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Green Bay vs. Chicago
10/01/00 - Packers Lose 27-24
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| WR Bill Schroeder hauled in two 4th quarter touchdowns. |
A rocky start was too much to overcome for the Packers on Sunday as they
fell to the Chicago Bears, 27-24.
Green Bay mounted a stunning, second-half rally after being down 24-3, but
Paul Edinger's 47-yard field goal with 3:15 to play in the game proved to be
the game's winning score.
The 59,869 in attendance at Lambeau Field had little to cheer early. On the
game's opening kickoff, Packers safety Gary Berry suffered a frightening
neck injury and had to be taken off the field on a stretcher.
After a long delay due to the injury, Brett Favre was intercepted on the
game's first play from scrimmage by Chicago safety Tony Parrish, who
returned the ball 36 yards to the Green Bay 17-yard line.
Bears quarterback Cade McNown needed only 5 plays before he scored on a
one-yard touchdown run to give Chicago a lead that they would never
relinquish.
On Chicago's third possession, wide receiver Eddie Kennison turned a
seemingly busted reverse into a 52-yard run to the Green Bay 3-yard line.
As Kennison turned the corner at the line of scrimmage, he fumbled the ball
only to recover in full stride as would-be tacklers dove to the ground to
recover the ball.
A 19-yard field goal by Edinger gave the Bears a 10-0 lead.
"I never saw a start of a game that could go more wrong," Head Coach Mike
Sherman said. "The first five minutes were about as ugly as it gets."
The Packers' outlook was made even more bleak just over five minutes into
the second quarter after McNown found Marcus Robinson for a 68-yard score.
The play appeared to be well contained by the Green Bay defenders, as
Robinson and Packer defensive backs LeRoy Butler and Tyrone Williams
converged on the ball at the same time. After all three players leaped for
the ball, Robinson made the catch and left the defenders behind as he
scampered for the touchdown, which put Chicago ahead 17-0.
"I was going for the interception, and he made a great catch," said Butler.
"It was strictly my fault, totally my fault."
The Packers finally got on the board with Ryan Longwell's 42-yard field goal
with 4:48 remaining in the second quarter.
In a forgettable first half for the Packers, they committed three turnovers
- Favre's interception and two fumbles by Packer running backs - and punted
on four occasions.
The initial second-half outlook did not get any brighter after McNown found
Robinson again for a 58-yard touchdown, giving the Bears an impressive 24-3
lead with 5:53 to play in the third quarter.
But Favre and the Packer offense then began to take control, going 71 yards
in 6 plays on their next possession, which culminated in a 14-yard touchdown
pass to Antonio Freeman.
Early in the fourth quarter, Favre struck again. On a third-and-1 from
their own 46, running back Ahman Green ran 18 yards on a draw play. Favre
then found Donald Driver 19 yards downfield and hit Bill Schroeder two plays
later for a 17-yard touchdown, which trimmed Chicago's lead to 24-17.
Meanwhile, the Packer defense was limiting the Bears' playmaking, forcing
three 3-and-out series and not allowing the long gains that had previously
hurt Green Bay.
The defense returned a familiar face to the lineup on Sunday as Brian
Williams saw his first action since suffering a knee injury midway through
last season. Though Williams did not start and played mostly on third
downs, he made five total tackles and was credited with 1/2 sack.
Williams, considered by most to be one of the Packers' premier players at
the time of his injury, had waited months and worked countless hours to make
his return to the field.
"I guess I was anxious to get out there, and then once I finally got out
there, the butterflies kicked in," Williams said. "But once I got out there
and got into the flow of things, it felt pretty good. It was just nice to
be back out there on the field playing with those guys. Now I need to work
on my cardio (conditioning) a little bit.
"It was one of those games," continued Williams. "We kept stressing the
whole game that we're not out of it, we're not out of it. I think that's
just the attitude that this team has - the fight and the will that this team
has. No one ever gave up. Our defense never gave up, and the offense never
gave up. We knew they were going to finally start clicking, and they did
late in the third and fourth quarter, and then the defense stepped up. We
just fell a little short."
After Edinger's second field goal, the Packers trailed 27-17 with just 3:25
to play.
Favre responded in typical fashion, engineering a 6 play, 73-yard touchdown
drive and using just 1:17 of the clock.
Schroeder again was the drive's pivotal receiver, first on a 32 yard catch
and then, on the next play, the 17-yard catch in the corner of the end zone.
The fifth-year receiver from Wisconsin-La Crosse led all receivers with 8
catches for 108 yards. He maintained that the Packers had an equal chance
in the first half of coming up with plays, but could not identify a reason
for the sudden, second-half success.
"We were making the same calls and running the same plays," Schroeder said.
"I don't know what it is. We'll look at the film and see what it was."
Down by 3 with 1:58 remaining and all three timeouts in hand, Sherman
elected to attempt an on-side kick, but the Bears' John Allred handled the
ball cleanly.
"I feel like we made the right decision because we had a chance to win the
game," said Sherman. "You can second-guess that all you want, but I would
make the same decision again given the situation."
The Packer defense, forced to hold Chicago without a first down, responded
and forced the Bears to punt with 1:19 left.
With one timeout remaining, Favre completed two passes apiece to Bubba
Franks and Ahman Green, but could not convert a fourth-and-6 at the Chicago
44. Green Bay's heroic efforts fell short as the rival Bears' sideline
celebrated.
"We're the ones that made it happen or didn't make it happen, so we have no
one to blame but ourselves," Favre said. "If we want to do something about
it, we can. It's as simple as that.
"We have a lot of games left. This game was a rollercoaster. Who knows
what the rest of the season holds? But you can't think of it that way. You
can't look at it that way. You have to look at what we have next week."
Sherman concurred that, while the loss puts the Packers' record at 2-3, the
season is far from lost.
"This is our fifth game," he said. "We still have a long way to go. I
think our best days are ahead of us."
Injury News
Berry was taken to a local hospital, where tests revealed no serious damage.
Berry returned to the stadium later in the game but did not play again.
Driver and Dorsey Levens both suffered late, fourth-quarter injuries that will be further evaluated on Monday. Driver bruised his tailbone, while Levens aggravated his previously sprained ankle. Neither returned to the
field.
Game Highlights (Real Audio)
Packers-Bears archived complete game broadcast (Real Audio)
Post-Game Audio Clips
Head Coach Mike Sherman (Real Audio)
QB Brett Favre (Real Audio)
S LeRoy Butler (Real Audio)
LB Brian Williams (Real Audio)
TE Bubba Franks (Real Audio)
TB William Henderson (Real Audio)
K Ryan Longwell (Real Audio)
S Tod McBride (Real Audio)
WR Bill Schroeder (Real Audio)
DT Santana Dotson (Real Audio)
CB Darren Sharper (Real Audio)
G Ross Verba (Real Audio)
LB Nate Wayne (Real Audio)
Scoring Summary
| Team |
Qtr |
Time |
Play |
Visitor |
Home |
| Bears | 1 | 12:18 | C.McNown 1 yd. run (P.Edinger kick) | 7 | 0 |
| Bears | 1 | 4:38 | P.Edinger 19 yd. Field Goal | 10 | 0 |
| Bears | 2 | 9:07 | M.Robinson 68 yd. pass from C.McNown (P.Edinger kick) | 17 | 0 |
| Packers | 2 | 4:48 | R.Longwell 42 yd. Field Goal | 17 | 3 |
| Bears | 3 | 5:35 | M.Robinson 58 yd. pass from C.McNown (P.Edinger kick) | 24 | 3 |
| Packers | 3 | 2:36 | A.Freeman 14 yd. pass from B.Favre (R.Longwell kick) | 24 | 10 |
| Packers | 4 | 8:44 | B.Schroeder 17 yd. pass from B.Favre (R.Longwell kick) | 24 | 17 |
| Bears | 4 | 3:15 | P.Edinger 47 yd. Field Goal | 27 | 17 |
| Packers | 4 | 1:58 | B.Schroeder 17 yd. pass from B.Favre (R.Longwell kick) | 27 | 24 |
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