For Bears fans, 2001 was a season to remember. Noffke put the ridiculous OT interceptions by Mike Brown (just cut by Da Bears, coincidentally) at Number 8 on his all-time favorites list. For me, the standout moment of this particular season was the only game I got to attend. On December 16, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came to Old Soldier Field for the next-to-last Bears game before renovation. The Bears were coming off a 17-7 road loss to the freakin' Packers at Lambeau, and had barely squeaked by the Bucs down in Tampa earlier in the season (this was before realignment).
The Bears stood at 9-3, solidly in the running for a playoff spot. The Bucs were 7-5 and riding a winning streak in what would be their last season under Tony Dungy. I was in high school, and my brother Tim and I got hooked up with our uncle's season tickets for this game. Needless to say, we were pretty excited. We filed into seats midway up the venerable Soldier Field grandstands and near the 10-yard line on the south end.
We were surrounded by men and women that, in all seriousness, looked just like this. It was a clear and sunny, but cool, December day. Any worries that we Bears fans had following the previous weeks' loss to Favre and the Pack quickly evaporated as Chicago, behind the legs of second round pick Anthony Thomas and the arm of old man Jim Miller, went ahead and crushed the living daylights out of Tampa.
Normally, close games have a better chance of becoming historic personal moments. This was not a close game. Though it was tied 3-3 early in the second quarter, a Miller-to-Marty Booker TD toss gave the Bears the lead, and they never looked back. Thomas ended up carrying 31 times for 173 yards and a late touchdown, but the best part of the game was the growing sense of elation as the clock wound down.
The Bears hadn't been in the playoffs since 1994, when muschachioed Dave Wannstedt was the coach. As Warren Sapp watched from under a towel on the sidelines, Da Fans (including us kids) felt the growing sense of inevitability and cheered and cheered as the Bears clinched their playoff spot and celebrated. It seemed as though the Super Bowl was just over the horizon for this unlikely Bears team (Jim Miller? Shane Matthews? Keith Traylor?!).
Well, it wasn't to be. The Bears, after winning the last four games of the season and sending Soldier Field out in style, went ahead and lost to Donovan McNabb and the Eagles 33-19 in their first playoff game. It had been a miraculous and unexpected season, and experiencing a part of it firsthand in one of pro football's classic environments on the shores of Lake Michigan is a memory I'll never forget.
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I was at this game too! It was a fantastic game watching A-train out gain the bucs in the second half. Also Booker's TD catch was in the endzone I was in. 3rd down, fade to the corner but was called out of bounce. Bears line up for the FG before they show the replay on the jumbotron. It showed that Marty did a fantastic job dragging his feet and remaining in play. This led to the route. GO BEARS!
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