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| BAL at SD | BUF at JAX | DEN at CHI | GB at DET | HOU at CLE | IND at ATL | MIA at PIT | MIN at NYG |
| NO at CAR | NYJ at DAL | OAK at KC | PHI at NE | SEA at STL | SF at ARI | TEN at CIN | WAS at TB |
Week 12 Game Recap: Denver Broncos 31, Chicago Bears 34
What you need to know
| Denver Broncos |
Playing without Travis Henry and Selvin Young on the road, the Broncos found a way to control the ball for most of the game with the legs of Andre Hall and arm of Jay Cutler, yet couldn't hold off the Bears in losing 37-34. Andre Hall ran for 98 yards on 26 carries and scored a second quarter touchdown. Mike Bell was brought into the game briefly to spell Hall, but fumbled his only attempt and did not gain any yardage, forcing the Broncos to use Cecil Sapp to spell Hall. Sapp gained 28 yards on seven carries with a touchdown in relief. Jay Cutler gained 12 yards on two official attempts, while wide receiver Brandon Marshall gained no yardage on his only attempt.
Through the air, Jay Cutler completed 17 of 31 passes for 302 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Cutler's primary target was Brandon Marshall, who caught four balls for 97 yards and a long touchdown. Brandon Stokley added five receptions for fifty yards starting opposite of Marshall. Javon Walker returned to the field in Week 12, however was not targeted and played only sparingly in the first half of this game. At the tight end position, Tony Scheffler caught five balls for 82 yards and a touchdown. Out of the backfield, Andre Hall caught two balls for 69 yards while Cecil Sapp added a four yard reception.
| Chicago Bears |
Behind the legs of return man Devin Hester and the comeback heroics of a Bears offense spurred on by the home crowd, the Bears rallied back to beat the Broncos and again move within one game of a .500 winning percentage. It took Rex Grossman a while to get going, but a late touchdown connection with Bernard Berrian tied the game and sent it into overtime. Grossman finished 17 of 33 for 193 yards with one touchdown and one interception while Berrian caught three balls for 24 yards, including the highlight reel touchdown late in the game.
The team leader for receiving yards in the game was Desmond Clark, who caught two balls for 61 yards, followed by Adrian Peterson, who had five receptions for 41 yards. At the wide receiver position, Muhsin Muhammad pulled in two passes for 26 yards, while Rashied Davis added a 21 yard reception. In addition to his third quarter brilliance in the return game, Devin Hester added a reception for one yard. Tight end Greg Olsen had just one catch for ten yards, though had a forty yard touchdown called back on a holding penalty. John Gilmore caught a one yard pass in a limited role from the tight end position. Fullback Jason McKie added an eight yard reception out of the backfield.
Cedric Benson got the start and was running well with 47 yards on eight carries before exiting early with a potentially serious ankle injury. Benson was replaced by Adrian Peterson, who gained 45 yards on 17 attempts including a fourth quarter touchdown. With Benson's injury, rookie Garrett Wolfe saw additional action and gained 29 yards on three carries. Rex Grossman was officially credited with one yard on four attempts.
What you ought to know
| QB Jay Cutler, Pass: 17 - 31 - 302 - 2 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 2 - 12 - 0 |
Cutler finished with a 74.9 passer rating by averaging 9.7 yards per passing attempt despite completing just 55% of his passes. Cutler accumulated most of the yardage in the second half, aided by a 68 yard touchdown catch by Brandon Marshall and a 65 yard scamper by Andre Hall.
| RB Andre Hall, Rush: 26 - 98 - 1, Rec: 2 - 69 - 0 (2 targets) |
The second year back out of South Florida stepped in to replace Travis Henry and Selvin Young with an impressive performance. Hall's touchdown came on a pitch to the outside where Hall broke a tackle for a sixteen yard touchdown. Hall also added a sixty five yard reception as he made good use of his blockers and downfield vision in setting up a late field goal in the first half. Hall showed the ability to break tackles at multiple points throughout this game and ran with good speed, including a 23 yard run to the Bears two, though he failed to punch the ball in on the next carry. Hall exited the game on the Broncos final drive and was replaced by Cecil Sapp.
| WR Brandon Stokley, Rec: 5 - 50 - 0 (10 targets) |
With Javon Walker sidelined for much of this game, Stokley averaged ten yards per catch and provided Jay Cutler a reliable option over the middle of the field.
| WR Brandon Marshall, Rush: 1 - 0 - 0, Rec: 4 - 97 - 1 (10 targets) |
Marshall got behind the defense for his 68 yard touchdown, and showed determination on the field in this game with strong blocking to aid in a couple of the Broncos touchdowns. With Javon Walker not seeing much time on the field, Marshall filled the void and demanded the ball.
| TE Tony Scheffler, Rec: 5 - 82 - 1 (5 targets) |
Scheffler made an acrobatic catch on his fourteen yard touchdown, and showed his big play ability to go deep over the middle and stretch opposing defenses. Tony was often utilized off the line as a slot receiver in this game, catching everything thrown his way as Daniel Graham was utilized primarily in a blocking role in this game.
| PK Jason Elam 2 - 2 FG, 4 - 4 XP, 10 points |
Elam connected on four extra points and made field goals from 22 and 23 yards in the first half of this game.
| DEN Rush Defense |
The rush defense gave up 121 yards and a touchdown to Bears running backs on 28 carries, and gave up multiple carries over twenty yards against a unit that came in near the bottom of the league in rushing offense.
| DEN Pass Defense |
The Broncos pass defense held strong until the fourth quarter when Rex Grossman and Bernard Berrian beat Champ Bailey in the corner of the end zone to tie the game up. Despite this, they came up with two Rex Grossman fumbles and one interception and limited him to just 193 yards through the air.
| QB Rex Grossman, Pass: 17 - 33 - 193 - 1 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 4 - 1 - 0 |
Grossman struggled for much of this game until connecting with Bernard Berrian in the final minute to tie the game up. Grossman was making crisp throws late in the game, but turned the ball over three times earlier, including two fumbles. Grossman finished with a 56.8 passer rating by completing 52 percent of his passes for an average gain of 5.8 yards per attempt.
| RB Adrian Peterson, Rush: 17 - 45 - 1, Rec: 5 - 41 - 0 (6 targets) |
Peterson showed determination in carrying the pile four yards for a score in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to seven and combined for 86 yards in replacing Cedric Benson following a potentially serious injury. Given increased reps in practice and strong receiving skills out of the backfield, Peterson filled in as a seamless replacement in the Bears backfield, though most of his targets came in the first half of this game before Benson had departed.
| RB Cedric Benson, Rush: 8 - 47 - 0 |
Benson got off to a hot start for the second week in a row, but potentially suffered a serious ankle injury as he was tackled from behind. The injury could cause him to miss some time.
| WR Bernard Berrian, Rec: 3 - 24 - 1 (6 targets) |
Berrian faked out Champ Bailey and made a diving catch to tie the game up in the final minute despite a relatively quiet day before that. With the game on the line, Rex Grossman threw the ball to Berrian twice at the goal line.
| WR Muhsin Muhammad, Rec: 2 - 26 - 0 (6 targets) |
Muhammad nearly caught a touchdown with a very nice catch on the right side of the end zone in the first half, but couldn't get both feet down as he tried to pull the ball in while being closely covered.
| TE Greg Olsen, Rec: 1 - 10 - 0 (5 targets) |
Olsen celebrated following a 25 yard touchdown reception where Rex Grossman threw the ball up into the corner of the end zone and Olsen used his athleticism, strength and height to come down with the ball, however a holding penalty on the right tackle had allowed Grossman the time to make that pass, and as a result Olsen's stat line ended less impressively.
| PK Robbie Gould 3 - 3 FG, 4 - 4 XP, 13 points |
Including a 39 yarder to win the game in overtime, Gould connected for field goals from 24 and 44 yards out earlier in the game, and made all four extra point attempts.
| CHI Rush Defense |
The Bears struggled to fill open gaps and make tackles, giving up 126 yards to Broncos running backs on 33 carries, including two touchdown runs. The unit forced a Mike Bell fumble early in the game.
| CHI Pass Defense |
The pass defense was consistently beat by Jay Cutler, including deep passes to Brandon Marshall, passes over the middle to tight end Tony Scheffler and short screens to Andre Hall in giving up 302 yards through the air, though forced two turnovers and came up with two sacks.
