2007 Chicago Bears season
Only weeks after losing Super Bowl XLI, the Bears placed a franchise tag worth nearly 7.2 million dollars on the Pro Bowl-caliber linebacker, keeping him with the team for another year.
[18][19] In order to fill the void, the Bears acquired strong safety Adam Archuleta from the Washington Redskins in exchange for their sixth-round draft pick.
[22][23] The Bears re-signed Ruben Brown, the team's last remaining free agent from the previous season, to a one-year extension for an undisclosed amount of money.
Most notably, the team acquired Chris Leak, who had previously led the Florida Gators to a BCS National Championship title, and Dave Ball, who broke Jerry Rice's Division I-AA record with 58 career touchdowns.
[53] Though the team started conditioning for the upcoming season as early as February, the Bears had scheduled several training camps between the 2007 NFL draft, and the first game of the 2007 preseason.
[62] Running back Josh Allen and Orton got the Bears to the Texans' twenty-nine-yard line, where Robbie Gould kicked the game's winning field goal.
Dave Toub, the Bears' special team coach, blamed the problems on a lack of experience and poor tackling, which have since been properly addressed.
[69] The Bears' special team's unit, who lost Hester to an injury in the first quarter, was plagued with fumbles, missed-snaps, inaccurate field goals.
However, Grossman drove the team into field goal position, only to throw an interception (the result of a miscue between him and Bernard Berrian) deep within Chargers' territory.
[77] The Bears' defense held the Chiefs to only three more points, after forcing pivotal turnovers in two red zone situations and also a blocked field goal attempt.
Pro Bowlers Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs, and Tommie Harris each recorded sacks, and forced Larry Johnson and Huard to leave the game with injuries.
The game was close early as the Bears' Robbie Gould and the Cowboys' Nick Folk each hit field goals to make it a 3–3 tie at halftime.
The Cowboys struck again before the end of the third quarter, Romo connecting on his second touchdown pass, this time to running back Marion Barber.
Folk converted a 44-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter, and on the next play from scrimmage, Bears quarterback Rex Grossman threw an interception to Cowboys cornerback Anthony Henry, who ran it back for the score.
With the lead in hand, the Cowboys proceeded to kill the clock, which they did effectively with Barber, who capped the scoring with a one-yard touchdown run.
Now trailing by three points, Gould attempted by an onside kick, but it was recovered and returned by Casey FitzSimmons, sealing the Bears' loss.
With two minutes left on the game clock, the Bears offense seemingly moved the ball in hopes of setting up a Gould field goal.
On their ensuing possession, Donovan McNabb guided the Eagles down the field and fired a touchdown pass to tight end Matt Schobel, putting Philadelphia back on top 16–12 with less than five minutes to play.
Chicago got the ball back with less than two minutes left and Brian Griese, with his headset broken, commanded his own drive, marching his team down the field, completing the winning touchdown pass to Muhsin Muhammad with nine seconds remaining.
After a scoreless first quarter, Chicago trailed as Lions kicker Jason Hanson got a 26-yard field goal, while RB Kevin Jones got a 4-yard TD run.
In the third quarter, the Bears got on the board with QB Brian Griese completing a 20-yard TD pass to rookie TE Greg Olsen for the only score of the period.
In the first quarter, Chicago took the early lead with RB Cedric Benson getting a 43-yard TD run, while kicker Robbie Gould made a 31-yard field goal.
at Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois Hoping to rebound from their road loss to the Seahawks, the Bears went home for a Week 12 interconference duel with the Denver Broncos.
Denver responded with FB Cecil Sapp getting a 5-yard TD run, but afterwards, Hester went right back to work for Chicago as he returned the following kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown.
at Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois Coming off their overtime win over the Broncos, the Bears stayed at home for a Week 13 intraconference duel with the New York Giants.
In the first quarter, Chicago struck first with QB Rex Grossman completing a 1-yard TD pass to TE Desmond Clark for the only score of the period.
However, in the fourth quarter, New York took the lead with QB Eli Manning completing a 6-yard TD pass to WR Amani Toomer, along with RB Reuben Droughns.
Afterwards, Chicago would get on the board with kicker Robbie Gould getting a 30-yard field goal, while QB Brian Griese completed a 17-yard TD pass to WR Bernard Berrian.
In the third quarter, Minnesota started to creep closer as RB Adrian Peterson got a 1-yard TD run (with a failed PAT) for the only score of the period.
In the end, it was a fairly comfortable win for the Bears, who ran out 35–7 victors which meant that they completed the double over their arch rivals having previously beating them at Lambeau Field in Week 5 27–20.
