Bears withstand weather delays, beat Ravens in overtime on Robbie Gould field goal

Bears kicker Robbie Gould hit the game-winner from 38 yards out with 8:41 left in overtime. (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP) The Chicago Bears won ugly against the

Doug Farrar | Nov 17, 2013

Bears withstand weather delays, beat Ravens in overtime on Robbie Gould field goal /

Bears kicker Robbie Gould hit the game-winner from 38 yards out with 8:41 left in overtime. (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP)

The Chicago Bears won ugly against the Baltimore Ravens at Soldier Field on Sunday, but they'll take it. The Bears were down 10-0 at one point before the game was called for nearly two hours because of extreme weather that peppered the area, and in their return to the field, they looked like a very different team. In the end, after almost six total hours, kicker Robbie Gould booted a 38-yard field goal with 8:41 left in overtime to give Chicago the 23-20 win.

Before that could happen, though, both the Bears and Ravens had to get through the weather delay. That started just after Baltimore kicker Justin Tucker kicked a 51-yard field goal with 4:51 left in the first quarter. Referee Gene Steratore announced the delay, fans left the stands and the players returned to their locker rooms as high wind and heavy rains dominated the scene. There were multiple tornado warnings in the Chicago area as well.

When play resumed, the Bears tied the game quickly with a 20-yard field goal from Gould, and a 24-yard interception return of a Joe Flacco pass by defensive end David Bass. Flacco threw two interceptions on the day, and as the game wore on, the Bears started to take over. Neither team scored in the third quarter, and it took a late field goal from Tucker at the end of a 15-play drive to take the game into overtime.

The Bears were set up for their game-winner by a 43-yard catch by tight end Martellus Bennett. Quarterback Josh McCown, once again filling in for the injured Jay Cutler, was efficient enough, completing 19-of-31 passes for 216 yards and a touchdown pass to running back Matt Forte in the fourth quarter.

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The Bears are 6-4 on the season, and with Detroit's 37-27 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, a Chicago squad that was 4-3 at its bye is suddenly highly relevant in the NFC North discussion. Both the Lions and Bears are 6-4, but Detroit owns the season series with a 40-32 victory at Ford Field on Sept. 29 and a 21-19 win at Soldier Field on Nov. 10.

Nestor Aparicio of Baltimore radio station WNST

Published Nov 17, 2013

DOUG FARRAR

SI.com contributing NFL writer and Seattle resident Doug Farrar started writing about football locally in 2002, and became Football Outsiders' West Coast NFL guy in 2006. He was fascinated by FO's idea to combine Bill James with Dr. Z, and wrote for the site for six years. He wrote a game-tape column called "Cover-2" for a number of years, and contributed to six editions of "Pro Football Prospectus" and the "Football Outsiders Almanac." In 2009, Doug was invited to join Yahoo Sports' NFL team, and covered Senior Bowls, scouting combines, Super Bowls, and all sorts of other things for Yahoo Sports and the Shutdown Corner blog through June, 2013. Doug received the proverbial offer he couldn't refuse from SI.com in 2013, and that was that. Doug has also written for the Seattle Times, the Washington Post, the New York Sun, FOX Sports, ESPN.com, and ESPN The Magazine. He also makes regular appearances on several local and national radio shows, and has hosted several podcasts over the years. He counts Dan Jenkins, Thomas Boswell, Frank Deford, Ralph Wiley, Peter King, and Bill Simmons as the writers who made him want to do this for a living. In his rare off-time, Doug can be found reading, hiking, working out, searching for new Hendrix, Who, and MC5 bootlegs, and wondering if the Mariners will ever be good again.