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Week 20 Game Recap: New Orleans Saints 14, Chicago Bears 39What you need to know
QB Drew Brees struggled to handle the pressure from the Bears’ pass rush. He only threw one interception, but combined with three sacks, two intentional grounding penalties, and a lack of a running attack it was too much to overcome. WR Marques Colston led all New Orleans pass catchers with 14 targets. He had a rough time keeping his footing early in the game and appeared to be bothered by the physical Bears’ defense. His fumble early in the game helped Chicago build an early 16 point lead, but he also helped get the Saints back in the game with three catches just before halftime including the first New Orleans touchdown. RB Deuce McAllister was as a non-factor all game long. The reality is that he didn’t really get a chance to run the ball as the Saints’ brain trust choose to abandon the run and put the ball in the air. RB Reggie Bush flashed one impressive play that got the Saints back in the game after being down early, but other than four garbage time receptions Bush was also mostly a non-factor.
QB Rex Grossman struggled through three quarters with his accuracy and poise. He benefited from a solid running attack and his defense making big plays. However, when it seemed that the Saints were about to claw their way back into the game Grossman responded with a defining touchdown drive completing four straight passes that seemed to take the life out of New Orleans. Starting RB Thomas Jones and backup RB Cedric Benson split carries through the game. Each had moments that will fuel debates about the future of each player in Chicago. Jones was able to score a touchdown to cap a drive where he carried the ball on all eight plays. Benson looked powerful and tough to bring down breaking tackles. WR Bernard Berrian was the first and often the only look for QB Rex Grossman. They picked on CB Fred Thomas in the second half and gave the Bears the momentum that snuffed any hope the Saints had for the upset. Berrian saw ten of the fourteen passes targeted to Chicago wide receivers from Grossman.
What you ought to know
Brees came out throwing early and marched the Saints into field goal range with a long 40 yard pass to WR Devery Henderson, but couldn’t put New Orleans on the board after getting sacked knocking them out of field goal range. Brees was dropped on their second drive as well when he got slammed in the back from a blitz. He fumbled, but lucked out that an offensive lineman recovered the ball. Through much of the first half Brees struggled with his accuracy. He missed WR Marcus Colston on a deep cross putting the ball several years behind him on a third and long on separate plays. Just before halftime Brees came to life connecting with all three of his receivers on a 73 yard touchdown drive. He put three balls on Colston including a thirteen yard touchdown pass. Brees opened the third quarter building on the momentum from the end of the first half. On the second play of the third quarter he lobbed a pass over the linebackers down the left sideline to RB Reggie Bush. Bush turned the short pass into an 88 yard touchdown pass. Brees was flagged for intentional grounding midway through the third quarter. He dropped back into his own end zone under heavy pressure. He flipped a pass into the right flat intended for nobody. The safety increased the Bear lead to four points and things really started to come apart for the Saints. Brees fumbled after being sacked by DE Adewale Ogunleye at the start of the fourth quarter before throwing an interception on a deep ball down the left sideline.
Bush got his first touch midway though the first quarter on a third and short. They ran a play to Bush in the left flat. Bush caught the lob from QB Drew Brees just over the extended hands of the defensive end before running for the first down. At the start of the third quarter the Saints ran a similar play. Bush caught the lob on the run over the hands of a linebacker and raced down the left sideline. He cut back to his right avoiding DB Danieal Manning after about fifty yards and sprinted to the end zone for an 88 yard touchdown. Just before he crossed the goal line he pointed back over his shoulder taunting LB Brian Urlacher. Bush finished the game with four garbage time receptions that inflated his receiving statistics.
McAllister only got five touches in the first half. The Saints weren’t able to keep drives alive throwing the ball and two turnovers helped Chicago dominate in time of possession. New Orleans tried to get him involved in the offense more early in the third quarter with a carry and two passing targets, but the game got out of hand quickly during the third quarter and into the fourth.
Colston pulled in a pass from QB Drew Brees on the first play from scrimmage for a quick seven yard gain in the left flat. He slipped on his second target running a fifteen yard in route, but the ball was thrown behind him on the play. Colston pulled in a short pass across the middle of the field on a crossing route, but was stripped by a defensive back while running for extra yards. The fumble put the Bears in scoring range after the return. Colston struggled along with Brees for most of the first half, but made a great catch just before halftime. Running straight down the field he adjusted coming back to the ball working his way around LB Brian Urlacher. Colston snagged the ball far away from his body with his hands while twisting his body. He caught another quick out on that drive before pulling in a thirteen yard touchdown pass from Brees on a skinny post. He did a nice job of giving Brees a target creating separation on the touchdown pass. Colston didn’t have a reception in the second half.
Copper caught his first target at the start of the second New Orleans drive. At the start of the second quarter he caught a quick out on the right side line for six yards, but was flagged for offensive pass interference because he pushed off. His fourteen yard reception late in the second quarter on third and ten set up the touchdown pass to WR Marques Colston.
Henderson pulled down a jump ball down the right sideline from QB Drew Brees on the second play of the game for 40 yards. He did a good job of going up high to pluck the ball with his hands. He caught a seventeen yard cross putting the Saints into scoring range for the first time in the game during the second quarter. Henderson only saw one target during the second half.
Horn was inactive for this game because of his groin injury.
Miller saw his first target midway through the first quarter on the Saints third drive. He sat down just short of the first down marker in the left flat. He did a nice job of getting his hands under the low pass from QB Drew Brees. Miller saw a flurry of garbage time targets late in the fourth quarter when the outcome was well decided.
Campbell started the game at tight end for the Saints. He saw two targets near the start of the third quarter, but wasn’t really much of a factor in the New Orleans offense.
Midway through the third quarter Carney missed from 47 yards short on a field goal attempt that would have got the Saints the lead. Even if he had the distance on the kick it likely would have hit the right upright.
The Bears posted 196 rushing yards on 46 attempts. New Orleans wasn’t able to do much to stop the Chicago combination of Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson early in the game. Each took their turns scoring touchdowns in the game. Other than the third quarter the Saints front seven couldn’t get the ball back to their offense. They allowed Chicago to hold more than a ten minute advantage in time of possession for the game. When they did stack the line of scrimmage during the third quarter it didn’t take too long for Chicago to adjust.
The New Orleans pass rush was nonexistent all game long. They only hit QB Rex Grossman on a handful of plays. One of those plays was the long touchdown to WR Bernard Berrian. They did hold Grossman to 11-26 passing the ball, but they weren’t able to harass him into making any critical game changing mistakes.
Grossman was nearly sacked at the end of the first Bears’ possession. He didn’t see the blitzing safety come untouched from the left side. To his credit the safety bounced off and Grossman was able to keep his feet and throw the ball away avoiding the sack. On their second possession he almost had WR Bernard Berrian deep down the left sideline, but didn’t lead him enough on the pass nearly throwing an interception. Grossman missed on two opportunities near the goal line late in the first quarter. He had TE Desmond Clark alone in the back of the end zone off play action, but overthrew the pass. Two plays later he had FB Jason McKie in the left flat, but a defensive end knocked down the pass. Grossman only attempted four passes during the entire second quarter. They were running the ball well with RB Thomas Jones and didn’t feel the need put the ball in the air. After the Saints threw fourteen quick points on the board that attitude started to change, but Grossman looked terrible throwing incomplete passes all over the field. After completing a seventeen yard pass to Berrian the Bears left the field on four consecutive three and outs. Grossman dug himself out of the hole completing four of four attempts to his receivers on an 85 yard touchdown drive. He stood tall in the pocket taking a big hit up the middle on the 33 yard touchdown pass to Berrian. That drive swung the momentum back to Chicago and rout was on as the Chicago defense took over.
Benson entered the game late in the first quarter getting six carries on the third Bear drive. He looked powerful and strong dragging tacklers on two of his runs, but was smacked at the line of scrimmage on four others. He converted on a fourth and one carry and got another carry near the goal line, but the Bears offensive line didn’t get much push on the plays. He stayed in the game on the following two drives as well, but slipped making a cut in the backfield on a third and two play losing three yards. Benson logged twelve straight carries over three possessions before starting RB Thomas Jones returned to the field. Benson had a few carries during the third quarter, but the Saints had stacked the line of scrimmage daring Chicago to throw the ball. Following another New Orleans turnover Benson got three straight carries in the red zone. He scored from twelve yards away breaking tackles and diving forward to the goal line.
Jones started out in the backfield for the Bears, but stood watching on the sidelines for much of the first quarter after only two carries. Backup RB Cedric Benson logged twelve straight carries through the first quarter and into the second quarter. Jones returned for one play near the goal line. He was targeted with a pass from QB Rex Grossman on the goal line, but the pass was behind him on the play. Jones stayed in the game on their next drive and was rewarding with several giant holes to run through. Eight consecutive carries and 69 yards later Jones took the Bears into the New Orleans end zone. The first was a fourteen yard gain. Jones did a good jog of making the first defender miss deep in the hole. The second was a thirty three yard gain that he bounced to the right sideline. They continued to feed him the ball picking up yardage in big chunks. The sixth carry was a beauty. He made a great cutback to his right taking the ball down to the goal line. Jones capped the long drive with a two yard plunge for the first touchdown of the game. He put the capper on the game with his fifteen yard touchdown run at the end of the game. Jones reversed field running back to his left on a play designed to go to the right.
Berrian had a step on CB Fred Thomas down the left sideline at the start of the second Bear drive, but QB Rex Grossman didn’t get the ball out in front of him on the attempt. Berrian caught his first pass at the start of the third quarter. He went up high across the middle to pull down a seventeen yard reception. On the next play Grossman tried to lob him another deep ball down the left sideline, but Berrian got his feet tangled up with the defensive back and fell to the ground. He caught two quick outs matched up against Thomas at the end of the third quarter setting up a long ball from Grossman. While falling to the ground he still made the reception and rolled forward to the goal line putting the Bears up by eleven points.
Davis got his first touch running an end around late in the first quarter. He did a nice job of cutting it up field and broke a tackle putting the Bears inside the fifteen yard line. The lone passing target to Davis was a deep ball during the third quarter.
Muhammad dropped his first target on a third down. QB Rex Grossman drilled him on a short cross going from right to left, but Muhammad couldn’t pull in the dart. Even he had caught the pass he would have likely been tackled short of the mark. Early in the third quarter Muhammad was open on a post down the center of the field, but Grossman put the ball too far out in front of him on the third down play. He made his first reception on the final play of the third quarter pulling in a 20 yard pass. The post pattern put the Bears in Saints’ territory and led to the Berrian touchdown.
Bradley was inactive for this game due to the ankle injury sustained in last week’s playoff game against the Seahawks.
Clark saw his first target late in the first quarter. The Bears ran play action on first down near the goal line. Clark was alone in the back of the end zone, but QB Rex Grossman overthrew him on the play. Clark got the Chicago offense jump-started with a 30 yard reception deep down the center of the field early in the second quarter, but the drive quickly died after two Grossman incomplete passes.
There was nothing significant to report from the Bears’ kicking game.
The Chicago front seven wasn’t really tested by the Saints’ rushing attack. No Saint running back had more than one carry on any New Orleans drive. Only twice in the game did the Saints run the ball twice during any given possession.
The Bears gave up a big play on a long ball down the left sideline on the first New Orleans possession, but DE Israel Idonije dropped QB Drew Brees killing the drive and keeping the Saints out of field goal range. Brees was dropped again on the second Saint drive. DE Mark Anderson exploded through off a blitz smacking Brees in the back forcing a fumble. Several defenders had a chance to drop on the ball, but couldn’t come up with the big play. The Chicago secondary started to bend through the middle of the game yielding two touchdown passes. The pass rush started to disappear until midway through the third quarter. Brees dropped back to pass into his own end zone and flipped a pass into the right flat trying to avoid pressure. However, he was flagged for intentional grounding resulting in a safety. The pass rush created another game changing play when DE Adewale Ogunleye sacked Brees forcing a fumble. Ogunleye fell on the ball and was touched down by an offensive lineman. The play had to be reviewed by instant replay before being called correctly. A second intentional ground penalty in the fourth quarter put an exclamation point on a great performance by the Bears pass rush.
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