Bears lose perfect season to the Dolphins...again

Nov 5, 2006, 21:45 GMT

Chicago, IL - Jason Taylor had one sack, forced a fumble, intercepted a pass and scored a touchdown as Miami capitalized on six Chicago turnovers to best the Bears, 31-13, at Soldier Field.

Chicago lost its chance for NFL immortality as it will not go into the record books with an undefeated season. The 1972 Dolphins can breathe a little easier as Indianapolis is the only undefeated team left in the NFL. The Colts remained so by besting New England Sunday night.

The game had strong similarities to December 2, 1985, when the Bears were 12-0 before losing 38-24 to the Dolphins. That was the only game they lost that season before winning Super Bowl XX against New England.

'We came out string and made some plays,' said Taylor. 'The guys believed all week. I think that all of the trash talk from the media this week worked as a pretty serious motivator for us to come together and work towards a win.'

Ronnie Brown had an outstanding day on the ground, running for a career-high 157 yards on 29 carries and Joey Harrington completed 16-of-32 passes for 137 yards with three touchdowns and a pair of interceptions for the Dolphins (2-6), who scored 28 points off turnovers.

Chris Chambers made five catches for 58 yards and a touchdown for Miami, which leads the all-time series 7-3.

'This was a great won for our players,' said Miami head coach Nick Saban. 'Certainly it has been a long time...For our team to come up here on the road and play in a tough place to play and play as well as we did today says a lot about the character and the competitive spirit of this team. A lot of it was about trying to earn some respect in terms of how we can play a 60 minute game, and do a good job and do the things you need to do to play winning football.'

Rex Grossman had an abysmal day, throwing three interceptions and fumbling once, while going 18-of-42 for 210 yards and a touchdown for the Bears (7-1), who have turned the ball over 13 times in their last three games. He finished the game with a 36.8 passer rating.

'We didn't take advantage of some opportunities, didn't play really well,' said Grossman. 'The Dolphins played extremely well so it's a combination of them playing really well and us not playing to our capability. In this league everyone is good so if you make mistakes like that bad things are going to happen.'

Thomas Jones had 20 touches for 69 yards and caught four balls for 24 yards while Justin Gage caught two balls for 51 yards with a fumble for the Bears, who had won 10 straight regular season games. Muhsin Muhammad gained 42 yards on a pair of catches and a TD for Chicago, which hadn't lost a home game since the setback to Cincinnati in Week 3 of the 2005 season.

'No, we weren't doing that,' said Jones referring to the Bears maybe looking ahead to next week's game against the 6-2 New York Giants. 'They just played better than us. We weren't looking past the Dolphins by any means...We respect every team in the NFL. It doesn't matter who you are...We didn't look past them, they just came in and played better a real good game.'

'This is isn't exactly the way we planned today's outing,' said Chicago coach Lovie Smith. 'They played a lot better than we did today. Any time you have that many turnovers, it's hard to win the football game. I think they got 28 points off of their turnovers. So, that in itself, it's tough to overcome that.'

Bears wide receiver Bernard Berrian left the game on their first possession with a rib injury and did not return, removing a deep threat from the Chicago offense.

The Bears drew first blood with four seconds remaining in the opening frame, as Chicago went on a 14-play, 68-yard drive, including three defensive penalties, resulting in a 38-yard field goal from Robbie Gould for a 3-0 margin.

The Dolphins surged ahead in the second quarter when Devin Hester fumbled Donnie Jones' punt, which was recovered by Eddie Jackson at the Chicago 6. Three plays later Harrington connected with Marty Booker on a five-yard touchdown pass for a 7-3 lead.

On the Bears' next offensive play Taylor picked off Grossman at the Chicago 20 and the defensive end ran it back for a scoring scamper and a 14-3 score with 10:32 to play in the second.

On the ensuing kickoff Adrian Peterson coughed up the ball but Brendon Ayanbadejo was there to regain possession at their own eight. Chicago was gaining yards on the ground before Grossman was hit by Taylor, knocking the ball out of the quarterback's hand. Kevin Carter picked up the fumble as the Bears turned the ball over three times in the three straight possessions.

The Bears avoided falling behind by three scores when Alex Brown made a spectacular jumping interception on the Chicago 10 with just under five minutes left in the half.

Chicago then covered 86 yards in six plays, culminating in a 30-yard TD pass to Muhammad just before the two-minute warning, narrowing the gap to 14-10.

Olindo Mare had a chance to extend the Miami lead before the end of the half but his 37-yard attempt was blocked by Charles Tillman.

With momentum seemingly on their side, the Bears committed their fourth turnover as Gage fumbled the ball after a reception. Andre' Goodman picked it up at the Chicago 45 and returned it 33 yards to the 12. Three plays later Wes Welker made it into the end zone with a six-yard scoring catch for a 21-10 advantage.

After Nathan Vasher's pick of Harrington at the Dolphins 24, Chicago couldn't get into the end zone, but settled for a 38-yarder from Gould, cutting the deficit to 21-13, with 1:02 left in the third.

The Bears continued to struggle holding onto the ball all game as Grossman threw his third interception of the day. Renaldo Hill made the pick at the Chicago 36 and ran it back 12 yards to the 24. On the next play Harrington unleashed a wobbly pass that Chambers grabbed away from Tillman for a 28-13 score with 10 minutes to play.

Mare's 20-yard field goal with just over a minute to play accounted for the final score.

Game Notes

The Bears were behind after the first quarter at home for the first time this season.

Miami linebacker Zach Thomas made the 155th start of his career, tying Tim Bowens for the most by a defensive player in franchise history.

Taylor (100 1/2) is the third active player with at least 100 sacks, joining Michael Strahan (132 1/2) of the New York Giants and Tampa Bay's Simeon Rice (120).

The Dolphins were penalized 11 times for 69 yards.

Miami defensive back Jason Allen intercepted a Grossman pass in the third quarter.

Harrington is 5-3 against the Bears in his career.

Chicago linebacker Brian Urlacher went to the locker room before the end of the game with a foot injury.

© 2006 The Sports Network