Chris Boniol was the first Bear off the field. Under the stands, up the ramp he sprinted, ahead of his teammates, in front of whatever demons had bedeviled his right foot for the last month.
By the time the rest of the Bears arrived at the locker room, there was Boniol at the door, beaming like a pilot waiting for approval for getting the plane in safely and on time, which is, of course, the job Boniol is paid to do. Make kicks, not land airplanes.
“All right, Boniol!” Curtis Enis shouted from down the hall. “You get to play with us for another week.”
Boniol took each hand as it was offered, slapping those that wanted it, hugging each mate who would stand for it. And he never stopped smiling.
“I’m happy for me,” Boniol said, “but I’m really happy for the rest of our guys who believe in me and supported me when it would have been easy not to. Whatever was wrong, I pulled out of it today.”
We’ll see about that. Before his game-winner from 36 yards, Boniol had missed one from 33, and all those Bears now warming Boniol couldn’t get far enough away from him.
Offensive coordinator Gary Crowton wrapped both arms around the kicker. “You deserve it, Chris,” Crowton said.
This was deja vu all over again, only different. As last week against Minnesota, the football was about the same place on the field, Boniol already having missed a kick that would have made it all unnecessary. This time Crowton and the Bears had a better plan.
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“We weren’t just going to run the ball three times and kick it,” coach Dick Jauron said.
“I believe in our kicker,” Crowton said. “He is supposed to make it. That’s why he is in the NFL. But last week he missed. This week I wanted to get just a little closer.”
Instead of just having Enis wander around with the ball until it was time for Boniol to botch it, Crowton tried a couple of passes, one nearly a game-ending touchdown to Curtis Conway, and then directed Enis to the hash mark Boniol wanted.
Boniol explained why he wanted it there. It had to do with the wind and how the ball straightened, kicker stuff like that. The essential thing is, it all worked and rescued a game the Bears had almost given back to the functionally ineffective Chargers.
“I’m getting too old for this (stuff),” Big Cat Williams said.
The Bears should not be misled that they beat a team better than they are, for the Chargers may be the worst team the Bears play all year. Jim Harbaugh, still full of courage, plays like an old suit.
This one was ugly, as confessed to by most of the Bears, particularly by defensive coordinator Greg Blache. Unswayed by defensive tackle Shane Burton’s blocked field goal and pass interception, Blache still practically called his defense dandelion waft for letting the Chargers back in the game. And it probably will not mean much in the long season. The rest of the Central Division stubbornly remains in front of the Bears.
But this was a step forward. A baby step forward. Enough of those and the Bears will be moving ahead whenever the Vikings and Lions and Packers and Bucs decide to go in the other direction.
The Bears won exactly the same game they had lost a week earlier. Fool them once, but not twice. Faith in Boniol was justified. There will be no kicker tryouts at Halas Hall this week. And the Bears have a quarterback not just for Thanksgiving or for next week, but beyond.
Jim Miller is not too old for this.
“Let him lead and we shall follow,” Williams said.
Nearly 800 yards passing in two starts is pretty good leading. Sometimes Miller can throw a ball that looks like someone trying to ditch a beer can with a cop in the rear-view mirror. But sooner or later Miller puts a ball where only Bobby Engram can grab it or where Marcus Robinson can catch it for a touchdown, a first down or whatever is needed.
Miller’s third-down, 31-yard pass to Robinson in overtime assured the ensuing heroics by Boniol.
“It was double coverage,” Miller said. “I shouldn’t have thrown the ball.”
I asked Crowton if the Bears had a play named “Marcus, go up and get that ball.”
“And we’re calling it more and more often,” Crowton said.