Sunday football is a ritual for faithful Bears fans hoping and praying to the football gods for a win.
Well, their prayers were answered as the Bears won their first game of the season against the Oakland Raiders at Soldier Field, snapping a three-game losing streak.
“It feels great to win. It’s a good feeling, so hopefully we get this a lot more,” Robbie Gould said in the locker room after he made a 49-yard field goal to give the Bears the 22-20 edge. With two seconds left, his teammates rushed him on the field to celebrate.
“I’m really happy for our fans because we haven’t exactly lit it up here in our first two home games,” coach John Fox said.
Sure, the Bears have their playbook, but that wasn’t exactly working at the start of the season. We will chalk up Sunday’s victory to following most of the 10 commandments of Bears football.
Thou shalt give fans a reason to cheer for Jay Cutler. Welcome back, Jay. In the first quarter alone, he passed for 93 yards, more yards than backup Jimmy Clausen passed for the entire game last week (63 yards), when the Bears got shut out. Cutler ended up with a single interception and completed 28 passes for a total of 281 passing yards for the game.
Thou shalt strike first. In the first four minutes, Cutler was able to get the ball moving down the field 80 yards in eight plays, including a touchdown pass to wide receiver Eddie Royal to put the Bears on the scoreboard first with six points.
Thou shalt kick some … ball. Gould’s kick was blocked for the extra point in the first quarter, but he bounced back with a couple of clutch field goals to help the Bears take the lead in the fourth quarter—a 54-yard one at the start and the 49-yard game-winner as the clock was running out.
Thou shalt not get injured. Cutler returned but the Bears still have some players sitting on the sidelines: Alshon Jeffery missed his third straight game, left tackle Jermon Bushrod was out, and now add to the list center Will Montgomery with a left leg injury and safety Antrel Rolle, who hurt his ankle.
Thou shalt touch the Stanley Cup for good luck. The Hawks brought the Cup to Soldier Field for Sunday’s game, and that could be the closest the Bears get to a championship this season.
Thou shalt do a touchdown dance. Tight end Martellus Bennett showed off a little shimmy after catching a 5-yard pass from Cutler in the endzone to bring the Bears a point behind the Raiders at 14-13 in the second quarter.
Thou shalt not have butterfingers. In the second quarter, Bears center Matt Slauson fumbled in getting the ball to Cutler, and the Raiders recovered it on the 25-yard line and ended up scoring their second touchdown three plays later to make it 14-6. But Bears linebacker Pernell McPhee made up for it when he grabbed the ball after it bounced off Oakland’s running back Latavius Murray and took it to Oakland’s 15-yard line. The Bears were only able to get up a field goal from that interception to take the lead 16 to 14 before halftime.
Thou shalt bow down to Matt Forte. He reached the milestone of 8,000 career rushing yards. His longest run was for 38 yards into Oakland territory in the second quarter, putting the Bears in scoring position and eventually leading to a Bears touchdown.
Thou shalt not throw the ball at officials. Royal got called for it and set the Bears back five yards early in the fourth quarter.
Thou shalt not panic. The Bears kept their cool after Cutler threw his only interception and Oakland pushed the ball down the field to rack up three more points and take a one-point lead with two minutes left in the game. They shook it off and continued to methodically move the ball down the field to set Gould up for a 49-yard field goal. He nailed it, giving the fans what they wanted: the taste of sweet victory.
