The Bears didn’t win, but sparring partners can’t be choosy. At least they insisted on a few moments of peace and quiet.
When did it really feel eerie Monday night at Lambeau Field? When could you hear the guy in the flannel shirt burp from the top row? It was a guy, wasn’t it?
Early in the second quarter, about the time Todd Sauerbrun wound up from behind his earring and pulled that trick play, a two-point conversion off a botched kick formation with Jim Flanigan catching the pass for the 8-3 lead.
Amazing. The stage props were stealing the show. It didn’t last, of course, and a better team might have spilled the Green Bay Packers in a somewhat erratic return home after their victory in New Orleans last winter.
The Packers will improve. The Bears offer no guarantees, only hope along with confirmation that they didn’t pick up where they left off last year, surrendering in Tampa Bay.
The Bears can only wish that their first half, which was unexpected on both sides of the Illinois-Wisconsin border, won’t be remembered as their best of the season. They surely know how to pour warm beer over a party, anyway.
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Lambeau Field wasn’t loud. It was throbbing before the game. The Packers made great use of their sound system, and the video snippets also contributed to the mood.
See the highlight from Super Bowl XXXI over there. Listen to Michael Buffer, the famous fight voice, rev the crowd from his perch at midfield. Or, if you’re the Bears, waiting to be ignored, hold your ears and cover your eyes.
By NFL decree, the visiting team was required to arrive in town the night before the night game, meaning the Bears took a 27-minute flight Sunday so they could spend a week in Green Bay on Monday.
Maybe they would be bored enough to be angry. It’s a theory, anyway, and after that early jolt, the Bears weren’t bad. Erik Kramer was sacked on the season’s first play, and only three huddles later, the Bears punted, on schedule.
Then, as you knew they would, the Packers drove. But only for a field goal on a drive of merely 19 yards. So it wasn’t over before the first half was over.
The Bears, who were supposed to put much of America to sleep on the season’s debut of Monday Night Football, were quite awake. They talked about not being afraid of going to Lambeau Field. Now they looked as though they were not afraid of going to Lambeau Field and springing an outrageous upset.
Compete with the defending champions? How about beating them? After the Bears seized that 8-3 lead, Brett Favre tossed a wayward ball directly toward Barry Minter, a Chicago defender. If he catches it, nobody catches him.
But he dropped it, and then it was Kramer’s turn. Deep in his own territory–even after Raymont Harris followed Todd Burger’s block to escape a real problem–the Bears’ quarterback put the ball on a platter for Doug Evans. In a flash, the Packers were up 11-8.
Lesser teams (like last year’s Bears) might have called it a night right there, but Marty Carter’s interception tabled the notion. Soon it was 11-11, and that’s how it should have stayed through two quarters.
That guy Favre, however, embarked on a 2-minute drill so brilliant that it consumed just over a minute. The Packers, who looked so baffled by the Chicago defense for much of the half, didn’t seem at all confused on this touchdown.
Or perhaps Favre was just happy to touch the ball. The Bears hogged it for almost 21 minutes in the first half, and here’s more. Total offensive plays, first half: Chicago 41, Green Bay 22.
Now, the Bears wait until Sunday at Soldier Field to try a complete game.