Windy City Gridiron
Picture this: An autumn wind cuts through Chicago, whistling past your ears, sending a slight chill down your back. The hairs on your arms stand at attention. The smell of grilled brats fills the parking lots, wafting into the stands, and an ice cold beer in your hand. Soldier Field hums like a live wire, ready to explode with the lyrics of “Bears Down, Chicago Bears”, as another chapter of Bears history teeters on the edge of being written. Week 7 has been home to some of the franchise’s most dramatic storylines, the kind fans still talk about decades later.
Climb aboard the Gridiron Time Machine, a weekly feature where we take a trip back into Bears history as we revisit five unforgettable Week 7 flashbacks.
The 4-1 Chicago Bears traveled to sunny Tampa Bay to take on the 3-2 Tampa Bay Buccaneers in week 7 of the 1987 season. The 10 point underdog Buccaneers sprinted out to an early 20-0 lead with 2 early Steve DeBerg touchdown throws, and a strip sack that was recovered in the endzone for a touchdown, the latter of which had it’s extra point blocked, an important single point that would prove to be the different in the game.
Jim McMahon came on in relief of Mike Tomczak after halftime, completing 17 of 24 passes for 195 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception and a 91.5 Passer Rating. He also scored on a 1 yard dive over the line of scrimmage.
Richard Dent would squash any hopes of last drive heroics, as he would sack Steve DeBerg on 4th down, sealing the win for the Bears.
The 20 point deficit is the largest deficit the Bears have ever overcome to win a game. They would later tie that mark in 2006, to, well, you know who.
In Week 7 of the 2008 NFL season, the 3-3 Chicago Bears found themselves scrambling in the secondary. Charles Tillman, Nathan Vasher, and Danieal Manning were all sidelined as the division-rival Minnesota Vikings rolled into Soldier Field with the same 3-3 record. Desperate for reinforcements, the Bears called up Zackary Bowman from the practice squad, and he made the most of his lone start that year.
In a wild 48-41 shootout, Bowman became an unlikely hero. He pounced on a punt that hit the return man and bounced in the end zone for a touchdown, then later sealed the game by intercepting Gus Frerotte on the Vikings’ final drive, the last of four Bears picks that afternoon, and by far the most important.
Bowman went on to record six interceptions the following season and finished his Bears tenure with ten total, cementing his brief but memorable mark in Chicago’s secondary.
