For the second week in a row, the Bears blew a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter of a game, losing to former quarterback Brian Griese and the Tampa Bay Bucs 27-24 in overtime.
Down 24-14 midway through the fourth quarter, Griese, who attempted a staggering 67 passes by the way, led the Bucs to a 35-yard field goal with just over three minutes to play. Griese then threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Jerramy Stevens with only seven seconds remaining to tie the game at 24 and send it to overtime.
After the teams exchanged punts in OT, Tampa started on its 7-yard line. Griese then marched the Bucs all the way down to the Bears’ 3-yard line before Mark Bryant kicked the game-winning 21-yard field goal on second down.
The Bears can spread the blame around evenly after this loss. After the Bucs kicked a field goal to cut the deficit to 24-17, Chicago took possession with just over three minutes to play in the fourth. But Kyle Orton and the offense couldn’t muster one first down and the Bears had to punt. Then the Chicago defense allowed Griese to march Tampa up the field for the game-tying score.
The refs also blew one for the Bears, too. On Tampa’s eventual game-winning scoring drive in overtime, Chicago had the Bucs stopped after a failed 3rd and 9 from the 8-yard line. But CB Charles Tillman was flagged 15-yards for unnecessary roughness, allowing the Bucs to keep the ball. But replays showed Tampa guard Jeremy Trueblood hitting Bears’ DT Tommie Harris multiple times in the helmet. Tillman then came in and pushed Trueblood in retaliation.
Tillman was still in the wrong. Everyone knows that the second guy will always get caught. But it was a game-changing moment and one the Bears never recovered from.
