Chicago upsets Colts to spoil opening night in new stadium

With only a few minor variations on the theme, the Chicago Bears have been playing essentially the same style of football since the days of George “Papa Bear” Halas:  run the ball, control the clock and play nasty defense.  When the right personnel are in place, it’s a tough formula to beat.  On Sunday night, the Bears gave notice that “old school” football is still a winning ticket in the NFL as they used the classic Chicago methodology of strong rushing and opportunistic defense to defeat the Indianapolis Colts 29-13.

The loss spoiled the grand opening of the Colts new home venue, the Lucas Oil Stadium.  The state of the art facility, built at a cost of $730 million, seats 63,000 for football—an increase of 5,000 over the team’s former digs in the RCA Dome.  The stadium has a mechanized retractable roof, and a sliding windowed wall that will allow more natural light when the roof is closed and can be opened in good weather.  It is the largest movable glass wall in the world, 288 feet long by 88 feet high.  The game was attended by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell who commended the stadium as “spectacular”. 

Unfortunately, the home team’s play wasn’t “spectacular”, nor was their franchise QB, Peyton Manning.  Manning was decent, with 293 yards passing (30-49) and a TD pass.  The Bears shut down the Colts rushing attack, however, limiting Indy to a mere 53 yards on the ground.  Behind a retooled offensive line and facing a tough Bear pass rush, the usually precise Colts offense looked out of sync all night.

The Bears, meanwhile, employed a balanced and efficiently productive offense—they picked up a total of 319 yards, with 136 through the air and 183 on the ground.  That productivity gave the team an edge in time of possession and total yardage. Kyle Orton was solid under center for Chicago, going 13-21 for 150 yards with no turnovers.  Matt Forte—the first Chicago rookie to start at running back since Walter Peyton in 1975—looked like a seasoned vet as he rushed for 123 yards on 23 carries, including a 50 yard TD run.

On defense, the Bears’ pass rush gave Manning fits and limited the damage on the Colts longest sustained drives limiting Indy to only two FGs in the first half.  The opportunistic play of the stop unit also resulted in a Lance Briggs 21 yard fumble recovery return for a TD late in the third quarter that broke the game open.

The Colts, who had made quick starts a modus operandi, lost for the first time in September since 2004 ending a 21 game winning streak for the month.  They’ll try to get back on track next week as they travel to Minnesota to play the Vikings.  The Bears will try to keep their momentum going as they head south to Charlotte to play the Carolina Panthers.