Week 8 team of the week: Chicago Bears

  Fourth quarter comebacks and overtime wins aren’t exactly how a head coach would prefer to win a game. They are however what fans hope to see when they pay the price of admission and while they might be rare, they are the highest form of entertainment. The Colts for example beat the Titans in overtime with an Andrew Luck pass to Vick Ballard, who then scored outstretched…in mid-air…facing backwards. But while Luck will no doubt get the plaudits for engineering his side’s victory, what people tend to forget in the era of the quarterback is that…kickers are people too. On Sunday, against the packed suggestion box of Cam Newton, the Chicago Bears needed a Robbie Gould field goal to win the game, keep their five game winning streak alive, and stay atop the NFC North. So far this season the Bears have been inconsistent, enjoying routs of the Colts, Cowboys, Rams and Jaguars while slumping to an unimpressive victory over the Lions and a loss to Green Bay. On Sunday however the Carolina Panthers presented a different challenge for Chicago. Facing a 12 point deficit going into the fourth quarter, the Bears stepped up and clawed back the lead before the Panthers reclaimed it with just over two minutes remaining. Robbie Gould slotted over the game winning field goal with 4 seconds left. Despite a Matt Forte touchdown in the first quarter, the Bears found themselves in a big hole looking up as Newton (with the help of Louis Murphy who recovered Newton’s fumble in the endzone) and Carolina kicker Justin Medlock scored 19 unanswered points over 3 quarters. But a Jay Cutler touchdown pass and a Tim Jennings pick six gave the Bears life until it was up to Gould to seal the win. With a 6-1 record (tied for second best in the league), the Bears are quietly having themselves an extremely good season. If Cutler and co. can keep the streak going and return to their high scoring ways, this team will be tough to argue against, let alone beat, come January. var switchTo5x=true; stLight.options({publisher:''});