By Jeremy Harris
With the Chicago Bears playing host to the Denver Broncos on Sunday, we have been revisiting memorable meetings between the two franchises.
Elway struck back with cardiac wins against the Bears in 1987 and 1996.
Today, we discuss two more memorable games in the series.
The first time Jay Cutler played at Soldier Field was not as a Chicago Bear. The Bears were treated to a coming attraction when the then-Broncos’ QB led his team against the Bears two years before he was acquired in a trade by Chicago.
1). Broncos at Chicago on November 25, 2007 (“A coming attraction of Jay Cutler”):
Cutler was drafted by the Broncos in the first round in 2006. QB Jake Plummer, signed as a free agent prior to the 2003 season, had led Denver to three consecutive playoff appearances (2003-2005), but after a 7-2 start in 2006, the Broncos lost consecutive games and head coach Mike Shanahan made the much-panned decision to replace Plummer with the rookie Cutler.
The Broncos finished 9-7 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2002, but Cutler was now entrenched as Denver’s starting QB.
Chicago, fresh off an NFL North title and Super Bowl appearance, started the 2007 season 1-2, prompting head coach Lovie Smith to replace QB Rex Grossman with Brian Griese. Griese started the next six games but suffered an injury in a Week Ten win against the Oakland Raiders, giving way to Grossman.
Grossman’s Bears (4-6) were set to host Cutler’s Broncos (5-5).
Bear Devin Hester twice erased one-touchdown Broncos’ leads. He returned a punt 75 yards for a touchdown to tie the score at 13 and then scampered 88 yards for a touchdown on a kickoff to tie the game at 20.
That’s when Cutler took control. He threw a 68-yard touchdown strike to future Bear Brandon Marshall to give the Broncos a 27-20 lead and then extended the advantage to two touchdowns with 10:38 remaining in the fourth quarter on a touchdown pass to TE Tony Scheffler.
For the game, Cutler was a highly-efficient 17 of 31 for 302 yards. He tossed the two touchdown passes, and his lone interception, deep in Denver territory in the third quarter, was rendered harmless when Grossman fumbled the ball back to the Broncos three plays later.
But the Broncos’ special teams allowed the Bears to mount a comeback. With 7:25 left in the fourth quarter, Charles Tillman blocked a Broncos’ punt that teammate Brandon McGowan returned to the Denver 18. The Bears scored a touchdown four plays later to cut the deficit to 34-27.
After another Broncos’ punt, Grossman led the Bears 65 yards and tied the score with 32 seconds remaining on a fourth down touchdown completion to WR Bernard Berrian, who beautifully cradled the ball while planting his left knee inboounds.
The game proceeded to overtime, where Robbie Gould’s 39-yard field goal handed the Bears a thrilling 37-34 victory.
The delirium was short-lived as the Bears, like the Broncos, would finish the season with a 7-9 record. Cutler started all 16 games for the Broncos that and the following season before being dealt to Chicago.
After Cutler’s almost seven seasons in Chicago, the jury still remains hopelessly deadlocked as to whether he is a championship-caliber QB.
2). Bears at Broncos on December 11, 2011 (“Just stay inbounds”):
All Bears’ losses are painful, particularly for a fan base as rabid as Chicago’s. But “painful” might not do justice to the Bears’ loss at Denver in 2011, which was the last time the two teams faced off.
The Bears, defending their NFC North title, stormed to a 7-3 record in 2011 but lost Jay Cutler to a season-ending thumb injury in their tenth game. They traveled to Denver having lost their first two games following Cutler’s injury, but they were still well-positioned at 7-5 to make a playoff run.
Denver started the season 1-4 behind ex-Bears’ QB Kyle Orton, who had been traded to Denver in the Jay Cutler deal. Current Bears’ head coach John Fox, then the Broncos’ field general, replaced Orton with QB Tim Tebow before the Broncos’ next game. The Broncos split their first two games behind Tebow but ground out four consecutive wins, giving the Broncos a 7-5 record entering play against Chicago.
Bears’ RB Marion Barber, playing for the injured Matt Forte, broke a scoreless third quarter tie when he darted nine yards for a touchdown. A fourth quarter Robbie Gould field goal extended the lead to 10-0.
That’s when the Bears’ fortunes began to unravel. With 4:34 remaining in the game, Tebow led a 63-yard touchdown drive, culminating in a ten yard scoring strike to WR Demaryius Thomas at the 2:15 mark.
However, Denver was out of timeouts, and when the Broncos’ onside kick attempt failed, it appeared that a Bears’ win was academic. After Barber was stopped for no gain on first down, the clock stopped at the two-minute warning. If the Bears had run two more plays keeping the ball inbounds, assuming they did not gain a first down, and had drained nearly all of the 40-second play clock in between plays, there would have at best been between 15 and 20 seconds for Denver, likely starting deep in its own territory, to move into field goal range.
But, inexplicably, Barber ran out of bounds after a five-yard gain on second down, stopping the clock at the 1:55 mark. After a one-yard run by Barber, a delay-of-game penalty on Chicago and a Bears’ punt, Denver had 56 seconds remaining to move into field goal range.
After seven plays, the Broncos set up Matt Prater’s 59-yard field goal that sent the game into overtime.
In overtime, it appeared Barber was going to make amends for his mental blunder in the waning moments of regulation. After receiving the opening kickoff, the Bears moved 42-yards to the Denver 38, helped by a 16-yard reception and three-yard run by Barber.
But on the following play, Barber, after gaining five more yards, fumbled away the football to Denver.
Eight plays later, Prater drilled a game-ending, 51-yard field goal, dropping the Bears to 7-6 and lifting the Broncos to 8-5.
The Broncos would lose their next three games but still claim the AFC West title.
They defeated Pittsburgh in the Wildcard round of the playoffs before getting drubbed the following week at New England. Tebow’s stint with the Broncos was short-lived: he was traded during the offseason to the New York Jets and Peyton Manning was signed to replace him.
The Bears would lose their next two games before salvaging a win in their regular-season finale.
They finished 8-8 and are still searching for their first playoff appearance since the 2010 season.
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