Perfect Bears far from perfect
Despite six turnovers, Hester's return caps stunning comeback as record soars to 6-0
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- It was the kind of victory that galvanizes teams en route to championships.
It also was the kind that gets coaches already on thin ice in the unemployment line. The Bears were hooting and hollering so loudly afterward that quarterback Rex Grossman, who committed six turnovers, hardly could talk over the commotion.
In the other locker room, embattled Arizona Cardinals coach Dennis Green was melting down, livid his team blew a 20-point lead with a little more than a quarter to play. In what will go down as one of the wildest affairs ever on ""Monday Night Football,"" the Bears won without a lick of offense.
Mike Brown and Charles Tillman scored on fumble returns, Devin Hester returned a punt 83 yards for a touchdown and Cardinals kicker Neil Rackers -- who made a league-record 40 field goals last season -- hooked a 40-yarder wide left with 54 seconds to play after kicking the ground first. His miss preserved an astonishing 24-23 victory that kept the Bears -- who had only 168 total yards -- unbeaten at 6-0 going into their bye week.
""I've never seen anything like it,"" said Grossman, who was intercepted four times and lost two fumbles in a performance reminiscent of his preseason debacle against the Cardinals at Soldier Field that brought out the boo-birds.
""That was unbelievable. I don't know how to put it into words. I've never played so bad and won a game.""
The Bears trailed 20-0 at halftime, and it should have been worse. Grossman would have been intercepted six times, but cornerbacks Antrel Rolle and Eric Green dropped gimmes.
Rookie quarterback Matt Leinart (24-of-42, 232 yards) threw for two first-half touchdowns, and the Bears looked done. For the last nine seasons, the Bears have been relative strangers to ""MNF,"" kept away by league schedule-makers and network executives for fear they would drive viewers elsewhere.
Some Bears fans no doubt ended up down the dial before this one ended.
But in making only their fifth ""MNF"" appearance in that span, they were regulars compared with the host Cardinals (1-5), who get such national audiences about twice a decade and not since 1999.
The unveiling party for an organization eager to show off its new home -- as well as an actual commitment to being competitive and a real, live fan base -- could not have been more embarrassing.
Throwing from deep in his end with a 23-3 lead, Leinart was blindsided by rookie defensive end Mark Anderson, who came unblocked around left end and forced a fumble that Brown scooped up and took three yards for a touchdown. Still, down 23-10, the Bears couldn't get out of their own way.
They went three-and-out on the next possession, and then Grossman was picked off for the fourth time.
But Brian Urlacher, playing like a man possessed in the fourth quarter, ripped the ball out of Edgerrin James' hands, and Tillman picked it up to go 40 yards for a touchdown that cut the deficit to 23-17.
Unable to run the ball -- James had 55 yards on 36 carries -- the Cardinals had to punt, and Hester struck for his second touchdown of the season.
Fate was on the Bears' side when Rackers missed. Green slammed the podium afterward before storming off. ""If you want to crown them, just crown their ass,"" he yelled. ""We let them off the hook.""
His comments, played on a television in the Bears' locker room, captured the team's attention. The Bears still were digesting how they played so poorly and came out victorious anyway.
""We all believed,"" Urlacher said. ""Even when they were kicking the field goal at the end, we felt like we would block it.""
""I have no idea,"" defensive end Alex Brown said when asked if he'd ever been a part of a special season. ""This is all new for me.
A game like this is unbelievable.""