Green-Ellis, who I'm pretty sure hasn't coughed it up since Pop Warner. Chicago capitalized and jumped out to a 17-0 first quarter lead. They added 10 more in the second quarter to lead 27-0 at halftime before easing up a bit in the second half. The Patriots added two 4th quarter TDs to make it a little more respectable (one to Hernandez, the other to Welker, which is impressive since I was keying on those two guys all game).
Cutler was not exactly precise, as he only went 9 of 19 for 266 yards, but he threw 3 TDs (all over 48 yards) and protected the ball.
Brady was a little more accurate, going 14 of 21 for 197 yards, 2 TDs and a pick.
Coming back from a long injury Forte didn't get much going at all, rushing 11 times for 27 yards, 14 of them on a TD which was his one nice run of the day.
Law Firm rushed 8 times for 36 with the aforementioned costly fumble.
The receiving trio of Knox (2 catches, 63 yards, TD), Hester (2 catches, 88 yards, TD) and Wayne (2 catches, 87 yards, TD) provided remarkably even production. Wayne of all people had one of the goofier drops I've ever seen on a sure touchdown when he was uncovered down the sideline, though he atoned later with a nice long TD into double coverage.
Brady's leading target was Hernandez with 4 catches for 49 yards and a TD, Welker had 3 for 37 and a TD.
Between the two teams a remarkable 14 players caught a pass (6 Bears, 8 Patriots) so let no one say the ball wasn't spread around.
DRC was finally held without a pick, though of course he was the one who scooped up the fumble, which was forced by Briggs. Chris Harris had the INT, which he returned 75 yards before Danny Woodhead chased him down from behind.
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gg Darth! You definitely caught a tough break with that early fumble and then the pick on the next drive, it kind of spiraled out of control from there. I wish I'd been a little more efficient on offense (settled for 3 FGs), but hard to complain with a result like this. Good luck the rest of the season!