NEWSLETTER
As as fan, there are some games that will remain engrained in your mind forever.
For me, one such game is the Chicago Bears’ 27-21 come-from-behind victory against the Cleveland Browns — which happened ON THIS DATE in 2001. That makes this game 21 years old. It is old enough to drink, vote, and remember Jim Miller being QB1, Anthony Thomas plowing through defenders, Marty Booker being the top receiver, and Paul Edinger’s cork-screw kicking motion rocking with the Bears.
And if you’re old enough to remember those names, then you’re old enough to appreciate this all over again:
The Bears were down 14 points to the freaking Browns with 32 seconds left in the fourth quarter. And they still won the game. All thanks to the likes of Shane Matthews and James Allen linking up on a Hail Mary, and Mike Brown with a stupendous interception of Tim Couch. Not only that, they covered, too. Good teams win, but great teams cover. The Bears did both, and it helped kick-start a magical 2001 season.
It has been 21 years since that magical 2001 season in which the Bears went 13-3, won the NFC Central Division (it wasn’t the NFC North yet and also featured the Tampa Bay Buccaneers!), and even had a first-round bye. That season ended in the most disastrous ways, with Hugh Douglas’ assault on Jim Miller still sticking in my craw ’til this day. But I didn’t want to go too far down that rabbit hole. Instead, I wanted to re-share one of my favorite moments in Bears history. How about we start making some new ones starting this Sunday against the Dolphins?
