Rahula Strohl

Bear with Us

Play-by-play of the Bears-Redskins game from a guy who makes Aretha Franklin feel like a natural woman

Current drive

At least, that's what she sang to me on my iPod on my walk over here.

I don't know about you, but I live for the months-old tradition of Thursday Night Football. And by "live for," I mean, "never watched it until last Thursday."

And then the Bears don't play until Dec. 17, so it's almost like another bye week. Not that any of this matters, since they likely won't make the playoffs. (However, knowing my luck, the minute I make flight reservations for January, that's when the rest of the NFC will fall apart and I'll have to cancel those plans for the divisional round.)

Even though the Bears looked, um, less than good on Sunday, the folks over at the paper pick the Bears .

Focus could be an issue on both sides since the Redskins were at Sean Taylor's funeral on Monday, as were Devin Hester, Greg Olsen and Adam Archuleta.

Will the Bears show the no-huddle offense more? David Haugh . I don't care what they do as long as they don't turn into that giant ball of 3-and-out they were in the second half Sunday. Heck, interceptions are at least interesting, 3-and-outs are just annoying.

That's about all I got. Cold and clear in the D.C. area, comment board and auto-refresh on the right, rstrohl@tribune.com.

Oh, one more thing. The Redskins have a little ol' lady who might light up a Bears receiver or two.

FIRST QUARTER

Bears win the toss and will receive and Bryant Gumbel gives an incredibly awkward, "Cris, has there ever been a more exciting kick returner in the game?" Boy, right on top of that story. Hester scoops the squib at the 15 and returns to the 33. Make it the 34 (I will NEVER understand spotting the football), from where Grossman hits Muhsin Muhammad for a gain of seven on the right side, then Desmond Clark over the middle for the first down to the 48, and the Bears are going with the no-huddle. Adrian Peterson gets a yard. Grossman steps up in pressure and throws it to an empty spot between Clark, Muhammad and three defensive backs. Grossman doesn't like what he sees and the Bears call timeout with 13:36 left in the quarter. All-out blitz, Grossman tries to go to Bernard Berrian, skips the pass and Brad Maynard will punt. Punt caught fairly at the 20.

Jason Campbell fires up the right side to Antwaan Randle El, who never turns around for it. Clinton Portis gets a pair on second down. Campbell tries to check down but a vicious hit has that one bounce safely incomplete. Punt goes out of bounds at the Bears' 39.

Gumbel just pointed out that the Bears lead the NFL in 3-and-outs. So they do a good job on third down, just not so much on first or second down. Peterson gets five on a stretch play left and former Bears great Phillip Daniels is in on the tackle. Peterson to the left side again, steps through a couple of tackles and gets the first down plus about three. From the Redskins' 48, Grossman and Hester are not on the same page, Hester goes up the right sideline and Grossman throws the hitch route. Grossman under pressure, tries to hit Clark over the middle and it gets knocked away from behind Clark and Grossman is down. His left knee got bent the wrong way under Cornelius Griffin. That may be just about it for Rex's 2007 season. You can't write this tragicomedy script. Brian Griese tries to set up a screen and that's incomplete so here's Maynard again. Ball rolls to the 8 and is downed there.

Despite Grossman's pronounced limp off the field, Gumbel said he was walking okay off the field. Uh, false. Then the injury report is that Grossman will not return. Not a surprise. Portis gets nothing, a pass gets eight, then Portis gets nothing again and the Redskins will punt on 4th and 2 from the 16. Ball rolls to the Bears' 40, Hester returns it to the Redskins' 45 and is very angry with himself for not getting more, banging his head on the turf.

I agree with Big Cat, this is the perfect opportunity to see Orton. Replay shows that Olin Kreutz's feet got tangled with Terrence Metcalf's, allowing Griffin to come free on Grossman. Two passes add up to nine yards, 3rd and 1 from the 36, and Peterson gets the first down to the 35. Griese passes low to Mark Bradley on the right side, but Bradley scoops it up for five yards, then Peterson gets a yard into the line. Griese goes up the right sideline for Berrian, who catches it, but he failed to get both feet in bounds. Replay confirms that. Someone got a piece of Robbie Gould's 47-yard field goal attempt and it falls short of the end zone, let alone the goalposts.

Okay, I did this a couple years ago, but it looks like it's time to pull it out again. In addition to the Bears-Redskins score, we will also keep track of the points-punts score. Right now, it's Punts 4, Points 0. Portis gets a couple, then gets a first down to the Bears' 49 on a screen, followed by a pass to tight end Chris Cooley at the sticks, and he gets a couple more to the 37. Portis gets three on first down. Three-step drop and Campbell leads Cooley a little too much, 3rd and 7. Campbell hits Cooley this time, and Brandon McGowan closes quickly and makes a nice 1-on-1 tackle short of the sticks. Good thing he did, as the field goal drops two yards shy of the crossbar to the following call from Gumbel: "And this one's good. … No it's not."

Pass is batted at the line and falls incomplete, then Peterson gets a pair to the 40. Redskins bring the house and Griese ducks down at the 32, leading Gumbel to say, "Griese gets it from all sides." Punt fielded at the 27 and smothered right there. Punts 5, Points 0.

Make it the 26. Swing pass loses a pair, with Adam Archuleta in on the tackle. Some sort of designed running play for Campbell and Mark Anderson is waiting for him there, loss of four more. Whistles blow and, per Gumbel, "We have a couple of yo-yos on the field." Of course they're not showing it. Show the idiots running on the field. What better deterrent could there be than showing the guy get lit up by a security guard, or even better, a player? So here we go again, 3rd and 16 from the 20. Campbell has time, hits Randle El downfield and he gets the first down plus some past the 40 and that's the quarter.

Bears 0, Redskins 0, Punts 5

SECOND QUARTER

From the 42, Campbell's pass gets batted down on a three-step drop. Campbell checks down to Portis, who cuts by an Urlacher tackle and gets the first down to the Bears' 47. Portis gets it on a run and gets dropped for no gain. Antonio Garay is getting looked at. He tries to stand up and then lies back down and now I get to watch Christmas commercials. Tackle Chris Samuels just dived straight for Garay's knees on that play, and Cris Collinsworth lays into the NFL for voting to keep that play legal. I'm surprised he wasn't immediately taken out by the NFL's snipers perched atop FedEx Field for saying, "The NFL, in all of its wisdom, has voted to keep that play legal." Pass over the middle to Cooley gets the first down to the 22, a quick pass picks up five and then a Portis run gets three, 3rd and 2 from the Bears' 14. Rush comes after Campbell, he dumps off for a loss of five and Shaun Suisham is now 0-for-2 after going wide left. Punts keeps its 5-0 lead.

Gumbel: "The renewal of hostilities in one of the NFL's oldest rivalries." Um, three Bears were at Taylor's funeral, I don't know that there are any "hostilities" here. Peterson gets a yard up the middle and a pass to Olsen in the right flat gets a pair. Wide receiver screen to Berrian, Rashied Davis sets up the block nicely and the Bears finally get a first down nearly five minutes into the second quarter. Peterson gets nothing up the middle. Screen to Peterson gets nine. My bad, the Bears had a first down earlier in the game, that was their second of the game, and Griese gets their third on a sneak up the middle. Slant to Muhammad gets eight to the Redskins' 44, then Peterson loses a yard. Griese hits Olsen for a first down on an out route right and there's a flag down. Offside, the Bears take it, then Griese takes a sack for a five-yard loss back to the 45. Shotgun handoff to Peterson and he gets five, then Griese and Bradley aren't on the same page as Bradley runs a slant and Griese throws an out. Punts take a 6-0 lead as Corey Graham can't get between the ball and the end zone, touchback.

Campbell pump fakes right, looks left and has nothing, rolls right and throws it away. Play fake to Portis, Campbell rolls left and runs out of bounds after a gain of two. Brandon McGowan got a good shot in on Campbell's right (throwing) arm just before Campbell got out of bounds, and now Campbell's right arm is dangling and he's calling for attention. Todd Collins (isn't that an alcoholic beverage) is warming up. Nope, that's Tom Collins. Todd, Tom, whatever. Quick out left to Reche Caldwell, who, amazingly enough, catches the ball, but not enough for the first down. Punt rolls out between the Bears' 30 and 35, that's a touchdown lead for punts.

From the 34, Griese leads Clark too much on the left side, about 12 yards down the field. A delay to Peterson gets a pair. Screen pass to Peterson gets the first down and well across midfield, but Terrence Metcalf was too far down the field so this one is coming back. On 3rd and 13, Griese tries to hit Davis in the right flat and can't. Punt fielded around the 30, returned to the 32 and that's an 8-0 lead. This is gonna be a blowout at this rate.

Campbell back in, the Redskins gain a yard somehow and Cooley comes hobbling off the field. Campbell then throws nowhere near his receiver on the right side and Gumbel wonders whether it's the injury or just badness. Campbell under much pressure hits Ladell Betts for not enough. He was hit by Mark Anderson as he threw, and Anderson rolls up Campbell's left knee and he's down for the count. This is just ridiculous, and not the good Devin Hester kind. This game is rivaling some of the other mighty clashes between these two teams, most notably this one and this one. Punt No. 9 on the day rolls out at the Bears' 3.

Peterson gets a pair. The clock stops for some reason with 2:12 left in the half. I'm assuming one of the teams called a timeout, and that they haven't changed the 2-minute warning to the "Somewhere around 2-minute" warning. Quick-out to Berrian on the left side gets five and that's the 2-minute warning. Okay, time for the mighty Brian Griese 2-minute drill. They're on the road against an NFC East opponent, it seems appropriate to me. Griese rolls out of pressure then runs forward and dives for a gain of one, from where the Bears will execute the 10th punt of the evening. The Redskins called that earlier timeout, and they call another one with 1:50 left. Punt goes to midfield, returned to the 42.

Collins back in, skips a pass to Keenan McCardell at the sticks on the left side. He hits McCardell on the left side this time, but it's for a gain of five. Alex Brown strips Collins from behind, Adewale Ogunleye falls on it at the 47 and that's where Griese will take over with 1:07 left.

Griese to Muhammad in the left flat for seven. Quick hitch left to Berrian, who steps out of a tackle but decides that he can step out of three more rather than getting out of bounds, and the Bears burn their second timeout with :36 left in the half and the ball on the Redskins' 31. Gumbel points out that Hester is at the top of the screen, Griese goes right to him, Shawn Springs jumps it because everyone in the stadium knew it was coming and he returns it to the Bears' 21. Hester chased Springs and nudged him out of bounds.

Collins hits tight end Todd Yoder on the right side deep for the first points of the game. He ran left to right and hauled it in over Danieal Manning. PAT is good.

Redskins 7, Bears 0, Punts 10, :17 left in the half

Hester fields the squib and returns it just shy of the 40. Griese tries to go up the right sideline, ostensibly to Hester, but he hits Shawn Springs perfectly for his second pick in about a second and a half.

Collins dumps off to Portis and that puts an end to the worst half of football not quarterbacked by Jonathan Quinn, Craig Krenzel or Chad Hutchinson. Or Henry Burris.

Halftime: Redskins 7, Bears 0, Punts 10

Halftime thoughts: The sad thing is, I've covered two (2) Bears-Redskins games that were as bad, if not worse than this one. And I've only covered the Bears since Lovie started. The NFL should forbid these two teams from playing each other ever again.

THIRD QUARTER

Really? They're gonna make them play another half of this junk? Pooch kick fielded at the 30 and returned to the 37. Bears swarm Portis on a sweep right, appear to have him for no gain, but he breaks through the first wave and gets about five. Portis sweeping again, this time left for three. The official word on Campbell is dislocated patella tendon. I didn't know you could dislocate a tendon. Portis shoots through a hole on a checkdown right, then just cuts out of tackle after tackle and isn't brought down until the Bears' 1, and the replay shows that the Redskins got away with a block in the back. Ladell Betts gets stuffed on a dive, then fullback Mike Sellers gets the touchdown. Punts will have to make quite a comeback. PAT is good.

Redskins 14, Bears 0, Punts 10, 11:53 left in the 3rd quarter

The Redskins kick to Hester on the left side at about the 25, he returns it laterally to the 25, Rashied Davis holds, so yeah, negative net return here. Olsen can't make a sliding catch across the middle and LaRon Landry can't come up with an interception after the ball pops up in the air. Peterson gets three. Quick out left to Hester, he gets just shy of the first down but the Redskins were offside, 3rd and 2 from the 21. Bears give the five yards right back for taking too long to snap the ball. Is it the fourth quarter yet? Griese throws a jump ball up the right side to Berrian, and he jumps over Springs and makes a great catch at midfield. The Bears snap quickly so the Redskins can't challenge (they'd have lost anyway) and Peterson gets no gain up the middle. Griese goes high in the left seam to Olsen, who taps it with one hand down to himself, first down at the 30, then Griese goes to Olsen again, this time in the left flat, and he gets nine. Roberto Garza starts falsely an the Bears have 2nd and 6 from the 26. Griese goes high over the middle to Muhammad, then Landry flattens Muhammad and flags fly for helmet-to-helmet on a defenseless receiver, 1st and 10 from the 13 for the Bears. Wow, the Bears just can't move themselves anywhere. John Tait starts falsely. Griese tries to go in the seam to a wide open Gilmore, but it gets batted down right back in Griese's face by Division III's finest, London Fletcher. Griese hits Berrian at the line of scrimmage on the left, Berrian slips out of a tackle and gets up the sideline to the 12, 3rd and 9. Another false start, this one on Fred Miller (shocker). I don't even know what to say at this point. As bad as the Bears' offense has been, they're still taking a snap from the Redskins' red zone, so both teams are guilty of being awful. But the Bears slighty more awful, as they let the play clock expire for the second time and are penalized for the sixth time on this drive alone. Griese hits Davis over the middle to the 12 and Gould will attempt a 30-yarder. This one is good and punts aren't going to be able to mount a comeback, I don't think.

Redskins 14, Bears 3, who really cares how much time is left

After the Redskins return it to the 27, there's 5:21 left in the third quarter. Make it the 28. Collins hit as he throws and the ball sails just beyond the dive of Danieal Manning. Betts gets the carry and loses a yard. Checkdown to Betts and he looks for the hit before catching the ball, so he drops it. Probably for the best, since he would have only gotten a yard and would have gotten the tar tackled out of him. Punt goes out of bounds around the Bears' 45, but the Redskins line up illegally. The Bears take the horrid punt plus the penalty, so they'll be around midfield. Clinton Portis has a "stomach injury" apparently.

Griese hits Clark on the right side to the 30, then Garrett Wolfe slips through the line inside the red zone for another first down. Griese sends a jump ball to the right side of the end zone for Berrian, who hauls it in over Springs for what appears to be a touchdown, but the refs wave it incomplete. Lovie challenges it. I think it's a catch, but what do I know. Looks like I know this much. Touchdown, PAT good and punts are definitely not coming back from this 24-11 deficit. Pity.

Redskins 14, Bears 10, 3:23 left in the 3rd quarter

I missed the guy running onto the field in the first half, but alert reader T.J. King did not. Here's his spectacular account of the event: "The only thing that stopped me from questioning my sanity for staying tuned in during the first half was the guy that ran on the field. You might have missed this, but this fairly large gentleman (225, 20-something) ran right into the middle of the line of scrimmage, lowered his hips, squared up, and tried to take down… get this… wait for it… Tommie Harris. It looked exactly as if he would have ran into a 10-foot inflatable rubber ball. Harris didn't even move an inch, despite just having enough time to turn around, and his 'tackler' bounced back farther than most Griese passes. I've seen civil war muskets suffer less recoil. Hilarious, absolutely priceless. On a Top 10 reasons to watch this game it would be No. 8 (there would be no 1-7 or 9 or 10)."

Kick returned to the 31, Portis gets eight, then nothing to set up a 3rd and 2 from the 38. Collins hits Betts in the right flat to the 43 for the first down. Collins floats one on the left side to Randle El and completes it for about 13 yards, but Ogunleye's man held him, 1st and 20 from the 33. Slant left to Randle El and they make up most of the penalty yards. All of it, in fact. They try to set up a screen but Alex Brown blows it up for a loss of three. Why did Anderson get the starting nod over him again? That's the quarter.

Redskins 14, Bears 10

FOURTH QUARTER

Collins goes deep up the left seam for Cooley, McGowan bounces off of him and Cooley gets down to the 25. No gain on a play I missed, and then the Redskins start falsely, 2nd and 15 from the 30. Collins has plenty of time, hits Cooley in the soft spot of the zone on the right side, then Charles Tillman shows McGowan how to wrap up and tackle, dropping Cooley at the 10. The Redskins try that weak-side flip that worked a billion times for the Broncos but Ogunleye sniffs it out for a loss of two. Play fake to Portis, then a checkdown to Portis on the left side and he's smothered at the 5. Campbell has nowhere to throw and chucks it out of the back of the end zone. Suisham finally makes a field goal, nailing the chip shot.

Redskins 17, Bears 10, 11:52 left in the game

Gumbel seems serious about the projected yellow first-down marker being "unofficial," as he repeatedly has said something to the effect of, "Gets close to the first down, we'll see where they put it," when the play ends a solid three to four yards past the yellow stripe. Squib fielded at the 20, returned to the 30. Make it the 29, and Garrett Wolfe gets to the 30. Griese then completes to Hester on a hitch route for the first down, and he fights for about five more, then another pass to Hester on the left side to the Redskins' 37. Wolfe gets a yard. Griese leads Moose too much in the right flat, 3rd and 9 with 10:03 left in the game. Pass appears to get tipped at the line, but Berrian comes down with it anyway for a first down, but Hester was moving forward at the snap, 3rd and 14. I thought that might have been a little ticky-tack, but whatever. Griese goes deep off his back foot under pressure, but there was an illegal chuck of Muhammad on that, 1st and 10 from the 36. Swing pass left to Berrian gets four to the 32, then a pass to Hester on another hitch on the left side gets to the 18 for another first down. Peterson back in the game and he gets five up the middle. Bears are going no-huddle here, by the way. Another hitch to the left side for Hester, and he sprints up the sideline for the pylon, but the ball squirts out of his hand and out of bounds at the 1. That's a safe stretch for the end zone, in my humble opinion (or IMHO, as the kids are saying). Peterson up the middle for a loss of three. Griese overthrows a fade to Olsen on the right side of the end zone. Fade to the left side of the end zone and again, not where Olsen could get it. Gould on to attempt the chip shot. Good.

Redskins 17, Bears 13, 6:48 left in the game

Kick returned to the 30. Collins finds Santana Moss in the weak part of the zone on the left side to the 46 for a first down. He then hits Randle El on the right side for another first down to the Bears' 41. Portis gets five, then one. Collins passes in the teeth of a blitz and has a wide-open Randle El over the middle, and he sprints down to the 20 before getting flattened by Danieal Manning. Bears call timeout with 3:38 left in the game. Portis gets a pair up the middle. Portis gets a pair on a stretch play left and the Bears call timeout with 2:45 left. The Bears bring a bunch of pressure and Ladell Betts sneaks behind the coverage (which included Tommie Harris) and Collins dumps it to Betts for an easy touchdown, PAT good.

Redskins 24, Bears 13, 2:41 left in the game

The Bears have been picked apart by Todd Collins. You know, old man Collins' kid. Meanwhile, we have a detailed report on Jason Campbell's injury, and all we know about Grossman is that it's a knee injury, but that's only from inference. If it were up to the Bears, we wouldn't even know that it was his leg. It's not a state secret, people. Kick goes out of bounds. Wolfe gets 12 on a screen. False start stops the clock and the Bears are at their 47. At least there are only three more of these. Another screen to Wolfe gets about a yard shy of the first down and that's the warning. Olsen drops a pass in the left seam. Griese hits Muhammad in the right flat and he gets out of bounds after a gain of five to the 34 with 1:50 left. Griese has no one open, and scrambles left for a gain of eight and gets out of bounds with 1:42 left. Dumpoff to Wolfe gets to the 19 and Griese spikes it with 1:24 left. Dumpoff to Hester and he gets out of bounds with 1:11 left, but he's a yard shy, and Griese sneaks it for the first. The Redskins stay in a pile and the refs take their sweet time sorting it out, so only 45 seconds remain when the Bears spike it on 1st and goal. Dumpoff to Wolfe and he fumbles it out of bounds with :39 left, then Fred "Love Boat" Smoot bats one away in the end zone with :34 left and Gould will attempt the chip shot. He nails it, and I wonder why they didn't leave themselves with more time by kicking a very makeable 28-yarder on 4th and 1 from the 10 about a minute ago.

Redskins 24, Bears 16, :30 left in the game

Onside kick bounces out of bounds and that's the ballgame. Knee.

Final: Redskins 24, Bears 16

Final thoughts: I said it earlier, the sad thing about this game is that it ranks No. 3 on the list of Jordan-awful Bears-Redskins games I've covered. The Bears lost this one the way they've lost all of their games this year. Repeated false starts killing offensive drives, the defense failing to get off the field on third down when it matters most, and sprinkle in a turnover or two. Ugh. And that this offense can't do a thing despite fantastic field position drive after drive after drive, well, that's just dreadful. Was I seriously flying back from covering the Super Bowl 10 months ago today? Yikes.

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