1992 NFL Chicago vs Houston, Dec 7

as well as any culture football ever had [Music] mike ditka the fury and the passion this man knows what inspires mike ditka i think it's a burning desire um to succeed burning the guy to be the best as a player he had that fire and i think that's carried over into his coaching style it's a demonstrative coaching style a style that drives and motivates his players mike just has won a super bowl but recent times have seen a strangely stoic sideline demeanor as the bears have lost their last five games in a row but single jerry recognizes that the ditka fire still burns and that he won't keep it all to himself if you can get people to feel the same intensity that you feel the same desire then i think you have something real special the chicago bears face the houston oilers [Music] on abc's monday night football [Music] [Music] for you i bet you're ready for some football the bears and the oilers are coming your way it's monday night football and it's time to play houston texas home of the houston oilers and also the home of the astrodome one of the more noisy venues in the national football league and the dome will be rocking tonight as the houston oilers take on the chicago bears on monday night football hello again everyone i'm frank gifford along with now michael's dan deardorff happy you're with us good one tonight the oilers and the bears an important game for these houston oilers they are seven and five they trail the pittsburgh steelers in the central division of the afc the steelers surprisingly at 10-3 but the oilers almost feel they must win tonight's game to stay atop the wild card picture they'd like to play a game at home in the playoffs first they want to make it but they would like to stay home meanwhile we'll get in that a little later on of course with our guru of the playoff picture al michaels but now first the chicago bears they are four and eight coming in tonight their season is over for one of only two times i think in the history of mike ditka's story coaching career that they've been out of the playoff picture and this 1992 season has really taken on soap opera dimensions frank they are looking ahead they're looking for the future first what about the future of mike ditka there's been rampant speculation will he resign will he get fired will he simply explode and self-destruct he made it clear to us last night in no uncertain terms he intends to be back as the head coach of the bears next year then he said we have to do some weeding and seeding that process has already started p.t willis starts tonight again at quarterback in place of jim harbaugh darren lewis starts at running back in place of neil anderson they'll revamp the offensive line we'll get into that and on the other side of the ball the first thing they have to do is find a replacement for the retiring mike singletary the schedule says this is their 13th game of 1992. but in another way 1993 has already begun for the bears and dan while the bears look to the future clearly the oilers are playing in the here and now yeah they really are out the weeding and seating is over it's time to harvest some crops here in houston and that means playoffs and this is december and if you want to make the playoffs you better plan on winning 10 ball games the oilers have already won seven which means they've got to win three out of their next four well if you look at the remaining three they have green bay they have to go to cleveland then they're back home to play buffalo and all three of those teams have playoff aspirations of their own so if you want to make the playoffs you've got to beat the teams you're supposed to beat and the oilers their fans and everybody in houston expect them to beat the bears tonight normally that means trouble this is only the sixth time since the merger in 1970 that these two teams have faced each other houston has won three of the prior five and it's the third time the bears have played in the astrodome al del greco will kick off and back to receive for the chicago bears dennis gentry number 29 and darren lewis who will start along with brad muster in the backfield as the running back dennis gentry good career average 22.7 per return as del greco puts it in the air it's a pretty short kick it's taken at the 12-yard line by darren lewis and he can bring it back only to the 19 but a flag is thrown at the end of the play scott kozak makes a tackle and we've already got our first scuffle glenn kozlowski the special teams maven of chicago number 88 who had been on injured reserve was activated last week involved and the penalty is against the bear so that's going to push him back half the distance so a flag on the run back the referee tonight is dale hamer and chicago will start from deep in its own territory [Applause] holding number 88 on the return half the distance to the goal first down so for kozlowski he gets into a fight or into a scuffle anyway at the beginning and his flag peter tom willis out of florida state started last week had good stats in the game against cleveland but through a very harmful interception early on and they lost to the browns lewis and muster the running backs davis and morgan of the wideouts jennings the tight end we'll get to the interior alignment in a moment as willis hands the ball to lewis and lewis takes it out to the 14-yard line a gain of five it'll be second and five now up front for the moment auzine starting at left tackle and he is part of their future as well borts fontenot fair and van horn some familiar names but as we mentioned at the top eventually is going to revamp the line and dan will get into that shortly fuller childress almond jones up front we'll also see a lot of lee williams spelling the injured lathan smith in the middle robinson a rookie out of alabama state chris dishman and the former ram jerry gray at the corners bubba mcdowell and marcus robertson are the safety second and five at the 14-yard line and this is louis again and lewis is after the 20-yard line and it should be enough for a first down al smith makes the tackle darren lewis the all-time leading ground gainer in the history of the southwest conference went to texas a m big story already tonight greg landry who's normally on the sideline the offensive coordinator and calls the plays and he stands next to mike ditka is upstairs on the headset to ditka on the sidelines and ditko we presume is calling the plays he is he did that for a lot of years before he turned it over to greg landry but for the past couple of years have been greg landers at the 20-yard line at first and ten with morgan in motion and they give it to lewis again and lewis picks up only a yard and shawn jones who had a brilliant november makes the tackle it's almost like it's something different every week with the chicago bears mike ditka is doing anything he can do to shake this club up it's been mostly in changes in personnel with willis starting instead of harbaugh and lewis instead of anderson and people like mark carrier have been benched but now it's greg landry's turn to go to the penalty box almost and then he goes upstairs and of course mike ditka has a headset on and maybe mike thinks that this is more valuable that greg maybe can see something upstairs and pass it on to mike down below when you're losing and when you've lost five in a row i can hardly blame though ditka and landry for that matter trying to do anything they can do to win no play as sean jones was clearly across the line and the only question is was he induced [Applause] dale hamer with the call momentarily [Applause] upside defense the play was killed because the defender got so far in the backfield five yards still second down [Applause] even if he's three inches across the line to play his kill sean jones coming off a big game against detroit where he had three sacks that carried him up to eight and a half for the season uh he was looking for one right there bears have lost five straight and as you can see on that graphic four of those losses the last four came against teams that had losing records entering the game and that's the first time the bears have lost four games in a row to teams with losing records in the 73-year history of the franchise brad musker takes the toss and takes it back to the 34-yard line for another chicago first down so an impressive beginning on the ground for the bears this is kind of typical of the bears season now they did the same thing to cleveland a week ago they dominated in the early moments took the ball all the way down field with plays just like this running the football muster and neil anderson and then when they got down inside the 20 they self-destructed willis threw it out on the flat it was picked off and returned 92 yards for a touchdown by david brandon and that set the tone for the rest of the game a couple more turnovers in and cleveland beat them yeah but really when you look at the way the bears move the football this is a team they're like number six in the entire national football league offensively you can see the confusion with the bears and willis has to take a time out and that's that's from the sidelines that's personnel there was a confusion there as far as who should be in the game that's not pt willis's fault that's somebody on the sidelines brought to you by oldsmobile the power of intelligent engineering by miller light it's everything you want a beer to be buy the diamond tennis bracelet this christmas give her the gift of love diamonds and by sprint not just another phone company well because of the uh play-calling situation which we have begun to detail the play didn't come in in time it cost chicago a time out on this the opening drive of the game they picked up two first downs they have a first and ten at their own 33 three minutes and 38 seconds into the game and brad musker takes it out to the 36 yard line where he is gang tackled after a pickup of three the deposed starting quarterback temporarily deposed jim harbaugh number four standing there with ditka and they're alternating the tight ends jennings and blackwell as the message instead of signaling the play in they will send in messengers or at least thus far and ditka last night told us that we shouldn't necessarily expect pt willis to go the distance tonight that he expects to give harbaugh some playing time as well so it is a clear-cut case of musical players here in chicago shaking it up any way they can to try to win a ballgame second down and seven from the 36-yard line and the pass is incomplete intended for darren lewis and it will be third down and seven when you question ditka about some of the moves whether it's willis for harbaugh lewis or anderson or whatever he reduces it to we're just trying to do things differently trying to get things stirred up to win translation i don't want to talk about it anymore well an old for november will do that for you and i noticed al on the sidelines you didn't cry you didn't push him you didn't have him by the neck or anything like that we haven't seen that in a while haven't no third down and seven at the 36 yard line and neil anderson is now in the game out of the shotgun anderson goes into the pattern and the pass is caught by anderson for a first down he's covered and tackled by al smith up at the 48 and that's another chicago first down on an impressive opening drive and a good reaction by neil anderson expecting the ball to be towards the sideline it was back to the inside of the field and he had to pivot falling back to the middle making the catch that was one of those plays that just goes into the scorebook as a as a first down reception but he'll have pretty nifty he'll have a lot more if you're trying to cover him with the middle linebacker al smith he's one of the fine receivers out of the backfield in fact good enough that they can use him out of the flank you're exactly right danny he has great concentration and he kept his eye on that ball lewis back in the game and lewis hits behind the line and tackled by william fuller for a loss of one and fuller started the game he was in for two plays but he came to the stadium tonight with the flu came out and now back in he got a bad case of the flu he had 104 degree temperature yesterday and there's a real question mark as to what kind of stamina fuller will have tonight to a lesser degree strong safety bubble mcdowell stricken with the flu but if that's uh if that's the play of a guy who's not well jim eddie the defensive coordinator might want to see fuller come from his bed to the ballpark more often he's going to eddie's going to pace fuller tonight if it's a 10-play drive he probably will come out somewhere in the middle of it and he's been in for only three or four plays and already perspiring very heavily second down and 11 and no gain and now smith tackles brad muster at the line of scrimmage setting up a third and 11. al got his first pro bowl last year and he is the spiritual leader of this houston defensive team and one of the most likable guys in the nfl and probably got that pro bowl recognition a year late but uh when you get that first pro bowl it's a it's a sweet experience and al who's made a couple ankle tackles so far in this game came up with a second one there this is the 10th play of the opening drive the bears have had the ball for six and a half minutes but they haven't crossed midfield his third down and 11. that's anderson in the backfield along with willis everybody into the pattern willis throws to the far side and that's batted down incomplete jerry gray got a hand on it intended for anthony morgan and so the bears control the ball for six minutes and 44 seconds don't even reach the 50 and have to punt willis got all tied up in the traffic he looked out there to anthony morgan all the way made it easy for gary gray the ex pro bowl ram over in the right corner to tighten up on morgan phillips didn't look to any of his other receivers just inexperienced chris gardaki the left-footed punter bounces it at the 22 and it takes a good chicago roll and the oilers will be pinned very deep at fair five [Applause] take over for the first time there's an ugly duckling that became a swan 50 yards one with eight and three to go in the scoreless opening quarter [Music] poking left arm and not expected back and there is moon on the left cody carlson good backup quarterback let him do a win on thanksgiving day against detroit and he begins the game tonight and we'll take a look at the offense in a moment as houston sets up with its own five-yard line first time they've had the ball in the game 803 to go in the quarter and carlson begins by going to the air from the end zone he throws to one of the new oilers that's webster slaughter making the catch at the 11 yard line lorenzo white is the sole running back having a great year then they go in the run and shoot with the four wideouts jeffrey slaughter the free agent from cleveland gibbons and curtis duncan having a fine season the guys up front donnelly starts from mags and left tackles munchak and matthews have been terrific for years dawson at right guard and david williams coming into his own now and right tackle the interior five mike singletary with four games to go in his career wrapping it up in this 12th and final season on second and four good protection and then the pass is incomplete a little high intended for ernest gibbons take a look at the chicago defense they begin tonight with a four one six four down lineman and the guys up front are roper mcmichael the fridge perry and dent singletary the sole linebacker and then against the run and shoot the six defensive backs wolford stinson gail carrier they normally start against teams with regular offenses and then fane and tate are the extra backs against the houston run and shoe and there is a slim down appliance william perry as spin as i have ever seen third down and four at the 11 yard line against carlson to throw and he fires to the 25-yard line and that's incomplete ernest givens covered well by david t ball and defensive back getting there simultaneously fourth down david tate one of the six defensive backs one of the two added to the coverage and he makes a great play timing it out perfectly and avoiding the flag that was just a great execution by tate as he bats the ball away from ernest gibbons and on these first two drives the battle of field position is apparently being won by the chicago bear craig montgomery the league's leading punter and this is not a thing of beauty fielded at the chicago 48-yard line by anthony morgan and he is tackled just short of midfield so the oilers are freeing out but a good play by morgan he took the hit but by fielding the ball that may have taken a bad bounce he might have saved his team 10 or 15 yards fc play off scramble every time the raiders are written off is dead back they come with an impressive win beat kansas city yesterday 28-7 they'll be in miami next week raiders dolphins on monday night football here 703 to go first quarter no score bears have it at their own 49-yard line and darren lewis swings to the outside and takes it to the oiler 43-yard line tackled by al smith after a game of eight jim eddy as demonstrative as any assistant coach or any head coach for that matter in the national football league the houston defensive coordinator well he's just witnessed one of the things all defensive coordinators go wild about that's a missed tackle credit lewis with a nifty piece of improvisation getting to the outside but jerry gray came up and whipped on the tackle that maybe would have held it to a one or two yard gain instead of a nice little seven or eight yard pickup second down on the long two and brad muster picks up the first down takes the ball to the 38-yard line and now smith gets credit for another tackle not a real tall linebacker smith is only 6-1 but he gets 250 pounds plus on that frame and he is active and in many ways he reminds me physically and the way he moves sideline to sideline of a younger mike singletary i mean that's lofty praise but al smith is a player that in many ways reminds me of the way singletary when he was younger used to rove the middle meanwhile the bears are quietly blowing out the fifth ranked defense on the ground first down from the 38-yard line and lewis again picks up four takes it to the 34 with five and a half minutes to go no score first quarter two outside linebackers change over the course of the season remember lamar nathan good outside linebacker he's out with a with a cracked bone in his leg he's being replaced by rick graf and over the other side johnny meads a former outstanding player he has been waived and rookie eddie robinson is in there at the right linebacking position so al smith has been forced to take up a lot of the slack and there is lathan who is watching from the sideline second and six chicago at the 34-yard line muster in motion the play fakes good fake but then willis has to throw it away as muster is blanketed by eddie robinson the rookie line but i think that's the first time that we've seen willis throw it into the flats as david brandon took one back 92 yards and he put that up in the seats when he saw the coverage there will be no more interceptions in the flat for pt at least right away third down and six last week in that game at cleveland a very impressive opening drive and then all of a sudden as frank mentioned threw the pass in the flat david brandon ran it back 92 yards and the browns never trailed neal anderson is in the game in this third down situation flanking willis in the shotgun houston with a five-man rush hangs in the pocket and floats one out there from morgan and he makes the cash at the five-yard line the defensive back jerry gray was behind him and now are they going to say he was out of bounds they are going to say he was out of bounds at the five yard line and morgan says what no p.t wallace read the blitz all right and he goes to the fly with anthony morgan they were both right on but the pressure was such that willis off his back foot couldn't get the ball deep where he wanted to get the football he threw it short he has to come down with both feet inbounds and anthony morgan perhaps that he played a little more he has been injured on and off has not played that much only four receptions this year did not have the presence of mind to get that other foot down that was an easy catch you could have done it easily that was an easy catch of really what was a bad pass i mean nine times out of ten fellows that ball is going to be intercepted only because the houston secondary lost track of the football was that not an intercepted pass well they're in that manned coverage on the blitz and he even jerry gray was concentrating on not getting beat deep the bears have taken a delay of game penalty and will the oilers accept it and they will i'll do them a favor you know so much has been said about the oilers offense and of course warren moon not playing tonight and they are dramatic with their run and shoot and led by this man jack pardee but they also have the fifth ranked defense of the national football league after 12 weeks and there is warren moon i talked to being the link last night he feels he will be back for cleveland which is coming up in a couple of weeks well the uh the oilers accepted the penalty it gives gardaki that much more room in which the angle is kicked and he sends it out of bounds at about the 12-yard line and that's exactly where they will mark it so houston will have it again very deep in their own territory 4 37 to go in the scoreless opening quarter astrodome and houston texas oilers have it 4 37 to go first quarter no score first and 10 at the 12. it's their second possession they were springing out on the first and here's their first running play of the night lorenzo white having a terrific season to the 21 he starts the game 80 yards shy of a thousand yards this year and it did not take the oilers long to discover where john roper has replaced trace armstrong over the left defensive end and you know they're going to work there roper a linebacker playing in a down position for the bears as they try to come up with and be effective with their 4-2 defense and one thing the bears have to do with this adjust the defense for the run of shoot is stop the running game and that means stop lorenzo white lorenzo white does not get it he is stopped at the 21-yard line can't get on track perry gets credit for the tackle third and very short [Applause] well mike singletary who's been playing with the bears for a long time whether it's baylor or chicago a graduate of the university in waco and playing in houston for the final time and interestingly enough he's going to end his regular season career in texas because their final game is at dallas to what worthy high school right here in houston they are so rightfully proud of the future hall of famer third and one from the 21-yard line [Applause] and carlson's to throw for the first down and to the 29-yard line the catch is made by curtis duncan having a great year his 62nd catch of the season [Applause] well thrown too by cody carlson that was not bad coverage duncan went down picked up about eight or nine on it carlson right on the money keeping it down low tough to defend that and a fine catch you either have to be in the wrong position or real short to defend that pass beautifully first down boilers at the 29 two and a half minutes to go first quarter no score on a delay this is white with room to roam both to a first down up to the 39-yard line tackled by david tapes we're talking about roper playing a linebacker playing in that down position if we can run that again we'll take a look at roper who's unfamiliar with coming up field and he did not close back down on it and a huge gaping hole over the right side there he is john roper that the bears are him there he is out on the end in the down position and easily taken wide by david williams huge gaping hole roper doesn't get back to it big pickup by the oilers enough for a first down first and ten at the 40-yard line it's ernest gibbons in motion cody carlson in his sixth year out of baylor's throws and great coverage that time and it was too great in fact because two flags come in spain all over gibbons and it'll cost them when you're a defensive back and you make a play that you know in your mind is close jump up defensively and immediately start looking to the sidelines for the official be cool man richard needs to you're right frank be cool i mean you he makes the hit and granted it was serious it was flagged but you cannot let's see is it there early yep he's clear over the back but he comes up right away spinning around looking to see if there are flags your play has drawn attention to what you've done don't compound it by with a coming up with a guilty look on your face that'll that'll get that referee who's on the bubble for sure look first and chance will they win a 45-yard line draw again but this time the bears have it well defense and white can go nowhere sean gale helping to push him out of bounds and there is a marker down that's a 35 is it a marker or is it a body part something came out of there a yellow body part face mask five yards [Applause] watching his team move the ball up the field what a good look at lorenzo white lowering is lowering his shoulder and and getting in there there was the flag flying through and sean gale i guess he said he had his hand around the mask longer and a little more firmly than he should have well that was the five yard variety you can all see whatever it was was not blatant sean gayle playing almost like a linebacker for the bears tonight [Applause] first and five now from the 50-yard line and the taxes made by curtis duncan and he gets body slammed down by dannell wolford there's any question about cody carlson's arm he erased it right there he had that smoking out there on a line good tackle but i mean that ball clear across the field from the other hash mark across the field with a lot of zip on it and enough to get the first down [Applause] that's nothing more than duncan taking advantage of a colossal cushion on the part of danelle wolford calculated cushioning on the part of wilford too he's opposite side of the field and giving him a little room and a good pass by carlson kevin gilbran the offensive coordinator conversing with moon on the sideline as charleston retreats from first and ten and crosston's pass is incomplete intended for webster slaughter slaughter is one of the four free agents declared by judge doty in minnesota in october remember keith jackson signed with miami garin verasan with san francisco slaughter was eligible to sign and he came here and the other was d.j dozier who has not signed and of those free agents webster slaughter could have had the toughest adjustment coming into this run and shoot offense because what he had to do was unlearn everything he knew about the passing game coming in to houston because the run and shoot is unlike anything you have ever done before wherever slaughter's been before the play is called in the huddle that's the route you run here it's all side assistant second down and ten and they drop it off and a nice move by white to escape the initial tackle what would have been the initial hit he gets to the 41-yard line steve mcmichael makes the tackle and it will be third down and eighth when the second quarter begins because that'll do it for the first 15 minutes of play first quarter ends nothing nothing with monday night football after this match is going to work for abc's [Music] start the second quarter vital game tonight for the houston oilers and you get the feeling whoever gets hot down the stretch and the afc is going to be the team it's a a wide open scramble we know one that's hot right now san diego what a remarkable turnaround they have put together to be eight five lost their first four games uh well there's a look at this game night is a must win for them and we we also know one that is not and that's the buffalo bills back-to-back losses to the colts and the jets and now what now it looks like the road to the super bowl in the afc may have to go through pittsburgh they have the best record in the conference at the moment third down and eight at the front gets hit the ball is loose richard dent was there to dislodge it but the oilers recovered it's david williams the tackle who maintains possession well there's something we don't see very often richard dent hitting the quarterback only several hundred times in his career as he gotten around that corner and come in from the back side and put the hurt on a quarterback and that was well before carlson is in the throwing motion and that is a fumble all the way and richard dent one of the superior pass rushers who has ever played in the national footballer he beats kevin donnelly who's in there for don mags montgomery du pont on fourth and 16. anthony morgan back to receive the ball bounces at the one and goes sideways but it also had enough forward momentum to take it into the end zone for the touchback so the bears will get it with 1407 to play in the half and no score in houston to us there he is in the blue shirt the leading receiver for the bears not in uniform tonight on the inactive list because of a badly bruised hip sustained last week in the cleveland game they expect him back next week and also inactive tonight is trace armstrong the defensive end with a knee injury so they were the two bear in actions of the 47. you see how needy he was he put his gum back in the wrapper i mean there's a man of the 90s artificial surface yeah sure on grassy just oh you get the gum down in this turf and it's a mess from the 20-yard line t.t willis going very deep and over throws it and gray intercepts but there's a flag down jerry grace for the moment has his fourth interception of the season and runs it back to the 45-yard line well my guess would be that the flag is on anthony morgan for interference offensive interference i think houston may get to keep this ball gray did step in front of me there's a collection looked like morgan was the one shoving off we'll see there was definitely a collision that's interference defense well this goes against houston [Applause] there was contact and you can see jerry gray ends up cutting off morgan but morgan delivers a pretty good blow let's watch it this way this could have gone either way there's greg put down he gets the left arm out that's what brings the flag absolutely interference yeah with the left arm up and drew the flag right there yeah it was a left arm you're exactly right that's what brought it in [Applause] so what looked like a turnaround here and the oilers ball ends up being a nice gainer for the chicago bear jerry gray the long time ram plan b pickup that amounts to a 38-yard penalty on the bomb thrown by willis in the first down he gives it to muster and he takes it inside the 40 for a gain of four and abc's monday night football is being brought to you by all the team members at saturn a different kind of company a different kind of car [Applause] bears are really hurt in their short game with waddle on the bench and all season long they've suffered to some degree with the loss of thornton at the tight end pretty good receiver from the tight end their tight ends jennings and blackwell are not what you would characterize as good short yardage receivers so they're really hurting the bottle on the bench tonight i'll say this about jennings he catches the ball when it comes to him second and six and neal anderson takes the ball to the 34-yard line and things are starting to pick up a little bit down on the field i don't know if it was the penalty or something started before that but the the level of this game between the oiler defense and the bear offense has just taken a notch up it's it's gone up 11. again as we mentioned this kim eddy's defense in single digits in all categories fifth overall ninth against the rush sixth against the pass and the bears have been pushing them around pretty good the bears offense this year strangely enough uh at least statistically playing a whole lot better than their defense third down in a short three at the 35-yard line and willis runs into anderson runs right into him and that's the end of that play well from where neal anderson was in the backfield and where willis pivoted it's impossible to make the connection anderson was either on the wrong side or pt pivoted the wrong way it's tough to cast blame here well willis obviously expected him on the other side but because he had to bring the ball back and uh and keith keith hanford's going how did it end up being my fault he's going to throw the ball for lewis and it's knocked away at the last moment and it's a flag down at the 48 and there's also another flag at the 33 and gray is getting into it two flags for i believe two separate calls here one thing where sheriff gardaki doesn't throw the ball very often because that was a lousy pass but he received her wide open he threw one against green bay in the game at chicago that was the key play of the game i'm not talking frequency i'm talking artistically [Applause] that was a well set up [Applause] whether or not it would have been called back we're going to find out that it certainly was one that could have been completed [Applause] the officials with a lengthy discussion as we say there's a flag at the 48 and then another one was dropped at the 33 which would indicate you've got two separate penalties to be announced here receiver down field oh yeah it's right in the middle well needless to say these will both be declining we have two fouls on the offensive team unsportsmanlike conduct illegal substitution number 33. and ineligible downfield number 55 both are declined first down roper obviously coming off the line on the coverage getting down field and being flagged for that and that's the luxury of a team that's won only four ball games you can take chances you can go for things on fourth down then maybe if you're the team in a playoff hunt you play it a little more conservatively the bears certainly not in that position tonight with the with lewis flagged on that play i think what they were trying to do was emulate that play against green bay at green bay where they had the receiver standing very close to the sideline as if he wasn't a part of the play and attempted to as jim eddy is all over somebody here is talking to the officials here perhaps in regard to the call at least a call on lewis they got away with as it turned out in the play at green bay it was an illegal play and it was admitted as such by the league the following week now here's what we're talking about watch the bottom the bottom of the screen there is lewis [Applause] but al your point is well made if you're coming into the ball game you must go beyond the numbers before your you report and if you are leaving the game you just can't stop a yard from the sideline and run a play and that's what they did in green bay here's lorenzo white on first half in the 36 yard line and white for a gain of 15 takes it across to 50 where he's tackled by david tate and a first down what i don't understand about mike's outburst there if that's what he's arguing about is that with it being an incomplete pass and there was certainly no penalty on the end of the play it's not that it was poorly played by jerry gray outside it's a moot point it was an incomplete pass anyway it's not like you got the first down and then had it taken away from you [Applause] first down for the oilers just across midfield 11 minutes to go in the first half with no score boston and caught by jeffrey and then he's tackled by a trio of bears led by lemuel stinson and for hayward jeffries he's on a pace to catch close to 100 passes again this season 74 coming into the game three quarters of the way through the year last year he will get the ball every time tonight when he looks out there and finds single coverage stenson lined up over on the short side of the field in single coverage and the other five defensive backs spread across the field and cody carlson just like warren moon read it quickly didn't hesitate fired it out there second and five at the 45-yard line with slaughter and motions [Applause] and he goes down at the line of scrimmage so willis and anderson come together and then carlson and white duplicate the feet 10 days off to work on this stuff too now there was a wallflower of an offensive play a pulling lineman ran into carlson carlson ran into white and white fell down a chain reaction there's the pole munchak hits carlson carlson hits white and then white gets and he open and falls down that's so ugly it is laughable and the judges have given it a three i wonder what the coaches say upstairs boy that was a beaut third down and six at the 45-yard line fires water got open first down to the 30-yard line tackled by carrier uh damn talked earlier about how slaughter has adapted to this offense so quickly it is complex totally different than what he knew with cleveland the numerical signals are different but watch this he takes it carlson reads the single coverage sean gail number 23. not a good man for man coverage to begin with and carlson pulled away from the center saw what it would be splatter made the move to the outside and that was absolutely perfect run and shoot first down inside the 30. [Applause] good protection again going deep and incomplete intended for haywood jeffries [Applause] jeffries and the mule stinson in a matchup not much of a matchup jeffrey's at 6-2 and stinson at 5-9 they get an attempting match you know who's gonna win that one and jeffries can go up with the best of them that's because he is one of the best of them and another thing about these euler receivers when you look at their averages per reception you also come to realize that they are tough because you don't have any of these guys that are averaging 20 yards a catch these are blue collar receivers 10 yards 11-7 11-9 12-3 they're not street guys down the sideline they're used to making a catch and taking several hits [Applause] second and ten wins it to curtis duncan that's his third catch of the night he's tackled at the 20-yard line very close to a first down and how about that for an effort to try to get the first down looked like duncan was going to be forced out of bounds and he just arched his back richard baine with the hit and arched his back and got really close to the sticks [Applause] and he almost got it fame don donald woolford was actually in the coverage look at that and again laying way off but he came back to make the hit and that's a superb effort by sure don't you wish you had a tight end here dan well if you were running it if i was running an offense i'd i would like to have a tight end you're right third and a short one and carlson gets it by thrusting to the 18-yard line to convert a first down for the oilers with 7 40 to go in the first half and still no score but the oilers and kevin gilbride there the offensive coordinator who can say one thing about this offensive team they have many weapons and they're not all just wide receivers it's an excellent offensive line in the middle with matthews and munchak dawson williams donnelly mags these guys are sensational and the man in back 44 lorenzo white is as good as any running back in the national football league first and ten at the 18-yard line [Applause] the three receivers to the left and again the lineman runs into carlson as white picks up about two and he's tackled by steve mcmichael who in his 13th season mike ditka said last night is playing the best football on the team right now he's one of the few players that was not drafted by the chicago bears and again it's the same pulling guard munchek who collides with carlson it could be carlson just not getting out of there quickly enough frank you are absolutely right [Applause] has to pull and go it is the quarterback's responsibility to get out of the way they usually get banged around enough until they learn it but one runover will do it you have and eighth in the engineers line carlson and that's knocked down slaughter the flag and he gets it well these guys act guilty they act guilty the same thing we saw earlier the part of fame haywood jeffrey he's the intended receiver 84 and stinson was right there he was early too again we talked about the massive interference defense number 32 first down first of all it was a good read by carlson the blitz was coming man-to-man coverage they were brought a couple of defensive backs to see the coverage and just turning in is the six foot two jeffries and here comes five nine stinson no way he can do anything to defend that pass except what he did and he has got to be perfect in his timing or it's going to be complete or it's going to draw a flag first and goal at the sixth [Applause] grade [Applause] that's good defense they didn't leave stinson out there all alone they've looked at the frequency of the oilers they do this all the time down here where they go to jeffries when they're down in close he has great leaping ability that time they helped stenson and they got the coverage they needed stinson's having to come over the back and frank i'm not sure again that's the defense you want that might have been a touchdown reception and simpson celebrating on first down well definitely made the move jeffrey says eight touchdown receptions this season ernest gibbons has nine another man to watch another man to watch two is white as he takes the ball to the two yard line and it's going to be third down and goal lorenzo white who scored the game-winning touchdown to coleman the last minute drive against detroit on thanksgiving day they ran a draw with him inside the tent and that pulled the lion defense and the orders came home with a win had a third down and you got two yards to go you no they're going to put it up in the air 11th play of this drive 5 40 to go first half no score third and goal water in motion throwing knocked down at the goal line intended for gibbons and david tate breaks it up a big series on the goal line by davis hate huh first down he makes the big hit knocks the ball loose and then he comes up on third down and makes the play and we have seen some good secondary work by david state here in the second quarter well we talked about the size of some of that chicago secondary takes one of the big ones he's 200 pounder and he can really put the hit on it time this out beautifully reading the eyes of cody carlson maybe a little early but not enough to draw a yellow flag so this is a field goal that's exactly the length of an extra point del greco field goal attempt is good and that's the first scoring of the evening with 5 25 to go in the first half houston on top tell him he'll be back for cleveland he also told me to say happy birthday to his father clinton and when doug smith tells you to do something you roll over and do it one of the largest human beings i have ever encountered on my own little ducks looking tonight dan little doug is six years old and weighs 90 pounds well big dug is six six and about 340 pounds now to kick off with the oilers ahead three nothing and it's taken at the goal line by darren lewis he brings it back to [Applause] illegal block number 31 on the return after this is the goal that's mark green that's going to put him back at about the 10-yard line with 5 15 to go in the half three-nothing houston and now it's time for our regular feature on what's new in the world of sports science and technology my number's in the book it's not unlisted bears have it at their own eight-yard line after the penalty on the run back on first and ten willis and he has the open receiver morgan and he's run out of bounds up at the 30-yard line by chris dishman the bears this season have been extremely effective when they're backed up deep in their own territory as you can see their completion percentage is 82 percent when they start inside their own 20 the league average is 61. and then from their own 20 to the 50-yard line they're about even with the league completing roughly six out of ten a little less than the league average from the 50 to the opposition's 20 and then inside what they refer to as the red zone the opponent's 20 about five percentage points below the league average so diminishing returns as they work their way down field from the 30-yard line brad muster gets only one up to the 31-yard line if you throw the ball on first down at your own eight yard line you're going to have a high percentage of completions and they're they're pretty good at throwing the ball on first down jim harbaugh what's his future good play what's anybody's future in the nfl these days judge david doughty in minneapolis to rule on free agency for hundreds of players with no collective bargaining agreement and the two chicago quarterbacks of note pt willis and jim harbaugh both have contracts that expire at the end of the season and will be in that class that will be affected by judge dodie's ruling quarterback future of the bears certainly uncertain second down and nine willis throws davis makes the cash and wendell davis takes it out to the 38-yard line he's tackled by chris dishman and it will be third down and roughly two will furor perhaps a quarterback of the future for chicago a rookie and a very confident rookie out of virginia tech we had a chance to watch him in a pre-season game against new orleans right now number three on the depth chart played a little last week four plays sacked twice and had two incompletions through ditka's reign 12 different starting quarterbacks only the san diego chargers over that period of time 11 seasons have had more the chargers have at 14. it's third down in a short three and there's no play and there are many flags snap i think coming a little late as all the bears offensive line of the snap number five they only called troy but they were all moving and it could have been the samples late in a domed building such as the astrodome the offensive tackles affected more than anyone else as far as their inability to hear the quarterback to your right is zozine and the other tackle too just like you said van horn on the far side they are off because they cannot hear the quarterback and they are anticipating what is happening and a lot of times they get used to a quarterback's rhythm and it looked that time like van horn and aussie were expecting willis to call for it and he did we've seen some teams go to holding hands the bears aren't utilizing that technique third and eight and the catch is made by morgan but he loses the football and now they're saying no catch to begin with incomplete jerry gray and the bears are forced to punt with 2 40 to go in the first half [Applause] morgan made a dive for the ball and never did control it you can say well wait a minute isn't that a case of where the ground causes a fumble that's not the case on a past reception gardaki's punch bounces out of bounds at the 23-yard line and that's where the oilers will take it with two minutes and 32 seconds to go in the first half houston three chicago nothing al michaels frank gifford dan dierdorf monday night football bears have lost five straight houston coming in off the road they won two of three over an 11 day period but a critical game for them tonight as they come in with a mark of seven and five they lead three nothing through the oilers they have it at the 23-yard line first and ten as cody carlson throws to the 34 that's complete for a first down into the arms of ernest gibbons and there's the clock and all three timeouts remaining for the oilers there's the clock in one of the quickest first halves i can recall all season long this game is barely over an hour old and you see the time remaining in the first half from the 35 carlson has to scramble throws against the grain and haywood jeffrey somehow comes up with it the mule stenson with the coverage and that takes us down to the two-minute warning that's not the easiest thing to do you saw cody carlson doing the right-handed passer running to his left whipping it back watch this not easy and jeffrey's helps out he keeps it alive for him right here breaking away from the defender good play by both players houston texas all decked out for the holidays beautiful site [Applause] then we come back inside the astrodome the two minutes to go in the first half oilers on top three nothing first and ten of their own 45-yard line and they have all three timeouts remaining cody carlson out to the 50-yard line curtis duncan makes the catch the bears that ball came out and it should be a fumble but there's been no indication as yet from the officials and what are they going to rule here they're going to rule that houston still has the football danelle wolford dislodged it [Applause] i think the ball took a very fortunate bounce right back to duncan who's we really hobbled after the players oh and ditka is going wild again [Applause] there you see the bubble and the ball comes right underneath duncan and he's able to scoop it back and mike on the sidelines again was expressing his unhappiness and i'm not so sure he didn't have a pretty good case so it's a five-yard pickup i mean when the ball is fumbled right in front of you get the ball where it's recovered after its fumble in other words they're saying it forward progress the play ended before the fumble second and five at the 50. that was duncan's fourth tack here's white and he is tackled by sean gale at the 48-yard line so for the oilers now a critical third and short three when we talked about the play at some of the defensive backs for the bears like sean gale david tate marcus paul they played this game like linebackers and you saw an example of it there the oilers have been super successful with that screenplay and this time the bears cut it off third and three and it's through the hands of gibbons and incomplete and nearly picked off gayle was there and the clock stops with 109 and the oilers are going to be forced to punt and the man that carlson should have looked at was lorenzo white he checked to the right side and released and he was standing all alone on the other side of the first down marker that would have been nothing more than pitch and catch to white kudos to the ferris defense this is where they have been hurt all year long they're ranked overall 18th giving up a lot of points and they are playing a very tough offensive team very strong tonight greg montgomery to kick anthony morgan standing at his own 10-yard line montgomery the league's leading punter tries to angle into the corner but it goes into the end zone almost a tremendous play there by mike dumas [Applause] there was some athleticism getting up into the air and and springing the ball back and he almost got it out check this out it's like carl lewis that's but michael jordan that's pretty hanging on good play hang time hanging with mr dumas well it was a great high jumper charlie dumas years ago i believe he was the first man to jump over seven feet i think it's steve hurt to check that was the old [Applause] first down in chicago from the 20-yard line they have two timeouts they set up a screen and it's juggled by anderson and he is bounced out of bounds at about the line of scrimmage by jeff allm with 51 ticks left i think robertson marcus robinson can't believe that he did not go down did i hit him with everything i had and neil just bounces off look at this shot neal concentrates on the ball knows he's going to get the hit which he does from robertson tucks it away and gets some yardage out of it 51 seconds and two timeouts remaining for the bears who trail three-nothing from the shotgun second and 11. four-man rush willis under pressure has it kicked off by bubba mcdowell touchdown and he ought to let shawn jones spike the ball last week against cleveland he threw it in the flat was picked off by david brandon taking 92 yards this time he puts it in the other flat touchdown houston it's jon jones on the pass rush that if he doesn't hit willis before he throws it certainly distracts him and not allows him to follow through and another chicago mistake look at jones right on willis as he throws the ball it is amazing this is the sixth interception that has been run back for a touchdown this season against the chicago bears six when you throw it out of the flat it's going to be taken back for six days for the point after that ball i think you're right dan a lot went off but willis has a very strong arm he's not a big man but he has a strong arm he throws a tight spiral that one was kind of wounded when it went out there and it just didn't have anything on it and mike vicka unhappy with his left tackle troy aussie [Music] he saw this act last week with brandon six touchdowns that's one short of the nfl record a dubious mark held by the 1967 patriots and the 84 chiefs [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] timed out perfectly really nice work on the sidelines and another reminder bubba mcdowell one of the two houston oiler defensive players that's been stricken with the flu william fuller the other the other and this is your reward bubba for playing sick you know he forced a fumble last week hitting detroit quarterback harry kramer and william fuller took it in for a touchdown he just made ditka and willis sick halftime mike singletary in his final year part of a conversation we had with him last night bruce coslett the jets coach and brian washington yesterday's hero in the game at buffalo joining us from new york coming up at the half del greco bouncing it to the 28-yard line and it's covered up by the linebacker ron rivera with 40 seconds remaining in the first [Applause] half [Applause] and other assorted greetings ditka you know we mentioned at the top all the speculation rampant speculation in terms of his contract he has one more year remaining next year at one point during the year he said i don't know if he'll be back and then he immediately followed up with that by saying i'll be back nobody really seems to know exactly what's going to happen but as we said at the beginning tonight he indicated in no uncertain terms he intends to return next year anderson well i i just have one thing to say concerning mike ditka and that is simply this he is one of the finest competitors that has ever played any sport or ever coached in any sport and if he for some reason decides that he's going to leave coaching and leave the national football league that is our loss that is everyone's loss who enjoys the game of football because he is really not different now than he ever was it's just that his demeanor and his demonstrative behavior is accentuated when you're losing and i for one i'm casting my vote i hope this could stop second down at eight which is anderson on an inside give and he takes it out to the 33-yard line i think a lot of people not only expect him to be back as the little scupper breaks out kozlowski's second bout of the evening he'll be around for a while too mike has been through this before in 89 after a 12-4 season in 1988 they went six and ten they lost six in a row uh eight out of the last ten and then they turned it around the next year and they were 11-5 back in the playoffs so he's been through it he knows what he has to do during that season in 89 you'll recall that was the year after he had the heart attack as the half ends he said at one point we stink at another point we're not going to win another game and as it turned out he was right well right now they're on the verge of going down for the sixth time in a row at the half to score is ten nothing oilers and we'll return with halftime activities after this message from the nfl in a word from our abc station with the headset again greg landry the offensive coordinator upstairs for the first time in about three years ditka on the headphones with landry as the second half begins with the touchbacks yards deep and the oilers who lead 10-nothing will take over at the 20 as abc's monday night football is being brought to you by bud light if you want great taste that won't fill you up and never let you down make it about life by ford and your ford dealer have you driven a forward lately and by new aspirin-free bayer select put the help where it hurts where it hurt for chicago was at the end of the first half when bubba mcdowell picked off a pass to turn what would have been a three-nothing deficit into a 10 nothing deficit and now what chicago does not want to do and we have said it many times unfortunately not give up any more points because they are not a team that can play catch-up football the one thing you have to say in chicago's behalf though is that they have played real hard i mean they have worked they've been aggressive they're physically doing the things that it takes to win but they're just not making plays and there's a difference between making plays and playing hard end round given ernest gibbons begins the second half with a 45-yard end around bruce matthews throwing a tremendous block to springham gale makes the tackle we talked about roper playing in an unusual position he wasn't in a down lineman position but he's playing that left hand he went for the fake came in pursuit got caught on the inside and away went givens boy and al you touched on bruce matthews block david tate number 14 watch matthew 74. he will come in we'll have to see it on a wider shot he puts david tate into the next zip code what a well designed and executed play by the orleans officially 44 yards after the oilers had gained 43 composite yards in the first half carlton and that simply dropped at the 28 yard line that was the first mass intended for leonard harris who has played very sparingly tonight let's go back once again watch the right side of your screen for number 74 and that's david tate there is bruce matthews the all-pro center and that is why that is not just putting your man in a position where he will not make the play that is making a statement at the same time he has gone to the pro bowl in three different positions at the offensive line he is just he's a master of course the brother of clay matthews the all-pro linebacker the cleveland browns it was so destructive to chicago may the force be with you and it is here's lorenzo white spins off the back of william perry and fights his way to the 32-yard line for a gain of four lorenzo hawaiian bruce matthews in his 10th season clay matthews his brother in cleveland in his 14th season a couple of noble trojans they're not only good they're durable longevity all the all the hallmarks that you expect to see from a from an all-pro player and uh mom and dad matthews ought to be mighty proud of their two nfl sons think about bruce if they can move him anywhere he never complains he probably is more effective if that's possible at the tackle position you need a center that's where he is that's why he makes seven figures too third and six at the 33-yard line and crosston drops the ball and recovers it at the 39-yard line that was richard dent coming in again as he did in the first half to knock it loose and dale hamer was almost knocked every which way but loose storage and tim ryan doing a little shoulder patch shuffling there he is 95 working against this time don maggs and it was a little hand fighting and that's called by the skin of your finger finger finger richard dead just got a glove on carlson but it was enough to dislodge the ball montgomery to punt how did they not block that it bounces at the nine and then chicago at the eight-yard line carrier came very close to blocking that kick when somebody comes three on the inside more often than not he gets the ball right there on the left look how close mark carrier came to getting that puck carrier that time came in tried to block the punt expecting montgomery to kick right down the middle of the field montgomery watch the right side of your screen carrier's going to come to a point expecting montgomery to kick down the middle and only pure luck in montgomery angling it towards the sideline made he missed carrier he didn't know carrier was there and the right sideline here's darren lewis on chicago's first possession of the third quarter picking up four william fuller makes the tackle 12 40 to go third quarter 10 nothing houston many ways that's indicative of what's been happening to the bears all year you try you try you just one foot one way off center that that just is what's causing you again not to make that play and that is the look of a man who's warming up jim harbaugh looks like he may get a shot at quarterbacking the bears here in the second half second and five at the 13-yard line muster big hole [Applause] [Applause] very effective as an inside runner good receiver good surge over on the right side too for brad a good looking hole let's take a look at it here van horn is on the right side tom thayer boards and that is manhandling the euler defensive line if i know in its center that was a well executed play from the 33-yard line here's lewis and he exploits that hole for a six-yard gain out to the 39-yard line and this is i think very important for the bears it's ten nothing this is not a lead that you cannot make up and the bears should and are staying on the ground i think with peter tom willis at quarterback in only his third year this is not the time you rely on him to pass you to a victory if the bears are going to crawl back into this game it's a the fact that they're going to have to demonstrate their ability to run the football and at least so far on this drive they've done so they started at their fall they've reached the 39 to the second down and four and here's muster through the middle and rand munster bangs his way out to the 49-yard line for another first down the rookie eddie robinson out of alabama state makes the tackle and the bears going up the middle much to jim eddie's disbelief remember doug smith is on injured reserve their pro bowl nose guard jeff balm has taken his place al smith is blocked childress is blocked this is by far and away the best looking running game the bears have had so far he had a serious knee injury a year ago and he has been the man they have called on to replace the very talented doug smith and a very large gun from the 49-yard line mustard harry is a fumble and chicago is on its way to self-destructing again ray childress with the recovery and did you see ray childress how do i recover the ball but knock p.t willis out of the way and keep him from getting it i mean again i'm back to making play ray childress made the play after musters fumble he's having such a great year that's his second fumble of the season he's forced three up he has nine sacks he's done it all for houston now watch this muster carrying it a little loosely sean jones got the hand in there to knock a three and here comes childress childress altered his course on his way to the ball to beat p.t willis to it and to cut willis off before he could get there i mean that's just an instinctive play by a football player some guys do it and some guys don't there was a good look at him taking the legs out from under willis before he got to the football gibbons in motion oilers at the 43-yard line of chicago 9 57 to go on the third here's white on a misdirection play taking it inside the 35 and that's another first down and that's also some very fine running and some good-looking blocking too that is quite getting close to the thousand-yard mark he is now 24 yards shy of four figures what's his cut back this is what he's best at he hasn't got great speed ahead but he is so quick for the big man he weighs about 222 25 so quick out of the cut well lorenzo white is going to end up the year with over a thousand yards and over 50 receptions as well and that is that is a versatile combination roger craig in his prime territory for the 32 here's white again picking up eight more you know it's really killed chicago this season we've talked about the big plays that have hurt coming into this game they had turned the ball over 23 times and what's really killed them is that after those turnovers on 15 occasions the opposition has gone in to score a touchdown so they cough it up and then the defense can't hold and the next thing you know there's another l in the column ray childress on the bench a player that people down here in texas are partial to comparing him to the great bob lilly there it is uh the percentage on drives following a turnover league average less than one and three and against the bears 65 boilers trying to pass in here after a turnover and this is slaughter for a first down forward progress to the 13-yard line oh the mule stenson came out of the coverage as carlson looked over to the right side stenson trying to make something happen in the middle left the receiver he had all day in the pot inside watch the time watch the time in the pocket while you're watching it as well simpson goes in tries to help out with the big man jeffries needs his own receiver and duncan gets inside the 15. a problem for the bears tonight and there's vince tobin their defensive coordinator if they're not getting a pass rush from richard dent they're not getting a pass rush at all dent has been the only bear player anywhere near the quarterback tonight with beautiful protection almost every time he's gone back and here's white taking it to the six yard line my good friend bob young the offensive line coach of the oilers is smiling right now my large friend bob he was one of the fine guards in the national football league back in the 70s you kidding me oh he was a tremendous football player in a great offensive line you guys had one of the best ever put together plate guard opposite conrad dobler and he is the line coach of this group they are taking charge of the game you ought to get him a commercial at very least i ought to send him a case second is three at the six yard line [Applause] what a great change by cody carlson and webster slaughter not been here that long picks up the change comes open and cody carlson capitalizes on the turnover and that percentage we showed you earlier about the bears and they're allowing points after a turnover just got worse [Applause] [Music] and then in the first half of course the oilers got their only touchdown in the first half on a chicago turnover [Applause] fan it's almost like a car accident you don't really want to watch it but you can't get your eyes off it now for the point after i hope i hope that's true of everybody else watching this game we know better [Music] 17 to nothing who had started every game this season until last week loosening up getting ready to come in when chicago gets the ball back if it's if he's not coming in it's a clear-cut case of wishful thinking yep 17 to nothing the oil is lead at 6 41 to go into third del greco sends it airborne taken at the 8-yard line by darren lewis and a fine tackle is made before lewis can get on track by eddie robinson or rookie linebacker and well wishful thinking apparently was the case [Applause] harbaugh i i assume her loosening up on his own it's spoilers were looking for a christmas present tonight from the bears and they were waiting to get it they took it willis stays in the game and brad muster fights his way out to the 21-yard line for a gain of four we have 6 20 to go in the third quarter boilers on top 17 to nothing and what is a very vital game for the oilers and as much as when you look at their schedule through the balance of the season green bay a red hot team comes here sunday night and houston has to take its run and shoot into cleveland and then in what is shaping up as a very important game on closing night buffalo against houston here we left out cleveland december 21st there is the remaining schedule for the oilers against three teams with winning records second and six willis hangs it up there and it's batted by bubba mcdowell he got a hand on it the pass intended for the tight end kelly blackwell when i look at the score 17 to nothing i think back to mike ditka's parting words to us last night he said we will play well tomorrow night and if we don't turn the ball over you see how competitive this game will be why is it 17 to nothing because of two chicago turnovers one return for a touchdown the other a fumble that resulted in a touchdown a short euler touchdown drive take those away we've got a three-nothing ball game there's one for five on third down tonight third and six here from the 21-yard line shotgun four receivers that's gentry in motion and that's incomplete covering kozlowski that's a mismatch fishman one of the better cornerbacks in the league koslowski a better special teams player than receiver and of course being forced into action because of injuries tom waddle out ron morris has been out most of the year let's take a look did he get it there a little early just right on schedule good play by disney looked pretty good to me gardaki to kick wobbly kick [Applause] and it goes out of bounds at the 40-yard line and the oilers will take over at that spot with 5 27 remaining in the third quarter [Music] the houston oilers trying to go eight and five and leading the bears 17-0 mr dome with 5 27 to go in the third quarter boilers on top 17 to nothing [Applause] they may win the sign award down here in houston too there are more signs decorating the astrodome than any stadium we've seen so far this year they are into it tonight first and ten from the 39-yard line carlson stepping away buying time and runs out of bounds up at the 43-yard line so he turns nothing into a little something it's a gain of three he's one of the bounds by dante jones still though that's running by choice and jack partners interesting last night we talked about cody carlson as compared to warren moon he said well he's been sitting on the bench he's only had what eight starts over the course of five years and he is sitting in the meetings and listening to everything we do getting ready to play and sell them ever playing and if he has one little problem or he's had one little problem that's trying to when he gets in there trying to make the big play trying to make something happen on every play and you just saw cody carlson has learned he didn't try to make something happen there he just maintained the ball no turnover [Applause] falcons the following week as player resumes it was an injury timeout dante jones mildly shaken up out for the moment three yard pick up at the 42-yard line in second and seven the catch by duncan curtis stays in bounds first down at the 40-yard line oh duncan's having a great year and that was a tremendous effort and there you see one of the injured bears nursing a little bit of an ice bag that was dante jones the air apparent to the middle linebacking spot of mike singletary and he has a sore knee but what a great catch by curtis jones been waiting in the wings for a long time five years for this man to say that's enough at the 39-yard line [Applause] steve mcmichael makes the tackle and uh that's 72 yards total tonight for lorenzo white so he is eight shy of a thousand [Applause] lorenzo white remember they had rozier here and they had alonzo highsmith here and they had alan pinkett here and they had a lot of running backs and they finally decided hey this is our man and now it's white and white alone and as he responded stan touched on it a while ago he's not only the gifted runner one of the best around good receiver out of the backfield particularly in this offensive scheme perfect with the screen second of nine and perry makes his presence felt the other thing white does is he brings a little punch to the table i mean he delivers a blow when he runs he's not a receiver he is not a running back that that goes in a line of scrimmage looking to dart around people and and one of those guys that is just looking for an avenue pointed towards the sideline lorenzo white would just as soon run over someone and there's a look at his receiving prowess last five games james he's tied from the nfl lead and there's 41 coming in tonight little dump offs and screens but they are very very effective when you have far four wide receivers and and you're covering concentrating on those four white outs he gets open toe office second and five at the 34-yard [Applause] duncan again for a very short game that's curtis's sixth catch of the night and richard extremely unhappy that he didn't get to the quarterback and he was pretty blatantly held kevin donnelly the left tackle in on this series and he take a look at donnelly there now watch dent's going to beat him around the corner and that's that's holding that's impeding his progress towards the quarterback and then comes right up in complaints dale hammer didn't see it or he would have called it roper is no longer in it left in they brought in tim ryan third and one at the 30-yard line division motion white stays into block and it's incomplete slaughter reaching for it inside the tin carrier covering on the play and it will be fourth and one here's a look at don maggs algo greco coming on not the most popular houston oiler around well del greco missed two vital kicks over the past few weeks one could have given them a win in pittsburgh the other could have given them a win in miami you guys remember the fake field goal that al del greco ran into phoenix when we were out there to watch the cardinals play the cowboys i think i was back in 88. it's a 48-yard attempt that turns into a fake and a heart well that next what we saw in 1988 oh i don't know about that 17 to nothing lead the only way you can get yourself hurt is to either turn it over or do something like this hmm i don't know what that was by design because there's no one out in front of it did it and we were being told that he bobbled it and he woke our producer looking at screams the ball could be that's what it is well that's encouraging that that wasn't a fake field exactly that was a feel better for jack montgomery just had trouble handling the snap it looked to be a good snap and we'll see if the bears who've been impotent all night offensively are able to capitalize we'll take back those four yeah how do you retract the heat on first down it's incomplete in the 25-yard line intended for keith jennings and stayed in but we were very judicious there not jumping the gut we were pondering that fake field goal and getting ready to leap all over it the signs of maturity and wisdom and not knowing what was going on or lunacy jack part it seems like a thousand years ago but pardee was the head coach of the chicago bears in 75 76 77 in 77 he took him to the playoffs for the first time in 14 years and what was his reward he got canned before they got beat i'm just waiting for him to coach the houston rockets the only thing in houston he hasn't coached yet he's done a great astros he's done a great job wherever he's been second and ten and willis gets sacked at the 35-yard line busting in is the outside linebacker rick raff former miami dolphin picked up on plan b and it's worked out well for them because we earlier talked about lamar lathan going down with that fractured bone in his leg craft has turned into pretty good performance here he comes on the blitz [Applause] back to the left side of your screen [Applause] peter tom willis meanwhile is 4 out of 13 and there's a little face mask that went undetected p.t willis 4 out of 13 for 38 yards on third of 19 from the 36 yard line from the gun and steps up to avoid fuller and then the pass is incomplete but we've got a flag as dishman is all over kozlowski and i think they're going to call them kozlowski going for the ball dishman got there early this man is either going to the sidelines because he's hurt or he's going to hide one of the other fishman just took off for the sideline after the play [Applause] following the timing and he kind of a flutter ball and he got in there a little earlier than he anticipated and keeps it alive for the bears kozlowski again seeing a lot of playing time tonight because of the fact that tom waddle is on the sideline hooks him here a little bit with the right arm slows him up a little bit works him with the left arm just about everything you can do then falls on 20 yard penalty at the 45 yard line he floats one perfectly into the arms of darren lewis and on one pass he gains about as much yardage as he had thrown for in almost three quarters rick graff with the coverage well that's a good touch with the coverage there's there it is a 250-pound linebacker is incapable of covering someone as speedy as darren lewis one-on-one out of the backfield and that is a yeah that's just a good example of you got to give willis credit he found the best matchup he could find on the field and lewis on grab and got him the ball that's a great touch to overgraph quoted it in there and also lewis good concentration staying inbound 30-yard gain from the 14. now lewis on the ground takes it to the 11-yard line so a penalty and a 30-yard gain and all of a sudden chicago scrambling to get back into the game with a minute 10 to go in the third quarter and if the bears get into the end zone here all of a sudden everyone in the astrodome is a the tension quotient goes up a bit remember the numbers we gave you earlier about the bears ineffectiveness when they got inside the 20 and throwing the football they got themselves now in a second long situation where they should put it in the air again they are without their clutch receiver tom waddle he's on the bench without a really fine receiving tight end over the people you need in this situation on second and seven here comes the blitz and look out down he goes eddie robinson and nobody was there to block him eddie robinson a great story a walk-on at alabama state an academic all-american you only have one back into block that's neil anderson and two linebackers are in the middle they so seldom blitzed and you don't anticipate it you take a look muster's the only one rather staying in the block not anderson but there were two linebackers in the middle he steps to hell smith's side and nobody accounts for robinson lewis is released to go into the pattern i almost wonder if mustard should look the other way you got to be mustard at least got to be aware of him you're looking right at him it looked like al smith was accounted for by the offensive lineman and another mistake for the bear end of the third quarter 17 to nothing houston and will return with monday night football after this word for abc 6 [Music] houston as we start the fourth quarter now michael's frank gifford and deardorff 17 to nothing the oilers lead it and chicago trying to get back in the game third down 13 at the oiler 18-yard line theater tom willis from the shotgun throws over the middle of neil anderson and neil anderson for the anderson like he did and has done so often breaking tackles but like he did against cleveland to temporarily get the bears back into that game on a pass from pt willis after they had fallen behind bears dodged the bullet there too they got the touchdown they could have been flagged for holding too fortunate turn of events willis stands in there he had jones coming from the other side and for the second time frank on this drive he demonstrates nice touch in throwing us to a back out of the backfield butler for the point after neal anderson scoring his ninth touchdown of the year five of them on pass receptions let's take a look at the missed holding call here that's stan thomas on the left side working against sean jones hooked him pretty good but pt still got a touchdown pass and the bears in the game who's here and uh on the right of your screen is bud adams who not only is the owner of the the oilers but is the founder of this uh team this team uh born in 1960 when the american football league came into existence and blood adams in his 33 year as the proprietor of the houston oilers major festival in houston in the sports area for getting this arena built a commissioner in town to meet with an advisory group of players to discuss them anything one of them of course being said to be extra protection worn and in light of what's happened a lot of injuries this year chris gardaki's takeoff is seven yards deep and uh just for a second pat coleman thought about coming out and spencer tillman said woe nelly also a wide discussion of what possible rules could be installed by this advisory board that was just a discussion here this afternoon [Applause] well the oilers will have it at the 20-yard line the oilers are one of those teams that has never been to a super bowl we talked about adam's founding this team one of the founders of the afl and owning it since its inception the oilers won the first ever afl championship in 1960 beat the then los angeles chargers in the afl championship game with the general manager don posterman he came along a little bit later a little later but he was one of the principal architects of the merger he started signing nfl stars and veterans first down cody carlson from the 20 throwing and that's another catch curtis duncan tonight has made seven catches he has 68 catches this season and he is closing in on a very strange record most receptions in the season by a wide receiver without scoring a touchdown ray berry holds the record the great rayberry the hall of famer ray berry who caught 75 on season without getting into the end zone those are duncan's marks coming into the game tonight plus seven now 68 for the year that's the personal best for him his previous best was 66. here's lorenzo white picking up two yards it's very close to a first down that's going to give him 74 for the game and he's six shy of a thousand for the year and if they put the nose of the ball on the 30-yard line it's a first down otherwise it's going to be a critical third down coming up here for a key and they don't put the nose on the 30 so third and that much alonso spelman was in the game he's starting to see some time in there for the bears their number one draft choice rookie out of ohio state and he and the refrigerator are handing the middle their defense trying to dig in big play for them third and inches and carlson submarines across the 30s to convert first down houston with 13 25 to play twice now kevin gilbrey the offensive coordinator just has resorted to that quarterback sneak and carlson pulling it off very easily for the first down one of the things you have to take away if you are in your short yardage defense is that the quarterback snake first and 10 oilers at the 31 houston leading 17-7 [Applause] and the oil is now trying to take as much time off the clock as they can they snap it with the play clock at three and carlson goes deep has a wide open jeffries inside the 30. tackled at the 23-yard line by danelle wolfer dan you said he's also very good and this was perfectly timed out between cody carlson and haywood jeffries they were doubling him stinson underneath they were picking him up deep and carlson hit him right between the two defenders and then jeffries did the rest there he is beyond stinson in front of the man who should have picked him up that's david tate number 49 and and tate was so deep and so far to the inside of the field that he was not only late in coming over to make the play on jeffries but then he missed the tackle as well two deep zone where the deep outside there belonged to david tate he didn't get there in time 46-yard pickup first down at the 24. here is takes it to the 16-yard line and he is over a thousand the crowd doesn't realize it yet i would assume they put something up on the board in a moment or two but lorenzo white has just gone into four figures and there it is to the moment he will not realize it either but he knows he's very close now he knows they just announced that the pa announcer [Music] and he can go back and thank his right guard doug dawson for that one he's the recipient of some sensational blocking and of course when he gets in beyond that line of scrimmage and it's all lorenzo white and he's got a lot to give hey anybody makes a thousand yards picking up the first down taking it to the 11-yard line and tacking on about six more oh and singletary's trying to pick a fight with ruth matthews [Applause] and frustration certainly very high with the chicago bears and who can blame them anybody that could be in their predicament and be anything less than really upset about it isn't much of a competitor first and 10 at the 11 yard line 10 25 to play houston leading by 10. end around inside gives to slaughter webster slaughter out of bounds at the one-yard line wolford saving the touchdown for the moment now this time it was trace armstrong who got caught inside following the fake he was in there for roper defensively on this play he got himself caught inside and the reverse came wide around him and came close to six other tim ryan number 99 trace of course on the sidelines not even in uniform but brian got caught inside as we've seen roper on several occasions tonight this is what i love about the run and shoot they're on the one yard line i got four wide receivers this is what happens when you don't have a tight end [Applause] why not get the touchdown on the drive where he also got a thousand yards and look for the oilers in the rose bowl later this year good drive by the oilers in answer to the bears touchdown well the bears had gotten back into the game and then the houston oilers march down the field and they go 80 yards [Applause] [Music] [Applause] just over the top that's it more good blocking that was some series by the houston offensive line [Applause] del greco converts [Applause] they're [Music] [Applause] [Music] houston oilers leading the chicago bears 24-7 with 9 40 remaining in the fourth quarter now del greco to kick off for the oilers after they go 80 yards on the heels of a chicago touchdown taken at the eight-yard line daryn lewis the busy man tonight brings it back out to the 24. dicker sends willis back in with the first play and we can tell you that coming up saturday on abc sports the senior tour grand finale there's lee trevino in your picture ray floyd in the tournament chi-chi rodriguez goes home to puerto rico for the senior tour beginning at four o'clock eastern time and then we go to joe robbie stadium next monday night with the los angeles raiders still alive in the playoffs scramble after yesterday's win against kansas city go on the road to take on the miami dolphins dan marino and company that's next monday night buffalo losing they are back in definitely back in for a hunt for that division title first down from the 24-yard line willis throws underneath to brad muster he gets popped at the 30-yard line after a gain of six tackle by al smith unfortunately miami not able to take advantage of buffalo losing as they were pummeled pretty good by the 49ers [Applause] less than 100 yards passing for the night for pt equal numbers of touchdowns and interceptions and jim harbaugh who fully expected to play tonight and we were expecting him too mike ditka telling us yesterday that he definitely would play and he's not seen any action yet and we're almost halfway through the fourth quarter second and three a little scrambling against corral gets sacked lee williams the long time san diego charger who came over last year he's playing just about as much as anyone along that defensive line too he doesn't start but he can play inside he can play outside he'd probably like to line up a defensive end and stay there where he had so many great years with the charges but the oilers are using him and using him well and relief along the line of all of the four positions third and five at the 29-yard line for the bears [Applause] yard line where he's tackled by marcus robertson and morgan's shaken up a great effort by morgan to get by jerry gray there was a lot of bumping going on on the sidelines and a good strong arm by willis to let morgan run under it morgan the fastest of the bears receivers that's not saying a whole lot but he has got great speed like so many of the wide receivers we've seen from tennessee but watch 21 that's jerry gray with a little late bump now a little left arm morgan stays on stride and willis is right in there with it jerry gray i think thought that he was going to take a lot more out of morgan with that little that was a a veteran play by gray and i think he fully expected to knock morgan off stride and he whipped i mean he got barely a piece of anthony morgan and paid a stiff price for it [Applause] morgan comes out kozlowski in for him jimety the defensive coordinator looking on as the bears have a first and set of the 15-yard line pressure willis after escaping from this flag down hits muster for a very short game we might have two separate calls here guys one came in from the sideline and then one came from deep in the secondary and you've got offsetting [Applause] that's interference radiating the offense holding number 95 of the defense and when he's offset repeat first half william fuller on the houston side and glenn kozlowski on the chicago side because has been pretty busy tonight he has he's been in the midst of a lot of things bottom right there's fuller and he just horse collars brad musker as he tries to get out of the backfield that's that's one flag what was fuller doing there to begin with well he was dropping off and a lot of times in a defensive responsibility especially when there's a blitz up the middle you'll have a defensive end uh responsible for taking a little something out of an intended receiver but you can't just blatantly hold him like that he was almost back in the safety position yeah oregon back in that's morgan in motion there's a fake sweep and a little walk to pass into the arm of brad musker there's a flag down however at the 22-yard line and the reason he was open is that uh i believe it's no play illegal motion number 81 and that's why he was that open anthony morgan i think morgan might have been going towards the line of scrimmage at the snap of the ball [Applause] you are allowed to be in motion needlessly to say but watch anthony morgan as he starts towards a line at the snap of the ball and i knew he was barely moving towards the snap towards the line rather to snap but other than that it was a pretty well executed play by the barretts for absolutely nothing let's try it again would you say you got to keep going parallel to the line well kozlowski's penalty kept him from an automatic first down on fuller's holes and now that penalty caused him a touchdown first and 15 and his arm is coming forward an incomplete pass as william fuller broke up the play and is pt's just upset rolled over for a minute like he was hurt [Applause] i'm not so sure that he's not hurt ooh here comes oh and he's waving harbaugh off willis upset that mike ditka is sending in harbaugh pt is po'd [Applause] and he's not very concerned i don't think not about what pt is at the 20. i don't think we'll see a recreation of uh jerry glanville here's harbaugh getting sacked at the 22-yard line by childress new quarterback and same result pt starting to go back in on his own i i think he will go back in there he goes well he mike ditka making a termination that pt willis is okay pulls him out of the game and sends him back in so he did what he did also say to us last night dan ditka that he might send him into the play i don't think he was going to send him in under those circles that's almost i think a case where he they were just trying to ascertain that that willis was okay to continue third and 17 at the 22 24 7 houston 6 23 left in the fourth there's a flag down anderson is the intended receiver there's a marker at the 27-yard line on the far side of the field well that was the case when harbaugh had been in there that might have been close to six points well that's a good running quarterback p.t willis that time twice now he's not pulling it down dan when he could have got a first down you're right on frank i mean that has to be what's going through his mind you saw that upset look on his face wondering to himself why didn't i just take off with the football a quarterback that doesn't show this number 29 of the offense declined fourth down a quarterback that doesn't show the desire to take off with the football up the middle of the field as a quarterback who's going to face defenses that are really stacked against him because the middle will be vacant until you challenge the middle of the field harbor just went in and gave him the play how do you call that a half messenger yep i think you'd call that something that doesn't make jim harbaugh very happy fourth and seventeen return to send it going for the end zone and broken up on a pass intended for wendell davis steve jackson number 24 backs it away so the oilers hold with 607 to play in a regulation and a 17-point spoiler lead bench with a team that's about ready to go down to defeat for the sixth consecutive time you work so hard and you have so little to show for it easy to see why they look and feel the way they do from the 22-yard line laura renzo white takes it after the 30-yard line that's a gain of eight you'll see some serious working on the clock uh part of houston i don't often do this but i've got a message from a guy named gary chapman at the riverstone farms in franklin tennessee and i've heard of unusual monday night football parties that they go out on the river hook up a generator put up a fake screen and the good old boys get it on and watch monday night football just wanted to say hi to him on the roof at a good time out on the river taking the generators got a little chilly up there this time of year the good old boys are there good for them [Applause] what are the rivers [Applause] grew up here in houston the smallest man on the field you do not often see lorenzo white going backwards after he's been running with the ball a highlight filled for lumiel stinson and he looked up at the scoreboard to watch this 170 pounds out of texas tech a couple of knee operations he brings it all to the field every time he comes out there third and two at the 30-yard line that made difficult there is white this isn't tackled [Applause] get the feeling that ditka is looking at this group of bears that he has this year and wondering why he doesn't have a butkus or why he doesn't have a a bill george why he doesn't have a doug atkins and quite frankly why he doesn't have somebody like himself that can just grab a hold of the team and shake himself and can go up in somebody's face and say we got to do better than this and using a few add more adjectives he's so frustrated but they're not there at the 50-yard line first and ten memories are great yeah but memories don't knock anybody down and they don't catch passes and they don't throw passes the chicago bears their biggest problem isn't mike ditka it is simply that most of the teams that they're playing in the national football league have more talent than they do it's that simple part of it comes from being on top for so long they draft them very late total yards tonight is now gaining chicago to this point by 97 and leading by 17 on the scoreboard second to nine and cody carlson is going to put it up and the catch is a juggling one made by curtis duncan he's a little short of the first down duncan big night continues and duncan and singletary mike's saying come on man i'm retiring in three weeks [Applause] i think the competitive fires still don't burn deep in the belly of mike singletary don't bet on it and what a way to leave the man's already announced that he's going to retire at the end of the year and it's almost not fair that he has to leave the league on a team that has a losing record he deserves better than that [Applause] third and six the play clock is down to five the game clock is down to 210. duncan tonight has fought eight passes and crosston drops the football and recovers to maintain possession at the 50-yard line a little bit more pushy chevy it's a hollywood turn for fighting yes [Applause] and we are going to come up to the or down to the two-minute warning [Music] [Music] coming up back to the bears safety his dad james is in a hospital in hampton virginia about ready to undergo a procedure this week and sean asked us to to send his very best and the bears very best to papa james back in hampton virginia you know we were talking to mike singletary last night about some of the guys who will not necessarily pick up the physical slack but the emotional slack defensively for him the first guy he mentioned was sean gale with two minutes to play and a fair catch is called for by ganel wolford at the 12 yard line the bears look at it at that spot with 152 remaining but one of the problems is one of the reasons he's one of the best in the league and one of the problems though with chicago is you know when mike says something like that al about sean gale is that you know next year it's going to be gayle's 10th year in the league i mean he's not a kid the the thing with the bears is they have a tremendous group of older players guys like dent and singletary and mcmichael and on down the line van horn so many quality players and then it seems that they have some youth and needless to say question marks surround the youth but what's lacking on the bears is that real quality in the middle years they don't have a lot of tremendous football players in that six seven eight nine year range those are the guys that carry your team and real leadership too dan you look down there and you say who's picking this team up i can tell you who's laying down once again the chicago quarterback i think the most interesting game of the season for the bears is going to be their 17th it's called the postseason and not on the field off the field and the number one issue that has to be resolved is the future of the head coach right who said as we said at the top of the show he intends to come back next year he'd go into the last year of his contract the decision of course ultimately rests with michael mccaskey the president of the team but we remember when we were in chicago a month ago michael mccaskey said he said i want mike ditka to be enthusiastic enough to want to come back to coach this team next year and some people i think misinterpreted that to frame it correctly my interpretation was mccaskey he was concerned about dicta but he wanted mike to have the verve as morgan makes the catch and the enthusiasm and the will and the want to come back because it's not going to be easy it's not going to happen next year this is a football team that the rebuilding process is going to take a couple of years it may take three years it could happen in two but this is not an overnight fix on this football team and whomever is going to take on the challenge better be prepared to stick with it for a while because it's going to take some time veteran player uh dan talking about the veteran steve mcmichael as we said before dinka said he's probably playing the best football of all this year here's wendell davis making the catch up to the 39-yard line with 47 seconds remaining that's a shame when when performances and efforts like that are lost in a losing year when the team loses it all becomes irrelevant as far as individual performances are concerned i wonder how much better new england would have been over the past 12 years if they had to cut him loose [Music] at the 45-yard line you know equal time provision here we spent a lot of time talking about the bears the bears are a great team for national television with ditka and all the rest but meanwhile the houston oilers tonight as we take a look at the credits are winning a game they had to win jack o'hara the executive producer kenny wolfhard illustrious producer craig janoff our director and the rest of the gang joe chavo with no knuckle jobs again every button perfectly pushed ben harvey halftime producers dick emily and nancy fred king and rich greene at the 15-yard line by chris dixman intended for kozlowski for the oilers as you've mentioned lying ahead green bay they'll play them here then they have to go to cleveland and we continue with our credits steve heard our director of information and up in the booth as always george hill of everywhere and malibu kelly our spotter chris dishman there's a new celebration demonstration the dish man kissing his fingertips will close out with buffalo right here and looking for trying to get that top grade and wild card so they could get the home game they're so much better here in the dome that they are on the road and remember the man on the left there warren moon is coming back we saw one of the dishman's other fingertips you'll recall on thanksgiving day in detroit as the oilers won a care to elaborate no sir as the oilers won the most important road game the clock stopped at 18 seconds with a change of possession and a kneel down will end it the bears have lost six of their own the oilers have regrouped the oilers trying to get hot down the stretch the oilers are very much from the wild card race that's the cody carlson just doing enough again to lead him to a win 24-7 the final from houston and will return right after this

Channel: Cfla Guy

Views: 716

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: NFL Football

Id: I_WY6bIxMYE

Length: 123min 40sec (7420 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 11 2021