This week the Denver Broncos traveled to Chicago to face another 0-3 team, the Chicago Bears. The start to the Bears season has been just as much of a disappointment as the Denver Broncos losing to the Packers at home in their home opener and then to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs last week.
While the Bears loss to the Chiefs wasn’t nearly as bad as the Denver Broncos loss to the Miami Dolphins the previous week they still loss by 31 points to Kansas City.
Heading into Sunday’s game both teams were reeling from embarrassing losses the previous week, hoping to notch their first win of the season. Early on Sunday, it looked as though the Bears might be the better team.
On Sunday, the Denver Broncos defense stepped up early and held the Bears offense to just five plays on their first drive. The Russell Wilson led Denver Broncos moved the ball from their own 16-yard-line to the Chicago 18 before hitting running back Jaleel McLaughlin for an 18 yard touchdown to take the early lead.
The Broncos defense and offense then went on vacation for the remainder of the first quarter through the end of the third. During that time the Chicago Bears racked up 28 points leading the Broncos 28 – 7 with four minutes and 11 seconds left in the quarter. The Broncos offense came alive, moving the ball 75 yards on 7 plays to bring Denver to within 14 points.
In the fourth Denver’s defense stepped up holding the Bears to just their 35-yard-line. On Denver’s ensuing possession, Wilson marched the Broncos down the field on 10 plays for 66 yards that resulted in a 13 yard touchdown pass from Wilson to Courtland Sutton to bring Chicago’s lead down to one touchdown.
The Broncos defense now had a chance to stop the Bears and get the ball back into Russell Wilson’s hands, in hopes of trying to tie up the game, but instead the Broncos defense forced a fumble on Chicago’s quarterback Justin Fields which bounced into the open hands of Jonathon Cooper who waltzed in for the scoop and 35-yard touchdown tying the game.
With 6:55 left, the Bears offense took to the field and attempted to put the Broncos away for good. The Bears moved the ball into Denver territory, right down to Denver’s 18-yard-line before Denver’s defense held the Bears on four downs to turn over the ball on downs. The Broncos moved the ball 48 yards on 5 plays to Chicago’s 33-yard-line where Bronco’s Kicker Wil Lutz kicked a 51-yard field goal for the lead, leaving 1:46 left in regulation.
The Bears moved the ball 22 yards on 6 plays before Chicago quarterback Fields dropped back in shotgun for a deep pass down the middle intended for Bears wide receiver C Kmet which was intercepted by Denver Bronco’s Kareem Jackson who immediately kneeled for the win.
The Broncos will host the New York Jets next Sunday at 2:25 p.m. in Denver.
In other sports the CU Buffs faced their second ranked team in two weeks after their embarrassing loss 42-6 to the Oregon Ducks the previous week. This week the Buffs faced the USC Trojans who are ranked 9th by the Associate Press. The Trojans came out firing in the first quarter scoring two unanswered TD’s. The Buff got onto the board in the second half but trailed the Trojans 34 – 14 heading into the half.
The third quarter was close with the Trojans adding 14 more to Colorado’s 13 and in the fourth the Buffs defense was able to hold USC to zero points while adding 14 themselves. Unfortunately CU still came up short but put on a much better performance against a ranked team compared to the previous week in Oregon.
CU will head to Arizona to face the Arizona State Sun Devils who have only won one game this season over the Southern Utah Thunderbirds. Saturday’s game is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
