Robbie Gould
Robbie Gould It was all special teams and defense in the first half Thursday night in Chicago when the Bears and the New Orleans Saints hit the turf in Soldier Field.

Chicago began the scoring when Danieal Manning took the opening kickoff 83 yards for a touchdown to take a 7-0 lead. On the ensuing drive, Saints quarterback Drew Brees took his offense into Bears territory before throwing his first interception of the night. After a pair of three-and-outs and stalled drives, both offenses faltered and the first quarter came to a close with the Bears leading 7-0.

After a relatively quiet first quarter, the scoring opened up in the second. Playing the field position game, New Orleans punter Glenn Pakulak pinned the Bears deep when the coverage team downed the punt at the one yard line. One snap later, Bears quarterback Kyle Orton fumbled and the Saints recovered. Two plays later, Brees connected with Pierre Thomas on a two-yard touchdown pass to even the score.

Danieal
Manning then came up with his second huge kick-off return of the night, 53 yards. A short drive later Bears running back Matt Forte punched in a one-yard touchdown and the Bears regained the lead. Chicago scored again before the half and the teams went to the locker room with the Bears leading 21-7.

In the second-half, the Saints battled back and took a 24-21 lead when Drew Brees hit Marques Colston for an eleven yard touchdown pass with 3:10 to play. Then Bears quarterback Kyle Orton took the Bears on a 13-play 60 yard drive that chewed up the clock capped by a 28 yard Robbie Gould field goal as time expired to send it to overtime.

In overtime a pass-interference call on a deep Orton throw to Devon Hester put the Bear in field goal range. Two plays later another Gould field goal gave Chicago a 27-24 win.

With the victory, the Bears stay in the race for the NFC North division and force Minnesota to keep pace. As for the Saints, this loss will all but end any hope for New Orleans to make the postseason.