Jack's Jock's Jot
from the Jaws of Victory
The Chicago Bears swaggered out of Arizona last night with the absolute most improbable win in the history of ever. The Cardinals performance in the last half of this game is arguably one of the biggest chokes in sports history.
But what ended in a shock also began with a shock. The Jock watched with his mouth agape as the Arizona Cardinals dominated the Bears in the first half. The Cardinals defense looked more like the Bears’ defense.
Rex Grossman, who had been playing at the absolute peak of his young QB career, hit the valley hard last night playing the worst game of his life. Six turnovers in the form of four interceptions and two fumbles gave the Cardinals a solid twenty point lead going into the half.
Nothing happened during most of the third quarter, either. I know a lot of you likely went to bed, but the Jock was there to catch all the action so that you could read it here. The Bears would get two touchdowns off of two Cardinal fumbles. And then there’s Devin Hester. Catching a Cardinal punt, the sea parted. Hester ran for 83 yards to give the Bears yet another touchdown to put the them on top 24-23, with the extra point.
But… were the Cardinals done yet? Matt Leinart, starting his second NFL game, pushed Arizona down field 38 yards against a blitzing Bears defense, but stalled at the Chicago 23. Enter Neil Rackers. Now Rackers hit 40-of-42 field goals last year–that’s the best season an NFL kicker has ever had… ever… in the history of ever! So before him now, a game winning 41-yard field goal attempt on a windless Arizona home field. No problem, right? Ummmmmmm… no. The kick goes wide. The clock runs out. After the game all Rackers could say was, “I want to throw up.” The Cardinals lose a game where the opposing team’s offense scored only 3 points after having turned the ball over six times and trailing by 20 points up until late in the third quarter.
Cardinals coach Dennis Green then provided a sound bite that will go down in history after the game. “We played (the Bears)in pre-season. Who the hell takes a third game in pre-season like it’s bullshit? Like it’s bullshit! …The Bears are who we thought they were. And that’s why we took the damn field. (smacking the podium) Now if you want to crown ‘em, then crown their ass! But they are who we thought they were, and we let ‘em off the hook!!!”
The point – the Cardinals are down for the year. Out. Over. The Bears have next week off. They will regroup, and go on to make a serious run for the post-season. They will learn from this. Because once the season reaches the half-way point… you don’t get let off the hook again.
Labels: Jack's Jock
posted by Anonymous at 1:35:00 AM
4 Comments:
this game was even more baffling to me since i watched almost 2 full quarters (spread out over the course of the game), never saw a Bears touchdown, saw 2 dominating cardinal drives for scores, saw the bears receivers get separated from the ball with uncanny regularity (some dude on ARZ named Green with long Polamalu-ish hair, where the hell did THAT game come from, son?) and was certain the Bears would lose their first game in the desert.
I *did* go to bed with 12 minutes remaining and the Bears down by 13 and said to myself, "it's possible..." but if you had just watched what I had there was no way the bears Offense was going to mount any kind of comeback. Funny thing was they didn't. And they still won thanks to superhuman efforts by hester and urlacher.
The bears better be prepared for offenses mimicking the ARZ play-calling because they sure were exposed in the first half.
i was here at work late that night. the shouts of disbelief across the sports dept. were loud & hilarious. some weird football history went down in AZ that night. but that remains one of my favourite sound bites ever... in the history of ever.
is there an inverse to that? never... in the history of never?
i think it still has to be in the history of ever. so never in the history of ever or ever in the history of ever. but i'd be flexible pour vous.
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