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Pastimes : Chicago Bears Fan Club -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tech Master who wrote (241)	9/11/2000 4:48:34 PM
From: Tech Master	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 7499

DOMINANT BUCS TOO MUCH FOR BEARS September 10, 2000 So much for believing that the Bears had closed the expansive gap in the NFC Central. Sunday's 41-0 massacre in muggy Tampa clearly defined the line between hype and reality and proved Chicago isn't even close to competing on a level playing field with the division champions. The Buccaneers defense dominated the first half and the Tampa offense dominated the second half as the Bears suffered their worst defeat since a 41-0 rout at San Francisco on Dec. 14, 1987. The shutout was Chicago's first since the 1989 season finale, snapping the second longest streak in the NFL. The Bears have now lost six straight to the Buccaneers. "Tampa Bay is a very good football team," says Bears center Olin Kreutz. "But if we want to be where we need to be, we can't lose like that. We were never in this game. That was embarrassing." Tampa Bay (2-0) converted four Chicago (0-2) turnovers into 17 points to build a 20-0 halftime lead, then turned the game into a laugher with two touchdowns in :54 midway through the third quarter. The Bears never penetrated further than the Buccaneers' 24-yard line while extending their streak without a touchdown against Tampa Bay to 14 quarters. Last season the Bears managed just three field goals in 6-3 and 20-6 losses to the Buccaneers. Chicago's best chance to score went awry when Paul Edinger pushed a 42-yard field goal attempt wide right with 6:26 left in the game. "We had a lot of things go wrong," says Bears quarterback Cade McNown. "What can you say? It's a tough one to swallow." The Bears' defense played well early, limiting the Buccaneers to 95 total yards in the first half. Tampa Bay's Martin Gramatica kicked field goals of 23 and 47 yards to cap drives of just 25 and 29 yards, respectively. Quarterback Shaun King's 3-yard TD run came after cornerback Donnie Abraham had returned a McNown interception 18 yards to the Chicago 4, and the Bucs scored again when cornerback Ronde Barber returned rookie receiver Dez White’s fumble 24 yards for a TD. After passing for 290 yards and 2 TDs with no interceptions in a season-opening loss at Minnesota a week earlier, McNown completed 15 of 29 for just 96 yards with two interceptions against the Buccaneers. He was sacked five times for 47 yards in losses. "They game-planned us real well," McNown says. "They were at the right spot at the right time on a lot of plays. It is tough to face a team like that if you are unsure at all. They are 100 percent sure of what they are doing. It's a feast or famine defense and they ate a lot today." Gramatica's first field goal came after McNown's screen pass intended for Marcus Robinson was deflected by defensive tackle Warren Sapp and picked off by Abraham. After Gramatica made it 6-0, Abraham registered his second interception when he alertly caught a well-thrown pass that had deflected off the hands of running back James Allen. King's TD, the fourth scoring run by a quarterback against the Bears in two games, gave Tampa Bay a 13-0 lead with 1:54 left in the half. Two plays later, White caught a 6-yard pass but fumbled while being twisted to the ground by Abraham, and Barber scooped up the loose ball and dashed untouched into the end zone to make it 20-0. "It was obvious the game got away from us in the last three minutes of the first half," says Bears coach Dick Jauron. "Nothing went right and that's our fault. Bad things did happen and it wasn't a pretty game. It's definitely disappointing, but I am not discouraged because I believe in these guys." In the third quarter, King threw TD passes of 13 yards to Keyshawn Johnson and 58 yards to Jacquez Green as the margin ballooned to 34-0. Joliet native Mike Alstott bounced off five tacklers on a 20-yard TD run that mercifully ended the scoring with 10:16 remaining in the game. The Bears return to Soldier Field next Sunday for their home opener against the New York Giants (2-0) desperate for a victory. Of the 16 previous times the Bears have started a season 0-2, they've rebounded to have a winning campaign on five occasions but have never made the playoffs. "I know the sick feeling that comes after a loss and losing a game like this that was so one-sided is very disappointing," Jauron says. "But the only consolation is this is just one loss and the season is a marathon, not a sprint. We will have to see where we are going. We have a lot of young players and if we are going to be a good team, they are going to have to step up and play." chicagobears.com