Chicago Bears: 3 Keys to Win vs. Tampa Bay in London

The Bears jumped out to an early advantage over Tampa Bay and held on for the win thanks to Matt Forte, the Bears defense and a combination of injuries and inexperience that was too much for the Buccaneers to handle.

Matt Forte

Matt was the focal point of the offense for the first two quarters, finishing the game with 25 carries for 145 yards and a TD. His nifty 32-yard run to give the Bears their first score set the pace, and Tampa seemed down and out early given the Bears' rushing success.

Even defensive captain Brian Urlacher rushed to support his teammate, saying "If he's not the best player in the NFL right now, I don't know who is. Look at his numbers — running the football, catching the football, everything he's done."

Urlacher is right.

Forte has over 1,000 yards in just the first seven games. At his current rate, Matt would rush for 1,199 yards and catch 96 passes for another 1,018. That's a total of 2,217 yards from scrimmage, and should land a nice contract in the offseason, if not sooner. 

Defense

Four interceptions. Four. Hard to believe the Bucs were in the game given this stat. But it was the fourth and final interception, by DJ Moore with 26 seconds to play, that clinched the win for Chicago.

Chris Conte's interception, the first of the game, prevented a touchdown by Tampa Bay and even in slow motion it's difficult to see how the young safety managed to get his hands on the ball.

Conte too, seemed surprised afterward, saying, "All I know is I saw the ball and the receiver and I went after it. I don't know how I got it, but I got it."

The defense might have slammed the door shut in the third quarter if Lance Brigg's interception return for a touchdown wasn't negated by a penalty. The Bears punted on their subsequent possession, effectively pulling six more points off the scoreboard. 

But a sack, four picks and six passes batted down proved Chicago was near the ball for the whole game. 

Injuries and Inexperienced Bucs

Combined with the play of Forte and the defense,  injuries and inexperience proved too much for the Bucs to overcome.

Starting the game with backup tailback Earnest Graham in place of the injured LeGarrette Blount, they were down to their third-stringer, Kregg Lumpkin, before the end of the first quarter.

Quarterback Josh Freeman admitted, "With Graham going out, we had to change our game plan completely." 

The Bucs also lost linebacker Mason Foster due to an ankle injury, and safety Tanard Jackson who had hamstring trouble. 

On top of that, inexcusable mistakes and penalties were also a theme for Tampa.

The Bucs would end up with eight penalties for 69 yards on a night when they would only net 280 yards as a team.

And the talented (but young) safety Aqib Talib made a huge blunder in the fourth quarter when the Bears, trying to put the game out of reach, were stopped on third down at the four-yard line, forcing a field goal.

Talib committed a personal foul on the play, resulting in an automatic first down and giving the Bears three new chances to score a game-clinching touchdown. The Bears didn't score that touchdown (of course), but benefited from extra chances all night.