Bears 38, NY Giants 20
Not to beat this play down like John Madden and Al Michaels did, but it never seizes to amaze me how a game can change directions on a drop of a dime. Down 13-3 late in the second quarter and facing a third and 22 from its own 28-yard line, Chicago looked more like a flawed team than one that should be in conversation as one of the best in the NFC. Then Thomas Jones breaks off a 26 yard run into Giants territory with still a minute remaining in the half. Four plays later, Rex Grossman finds Mark Bradley down the left sideline for 29 yards and a touchdown.
If the Giants stop Jones short of a first on that play and wind up taking a 13-3 lead instead of a 13-10 margin into halftime – do the Bears come out and control the second half they way they did? Who knows? But no one can question how good this Chicago team is now. Not after going into a tough Meadow Lands and beating a read hot New York team. Sure, the Giants are beat up, but the Bears laced a defense that had been playing well for 28 points in the second half alone.
Most impressed with: Rookie Devin Hester has a fumbling issue, but he’s a true playmaker in every sense of the word. Hester turned a short field goal attempt by Jay Feely into a 108-touchdown return to break the game open for the Bears in the fourth quarter. Thomas Jones deserves a lot of credit for the Bears success tonight too. Jones ran hard (30 carries for 113 yards and one score) all night and Muhsin Muhammad also came up huge (seven catches for 123 yards and a touchdown).
Least impressed with: For all Plaxico Burress’ talk this week about how the Bears are beatable, he certainly had an average night. Four catches for 48 yards and your team loses Plax? Eli Manning (two INTs) didn’t help, but Burress should learn to shut his mouth before playing a Bears defense that is nasty even when opposing players aren’t making bulletin-board comments throughout the week.
