It had to end with a sack. How else would the Chicago Bears close out a game that began with a strip sack that led, a play later, to their only touchdown? How else to extend a winning streak that, in successive weeks, has engulfed two other superb defenses and established the Bears as more than just the most surprising team in the National Football Conference, but also as one of its best?
So, it was fitting that Tampa Bay quarterback Chris Simms went down in a heap as the final seconds slipped off the clock Sunday in the Bears' 13-10 victory over the Buccaneers.
As Simms ran into his locker room, Bears safety Mike Brown bellowed: "They still doubt us! They still doubt us!"
Not for long. There were no caveats in this victory for the Bears -- no home-field advantage, as in last week's victory over the Carolina Panthers, and no weak opponent, as in every victory in the streak until then. Buccaneers place-kicker Matt Bryant missed a 29-yard field goal just inches to the right with 2 minutes 51 seconds remaining that could have sent the game into overtime, but this victory was more about the sacks (four), the passes defensed (six) and the forced fumbles (one) by the Bears that bested a Bucs defense that was nearly as successful.
The Buccaneers had won two straight, scoring 30 or more points each time, but it was clear as soon as Simms was sacked at his 1-yard line by Chicago right end Alex Brown on Tampa Bay's first drive that this would be no shootout. The Bears have won seven in a row, and, at 8-3, have a two-game lead in the NFC North. They have won the way Bears teams have traditionally won: by running the ball (118 yards rushing Sunday) and by playing devastating defense. They are allowing 11 points a game, which, statistically at least, puts them in the same league with the team by which all other defenses are judged: the 1986 Bears.
"How far can it carry us?" Bears coach Lovie Smith said. "Hopefully it can carry us all the way."
In the last two games, the Bears' defense has 12 sacks, despite their opponents using every kind of protection scheme short of a tank to protect their quarterbacks. Buccaneers tight end Anthony Becht, who stayed in to try to block Alex Brown on the opening drive, said he did not think Brown was that close to Simms before he smacked Simms's arm, causing the ball to squirt out.
Brown was much closer to the quarterback all day than the Buccaneers wanted. Tampa Bay, which dropped to 7-4 and into a second-place tie with Atlanta in the NFC South with three consecutive road games ahead, had not allowed a sack in two weeks. But the Buccaneers were overwhelmed by the Bears, who hurried or hit Simms repeatedly. And when that did not work, they simply swatted Simms' passes out of the sky. Tampa Bay finished with 168 yards passing and converted just 2 of 12 third-down attempts.
"When they feel they're blocked, they sit there and read the quarterback's eyes," Simms said. "They would just stop rushing, wait until I throw and jump up and knock the ball down. That shows they're a very aware team."
And one that, if they are to continue winning, will have to do it with defense. The rookie quarterback Kyle Orton will almost certainly remain the lowest-rated quarterback in the league, after completing 14 of 28 passes for 134 yards Sunday, with a touchdown pass and an interception.
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