NFL Week 7 Recap - Colts And Bears Remain Undefeated
CHICAGO, Oct 29 (Reuters) - The Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts scored wildly contrasting wins on Sunday to remain the NFL's only unbeaten teams.
The Bears, coming off a bye week, flexed their muscles in cruising to a 41-10 win over the San Francisco 49ers while the Colts needed a last second field goal from the NFL's greatest clutch kicker Adam Vinatieri to escape with a dramatic 34-31 victory over the Denver Broncos.
Vinatieri's 37-yard field goal capped off a wild afternoon at Denver's Invesco Field, as quarterback Peyton Manning and the Colts' high octane offense took on the Broncos' top rated defense that had allowed just two touchdowns in six games coming into Sunday's clash.
Manning was on target completing 32-of-39 passes for 345 yards, including three second-half touchdowns, all to Reggie Wayne.
But the Colts (7-0) still needed Manning to engineer an eight-play, 62-yard drive in the final minutes to set up Vinatieri.
Vinatieri, who booted two Super Bowl game-winning kicks for the New England Patriots before signing with the Colts in the off-season, continued to thrive under the pressure nailing the game winner with two seconds left on the clock to end Denver's 13 home game unbeaten streak.
SPUTTERING OFFENSE
Denver's (5-2) sputtering offense, which had failed to score more than 17 points in a game finally got untracked rookie running back Mike Bell rushing for 136 yards on 15 carries and a pair of touchdowns.
Quarterback Jake Plummer, who had come under increasing criticism for Denver's offensive shortcomings, also responded with a good effort connecting on 13-of-21 pass attempts for 174 yards, including a 15-yard touchdown toss to Javon Walker.
In Chicago, Rex Grossman threw three touchdown passes as Chicago raced to a 41-0 halftime lead then coasted to their seventh straight win.
It is the Bears' best start to a season since opening the 1985 campaign with 12 consecutive victories on their way to winning the Super Bowl.
The Bears were on the gas from the opening kickoff, Cedric Benson and Thomas Jones both running in for touchdowns while Grossman hit Muhsin Muhammad with a five-yard strike to help Chicago to 24-0 first quarter lead.
Grossman then connected with Desmond Clark for two more touchdowns in the second quarter to put the contest out of reach.
"It was amazing, 24 points in the first quarter. That's pretty impressive, it doesn't happen a lot," said Grossman, who enjoyed a brilliant day completing 23-of-29 attempts for 252 yards.
Alex Smith found Antonio Bryant with a touchdown strike late in the fourth quarter to account for San Francisco's (2-5) only touchdown.
In Oakland, the Raiders picked off four Ben Roethlisberger passes and returned two for touchdowns to claim a 20-13 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers and send the reeling Super Bowl champions to their second straight defeat and fifth in six games.
After opening the season with five straight defeats the Raiders have now posted back-to-back wins improving their record to 2-5, to match the Steelers.
Roethlisberger, who was knocked out of last week's loss to the Atlanta Falcons after sustaining a concussion, was sacked five times and had one interception returned 100 yards for a touchdown by Chris Carr and another sent back 24 yards by Nnamdi Asomugha for another score.
Sebastian Janikowski added a pair of field goals while the Oakland attack failed to score a touchdown.
The Bears, coming off a bye week, flexed their muscles in cruising to a 41-10 win over the San Francisco 49ers while the Colts needed a last second field goal from the NFL's greatest clutch kicker Adam Vinatieri to escape with a dramatic 34-31 victory over the Denver Broncos.
Vinatieri's 37-yard field goal capped off a wild afternoon at Denver's Invesco Field, as quarterback Peyton Manning and the Colts' high octane offense took on the Broncos' top rated defense that had allowed just two touchdowns in six games coming into Sunday's clash.
Manning was on target completing 32-of-39 passes for 345 yards, including three second-half touchdowns, all to Reggie Wayne.
But the Colts (7-0) still needed Manning to engineer an eight-play, 62-yard drive in the final minutes to set up Vinatieri.
Vinatieri, who booted two Super Bowl game-winning kicks for the New England Patriots before signing with the Colts in the off-season, continued to thrive under the pressure nailing the game winner with two seconds left on the clock to end Denver's 13 home game unbeaten streak.
SPUTTERING OFFENSE
Denver's (5-2) sputtering offense, which had failed to score more than 17 points in a game finally got untracked rookie running back Mike Bell rushing for 136 yards on 15 carries and a pair of touchdowns.
Quarterback Jake Plummer, who had come under increasing criticism for Denver's offensive shortcomings, also responded with a good effort connecting on 13-of-21 pass attempts for 174 yards, including a 15-yard touchdown toss to Javon Walker.
In Chicago, Rex Grossman threw three touchdown passes as Chicago raced to a 41-0 halftime lead then coasted to their seventh straight win.
It is the Bears' best start to a season since opening the 1985 campaign with 12 consecutive victories on their way to winning the Super Bowl.
The Bears were on the gas from the opening kickoff, Cedric Benson and Thomas Jones both running in for touchdowns while Grossman hit Muhsin Muhammad with a five-yard strike to help Chicago to 24-0 first quarter lead.
Grossman then connected with Desmond Clark for two more touchdowns in the second quarter to put the contest out of reach.
"It was amazing, 24 points in the first quarter. That's pretty impressive, it doesn't happen a lot," said Grossman, who enjoyed a brilliant day completing 23-of-29 attempts for 252 yards.
Alex Smith found Antonio Bryant with a touchdown strike late in the fourth quarter to account for San Francisco's (2-5) only touchdown.
In Oakland, the Raiders picked off four Ben Roethlisberger passes and returned two for touchdowns to claim a 20-13 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers and send the reeling Super Bowl champions to their second straight defeat and fifth in six games.
After opening the season with five straight defeats the Raiders have now posted back-to-back wins improving their record to 2-5, to match the Steelers.
Roethlisberger, who was knocked out of last week's loss to the Atlanta Falcons after sustaining a concussion, was sacked five times and had one interception returned 100 yards for a touchdown by Chris Carr and another sent back 24 yards by Nnamdi Asomugha for another score.
Sebastian Janikowski added a pair of field goals while the Oakland attack failed to score a touchdown.
