Saints 27 Bears 24 summary ^^^^^^^ Ray Zellars' revival of the Saints' rushing attack and Doug Brien's late 54 yd FG resulted in a win over the Bears. play-by-play ^^^^^^^^^^^^ The Saint defensive line (playing without suspended Darren Mickell and injured Renaldo Turnbull) shut down Salaam runs on the first two plays of the game. An aborted Krieg throw on 3rd led to a punt, which Tyrone Hughes returned to the NO 35. Mario Bates lost a yard on the Saints' first play, but Jim Everett found Irv Smith for 11 on the next down. Bates' second run went nowhere, but a 7 yd catch by Hendrick Lusk and 6 yd catch by Smith moved the sticks. On 3rd & 7, the ball was poked from Torrance Small's grasp after the WR made a short catch. The Bears recovered at the 32. The visitors' offense kicked into gear with a 12 yd Timpson catch and a 16 yd Salaam run. A 6 yd Conway catch and a 4 yd Salaam run moved the chains a third time, then on 3rd & 8 Conway caught a ball for 9. A good tackle by Mark McMillan brought Conway down a yard short of the marker on 3rd & 3, so the Bears settled for a 28 yd FG. Everett hit Haywood Jeffires for 10 on 3rd & 6, but couldn't connect a little while later on 3rd & 10. Klaus Wilmsmeyer's punt took a favorable bounce to the Chicago 24. The Bears went 3 & punt, but the Saints gave the ball back near midfield a play later when Everett never quite got ahold of a snap. Chicago moved downfield with a Timpson catch, a defensive offside penalty, and a pair of Salaam runs (with a 5 yd facemask tacked onto one of them). Krieg then found Conway for an 18 yd TD to increase the margin to 10. Ray Zellars came into the game and immediately caught an 8 yd swing pass. A bad Everett throw prevented what would've been a 20 yd Michael Haynes gain, but on 3rd & 2 the QB found Small for 22. The team lost 5 yds on 2nd down when Zellars tripped Everett while trying to make a block, but a 14 yd Smith catch brought up 4th & 1 at the Chicago 40. Mora elected to go for it, and Lusk's post-catch tackle-breaking was good for a 12 yd pickup. One play later Everett hit Lee DeRamus for a 28 yd score (the WR's first NFL TD). The Bears managed only one 1st before punting the ball back to the Saints. On the first play of the possession Zellars broke tackles en route to a 20 yd gain, but the team's second 4th & 1 attempt (from the Chicago 36) failed when the Bears had an Everett rollout well-covered. Chicago took over in hurry-up mode with exactly two minutes left before halftime. Carter broke from the backfield for a 23 yd gain on the drive's first play. A 9 yd Timpson catch and a 3 yd Carter run gave the Bears a 1st at the NO 29 with 1:07 before the half. Two plays later, Engram beat Alex Molden to take a reception to the 1. On the next play, Spears caught a TD throw on a tackle-eligible pass. An 11 yd Ricky Whittle run and a super catch by Smith let Everett try a Hail Mary from the NO 46 on the final play of the half, but the ball was intercepted a couple of yards short of the goal. Hughes returned the second-half kickoff to the NO 45, then Zellars ripped off runs of 10 & 13 yds. Disaster nearly struck when Jim Dombrowski's stepping on Everett's foot caused a fumble, but William Roaf fell on the ball. Zellars ground out another 10 yd gain, but the drive stalled when a 3rd & 4 blitz forced an incompletion. Doug Brien's 34 yd FG cut the deficit to seven. A clip on the ensuing kickoff forced the Bears to start from the 9. They picked up one 1st but not another, and the Saints soon took over at their own 32. On the first play of the drive, Zellars took a handoff and fought off Chicago tacklers all the way to the 5 yardline. Shortly after the run was finished, Zellars once again found Mora in his face (how did the coach get down there so fast?), but this time the coach was giving him atta-boys and not chewing him out. Everett found Haynes in the endzone on the next play to knot the score at 17. The mood in the 'Dome quickly soured, however. A Timpson catch and a Hicks run gave the Bears a 1st at their 47, and on the third play of the possession Conway flew past McMillan for a 53 yd TD. Hughes set up the O with good field position with another kickoff return to the NO 45. Haynes was stripped of the ball after making a short catch, but the Saints got lucky when the Bears failed to grab it in the field of play. A pair of Lorenzo Neal runs, a Zellars run, and an illegal contact penalty gave the O a 1st at the Chicago 25, but on the next play Zellars was stripped, and this time the Bears recovered. The D got the ball back for the offense in fine fashion- Hicks gained only 1, the Bears were flagged for a false start, Eric Allen made a nice defense of a pass, and Richard Harvey sacked Krieg. The Saints regained possession at their 35 with 1:17 left in the third quarter. Haynes made a diving catch of a great Everett throw for a 17 yd pickup, then a pair of Zellars runs put the ball at the Bear 32. Small bobbled a ball that would've been good for a 15 yd pickup, but the WR caught a 14 yd throw on 3rd & 10 a play later. A defensive offside penalty changed a 3rd & 10 into a 3rd & 5, then Everett hit Haynes for 8 to make it 1st & goal at the 6. On 3rd down from the 3, Zellars got just enough yardage to reach the endzone. The PAT tied it at 24 with a little more than 10 minutes to go. Joe Johnson stayed home to make a good open-field tackle and stuff a Conway end-around for no gain, but on 3rd & 7 Timpson caught a 10 yd throw. After a pair of Hicks runs set up 3rd and less-than-a-yard, a play action throw to Wetnight fooled the D and gained 38. The drive stalled, though, and Jaeger's 32 yd attempt hooked wide (it appeared to sail over the left upright). Everett started the final Saint drive by handing to Zellars three times in a row for gains of 8, 7, and 21. On 3rd & 13, Jeffires caught a ball for 9 to bring up 4th down at the Bear 36. Mora hesitated a moment before showing confidence in Brien and sending him on to try the FG. A miss would've given Chicago the ball near midfield with just less than 2 minutes remaining, but the kicker came through by providing accuracy and just enough distance. Carter said hello to Anthony Newman when the safety stuffed him for no gain on 3rd & 1, but the FB gained 3 on 4th down to move the sticks. Heavy pressure forced an intentional grounding call on the next play, but the Bears made up the yardage with a Conway catch at the Chicago 40. On the next play, an unblocked Fred Stokes hit Krieg and caused a fumble. Ernest Dixon recovered the ball and iced the game. stats (from my notes, not official) ^^^^^ ....runnin'....../......throwin' & catchin'.... 1- 3 jim Everett 4- 2 mario Bates 2- 12 ricky Whittle 2- 4 20-174-1 ray Zellars 1- 8 4- 17 lorenzo Neal michael Haynes 4- 39-1 torrance Small 6- 62 haywood Jeffires 2- 19 lee deRamus 1- 28-1 Irv smith 4- 47 hendrick Lusk 2- 19 incompletions 8 interceptions 1 31-208-1 22-31-228-2-1 yardage histogram (player marks are as in stats above- B=Bates, etc.) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ NW E BBN Z <--runs ZZBBZ ZW Z Z ZZZZZZN ZZ ZN Z ZZ Z ***************************************************************************** - 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 yards gained 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 <------ ***************************************************************************** W SSHISSHJIL S IH S R W LHJ I Z <--passes comments ^^^^^^^^ * though any enthusiasm should be tempered by Chicago's banged-up state, the Saints (for the first time this season) played a game to be proud of (but *man* those turnovers have to stop) * the D did a pretty good job against the run (Tubbs and especially Fields made some big hits) * Irv Smith had a good first half (he wasn't a frequent target in the second half when Zellars went nuts) * next week's road game vs. the Panthers will be a good indicator of what kind of team we have ******************************************************************************* Frank Serpas III serpas@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu