Chicago Bears 10, Denver Broncos 13
The Bears had a 10 point lead with just over 2 minutes to play. The first big play happened when the Broncos scored before the 2 minute warning. That forced the Bears to run an offensive play, after recovering the Broncos’ onside kick attempt, to take the clock to the 2 minute mark. The next big play was Marion Barber being forced out of bounds when the Broncos had no time outs left. That gave the Broncos the window of time they needed to drive into field goal range to force overtime.
In overtime, the blues hit Barber once again when he fumbled the ball away on a 3rd down run. Had he simply been tackled, the Bears would have attempted a long game-winning field goal. Instead, it allowed the Broncos to give the ball to Tebow, who never returned the favor to the Bears. Matt Prater buried the Bears with a 51 yard winner, and thus capped another amazing Tebow comeback story.
For the Bears, the loss means they’ll have a hard time making the playoffs in a highly competitive wild-card race, especially considering the Lions’ win today. The Broncos gain a grip on the AFC West as the sole team from that division that is 8-5. With the Chargers still 2 games behind them, they should be able to coast into the playoffs. The Raiders certainly aren’t doing anything to win the division at this point.
As far as beating the Broncos, it appears that teams just need to beat the crap out of the Broncos for 3 quarters and hope the lead they built up is big enough to survive the inevitable late-game-Tebow-run. Tebow is slowing winning over fans like myself with the thrilling finishes he so routinely provides. I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to seeing some Tebow antics in the playoffs this year.
Other Games:
San Francisco 19, Arizona Cardinals 21
Buffalo Bills 10, San Diego Chargers 37
Oakland Raiders 16, Green Bay Packers 46
