Bears Win In Overtime

CHICAGO (AP) -- Robbie Gould salvaged the win and the Chicago Bears may have salvaged their season. Gould kicked a 39-yard field goal in overtime and the defending<br/>NFC champions gave their flickering

Sunday, November 25th 2007, 9:49 pm

By: News On 6

CHICAGO (AP) -- Robbie Gould salvaged the win and the Chicago Bears may have salvaged their season. Gould kicked a 39-yard field goal in overtime and the defending
NFC champions gave their flickering playoff hopes a boost with a 37-34 victory over the Denver Broncos (5-6) on Sunday.

After scoring two touchdowns in the final 5:17 of regulation, the Bears (5-6) won the coin toss to start overtime. They drovefrom their 24 to the Denver 18, where Rex Grossman took a knee. Gould then came in and delivered the game-winner, 3:41 into OT,
bringing a dramatic game to a finish.

The Bears got two long touchdown returns from Devin Hester in the second half, but still seemed headed toward a loss until Adrian Peterson and Bernard Berrian scored in the closing minutes.

They were trailing 34-20 early in the fourth quarter after an acrobatic 14-yard touchdown catch by Denver's Tony Scheffler, but they weren't finished.

Charles Tillman blocked a punt and Brandon McGowan recovered, giving the Bears the ball on the Broncos' 18. That led to a 4-yard touchdown run by Peterson, who was pushed in by his teammates in a scrum.

With their playoff hopes perhaps hanging by a thread, the Bears tied it with 28 seconds left in regulation on a 3-yard catch by Berrian that figures to show up on highlight reels. Berrian spun away from Champ Bailey and lunged to catch the pass from Rex
Grossman on the right side of the end zone, his right foot dragging as his left knee hit the ground in bounds.

That capped a 65-yard drive that Denver's Dre Bly kept alive with an illegal contact on fourth down at the Chicago 36. Grossman connected with Rashied Davis and Muhsin Muhammad for 21 and 13-yard completions that helped set up the touchdown.