La temporada 2005 fue la 86.ª temporada de los Chicago Bears en la Liga Nacional de Fútbol , y la segunda bajo la dirección del entrenador en jefe Lovie Smith . El equipo mejoró a un récord de 11-5 desde un récord de 5-11 en 2004, lo que les valió su primer lugar en los playoffs y el título de la NFC Norte desde 2001 y el segundo puesto en la NFC para los playoffs .
La temporada comenzó con el equipo tratando de recuperarse de una temporada de 5-11 con el ahora entrenador Lovie Smith . Smith, en su primer año con los Bears, había estado ansioso por llevar a su joven equipo a un Super Bowl , pero una lesión de pretemporada del mariscal de campo titular Rex Grossman significó un desastre para los Bears. [1]
Los Bears de 2005 comenzaron la temporada lentamente, ganando sólo uno de sus primeros cuatro juegos. A pesar de su pobre juego aéreo , los Bears lograron ganar ocho juegos consecutivos, gracias a la perseverancia en la defensa y un sólido juego terrestre. Los Bears finalmente consiguieron un lugar en los playoffs el día de Navidad contra los Green Bay Packers . Sin embargo, en su primer partido de playoffs en cuatro años, los Carolina Panthers derrotaron a los Bears, 29-21.
Esta temporada se destaca porque el apoyador de los Bears, Brian Urlacher, ganó el premio al Jugador Defensivo del Año . Fue el primer Bear en ganar el premio desde 1988 , cuando lo ganó Mike Singletary .
Las esperanzadas expectativas fueron aplastadas cuando el tobillo del mariscal de campo Rex Grossman se rompió en el segundo juego de pretemporada contra los St. Louis Rams . [1] El mariscal de campo suplente Chad Hutchinson fue enviado a la banca y cortado después de luchar mucho en los siguientes dos juegos de pretemporada contra los Indianapolis Colts y Buffalo Bills . Luego, los Bears recurrieron al novato Kyle Orton para liderar su ofensiva.
El corredor novato Cedric Benson se mantuvo fuera del campo de entrenamiento por una disputa contractual hasta justo antes del último partido de pretemporada. Su ausencia en el campamento significó que Thomas Jones sería el corredor titular de cara a la temporada regular.
A pesar de todos estos contratiempos, los Bears todavía tenían esperanzas porque el apoyador medio franquicia Brian Urlacher había pasado la pretemporada con buena salud, a diferencia del año anterior cuando luchó contra lesiones durante toda la temporada, comenzando con un tirón en el tendón de la corva el primer día del campo de entrenamiento.
at FedExField
This was Chicago's only loss at home during the season.
Before the game, Bears great Walter Payton, who died in 1999, was honored by teammate Dan Hampton, who played together in the Bears' 1985 season.[2]
at Ford Field
Bears rookie Mark Bradley was placed on injured reserve this game, and was replaced by Justin Gage.[3] Bradley had recorded 18 receptions for 230 yards at the time of his injury.
Due to damage from Hurricane Katrina to the Louisiana Superdome, the Saints were forced to host the game at LSU's Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge.[4] The Saints scored first on a John Carney field goal, but the Bears struck back with a Kyle Orton to Justin Gage touchdown pass. After the Saints scored on an Aaron Brooks touchdown pass to Donté Stallworth, Robbie Gould tied the game on a 35-yard field goal. In the second half, Adrian Peterson gave the Bears the lead on a 6-yard run, which was countered with Brooks scoring on a 1-yard touchdown run in the fourth. Orton eventually threw a 22-yard pass to Muhsin Muhammad to set up a game-winning field goal from Gould with six seconds left in the game. Gould eventually scored on a 28-yard field goal to give the Bears a 20–17 lead. The Saints' last chance to march 65 yards to win was crushed when Brooks' pass to Az-Zahir Hakim was intercepted by Nathan Vasher. The win was the Bears' fourth-straight, which hasn't been accomplished by the team since their 2001 season.[5] In the first quarter, Bears running back Thomas Jones went out with an injury, but his backups Adrian Peterson and Cedric Benson combined for 137 yards and a touchdown.[3]
at Heinz Field
The win marked the first time since 1991 that the Bears swept the Green Bay Packers.[6]
at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
The Bears hosted their first playoff game since the 2001 season against the red hot Panthers, fresh off a victory over Eli Manning and the New York Giants.
Things were bad from the beginning for the Bears, who allowed a 58-yard Jake Delhomme TD pass to Steve Smith just 55 seconds into the game. Cornerback Charles Tillman slipped on the play, and it only signified things to come the rest of the game for the vaunted Bears defense.
The Panthers added two field goals to their total before the Bears got their first points.
The Bears offense got off to a slow start, having their first 5 possessions end in punts. Their first score came midway through the second quarter, when running back Adrian Peterson scored a touchdown on a 1-yard run. The Bears had opted to go for it on 4th down to get the score, cutting the Carolina lead to 13–7. Before the half expired, the Panthers' John Kasay kicked a 37-yard field goal with 5 seconds left in the half, extending the lead to 16–7.
The Bears offense came out at halftime firing on all cylinders, mounting an 8-play, 68-yard drive to close to within 2 points of the Panther lead. It was a balanced drive that led to the score, with the Bears running and passing 5 times each, with Rex Grossman capping the drive with a 1-yard TD pass to Desmond Clark.
The spark provided by the offense was short-lived, as midway through the 3rd quarter, Delhomme went deep to Steve Smith again, this time for a 39-yard touchdown that put the Panthers up 23–14. Chris Thompson, a reserve defensive back for the Bears, fell down on the play to let Smith slip past him.
The Bears managed to score one more time on a drive that started with 2:07 remaining in the 3rd quarter. Grossman completed 3 of 4 passes on the drive, and running back Thomas Jones almost scored on a 7-yard run. After a replay challenge by Carolina, however, the officials reversed the call to say that Jones had fumbled into the endzone, which would have resulted in a Carolina touchback. However, a major facemask penalty on Carolina defensive back Marlon McCree gave Chicago a first down at the Carolina 3. From there, fullback Jason McKie rumbled in for a touchdown, making the score 23–21 to the Panthers.
The Panthers extended their lead once more with a 1-yard Delhomme pass to tight end Kris Mangum. Kasay missed the extra point try though, making the Panthers' lead 29–21.
When the Bears offense started moving the ball once more, disaster struck for the Bears, as on a 3rd-and-10 play from the Carolina 37-yard line, Grossman threw an ill-advised interception to Ken Lucas.
