NEWSLETTER
Justin Fields is out, Allen Robinson II is doubtful, the defense is ravaged by injuries, and the Bears play host to the Arizona Cardinals at Soldier Field in less than 24 hours. If you can, you might want to avoid Twitter tomorrow because this game could get ugly quickly.
Before we take in what has the makings of a significant beat-down tomorrow afternoon, let’s reminisce about the good times, when the Bears were … who we thought they were, which was a good football team. A commenter on last week’s Bears Rewind joked that the rewinds were the only source of Bears victories that we have to look forward to these days, and unfortunately, he’s not wrong. This will likely be your exclusive option if you want to see a Bears win over the Cardinals.
On a mid-October night in 2006, the Bears traveled to the desert to take on the Cardinals on Monday Night Football, and the Cardinals jumped out to a hefty lead over the Bears to open that contest up.
In the first quarter, Matt Leinart threw a pair of touchdowns to Bryant Johnson and Anquan Boldin to give the Cardinals a 14-0 lead after one frame. Neil Rackers hit a pair of field goals in the second quarter to make it 20-0 Arizona at the half, and the undefeated Bears looked like they were on a collision course with their first loss of the season at the hands of the 1-4 Cardinals.
Lovie Smith delivered a halftime speech on that night like he knew what was about to happen in the desert.
https://twitter.com/CaughtByBrevin/status/1355278905431748609?s=20
That’s when one of the most exciting comebacks in Bears (and NFL) history began with a Robbie Gould field goal midway through the third quarter.
After a Neil Rackers field goal made it 23-3 Arizona, Mike Brown recovered a Matt Leinart fumble inside the Arizona five-yard line the ended up in the Cardinals end zone, making it a 23-10 game with just seconds remaining in the third quarter.
Peanut Tillman took an Edgerrin James fumble 40 yards to the house to make it a 23-17 Arizona with five minutes to play. The Cardinals made a fatal mistake in punting the ball to Devin Hester on the following possession. Hester jetted 83 yards after fielding Scott Player’s punt for the game-tying touchdown, and Robbie Gould capped the comeback with the extra point that put the Bears ahead 24-23 with under three minutes to play.
In honor of Da Bears 24-23 victory over Cardinals yesterday. Throwback to 2006 Bears win vs Cardinals. #ChicagoBestSportsMoments #Bears pic.twitter.com/vondm2tyfy
— Chicago Sports (@ChicagoSports1) August 20, 2017
Of course, no mention of this game would be complete without Dennis Green’s epic post-game meltdown.
🗓 October 16, 2006: 14 years ago today…
Cardinals blow a 20-point lead vs the Bears on MNF.
Dennis Green: “They are who we thought they were!”pic.twitter.com/oSjGNUXce4
— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) October 16, 2020
You can watch the game in its entirety here!
