Bearly respected
PHILADELPHIA — Feeling disrespected and overlooked, the Chicago Bears made the Philadelphia Eagles look like a non-contender.
Jay Cutler threw a go-ahead 5-yard TD pass to Earl Bennett, Matt Forte ran for 133 yards and the Bears rallied to beat the Eagles 30-24 on Monday night.
“The Chicago Bears should not be 8-point underdogs in a game like this on the road. And our guys played like they felt that way,” Bears coach Lovie Smith said. “We feel like we have a pretty good team that is not getting a lot of respect.”
It was a crushing loss for Michael Vick and the Eagles (3-5), who blew a fourth-quarter lead for the fourth time this season. Jeremy Maclin fell down and was tackled at the Chicago 30 after a 9-yard catch on fourth-and-10 with just under two minutes left, and the Bears ran out the clock.
The defending NFC East champions trail the New York Giants (6-2) by three games in a season that began with Super Bowl aspirations.
“You can’t let opportunities like this slip away,” Vick said. “Whatever happened tonight that can be corrected has to be corrected.”
Chicago (5-3) won its third straight game, but remains third in the NFC North behind Green Bay (8-0) and Detroit (6-2).
“We knew it was going to be a fourth-quarter game. And the defense kept us in it, and gave us a chance,” Cutler said.
After LeSean McCoy’s 33-yard touchdown run following Forte’s second fumble gave the Eagles a 24-17 lead in the third quarter, the Bears answered with 13 straight points.
Robbie Gould kicked a 38-yard field goal to cut it to 24-20, and then Chicago’s defense forced a punt after three plays.
The Bears drove 51 yards for the go-ahead score, with Cutler tossing a 5-yard TD pass to Bennett over Asante Samuel for a 27-24 lead.
“All you ever hear is DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin and all of the plays that they can make,” Bennett said of Philadelphia’s standout receivers. “So, we just wanted to go out there, make some plays, and prove the critics wrong.”
