Posted by Teddy Panos, Sun Staff

Final Score
Bears 13
Patriots 17

Teddy’s Take: Payoff football. That’s what this one felt like. A good, old fashioned football game with both teams playing like their season was on the line.

The hitting was intense, especially in the first half. You had to question whether there’d be enough healthy bodies standing to finish the game. I’ll be very curious to see how both sides respond next week and the rest of the way. A lot of guys got beat up out there and I wonder if this is the kind of game it takes a while to recover from. Obviously, the Junior Seau injury could have severe long-term implications.

Other than that, it was a great win for the Patriots. They really needed this one and overcame a very good team and five turnovers to get it. After losses at home to three quality opponents, it was important to finally win one and prove they could hang with the big boys.

One more thing; what’s with the Bears and that “Madden� offense? It was like playing a video game against my nephew and having him throw the ball deep every play hoping for a pass interference penalty. Yeah, Chicago has to be the favorite in the NFC right now, but unless they can do better than that on offense, I don’t see them scaring anyone in the playoffs. They simply can’t put enough points on the board to put teams away, and that will eventually come back to bite them.

Shining Stars: Make room for yet another star on the forehead of Tom Brady. The picks weren’t his fault, and other than that he was very good against a ferocious defense. That run late in the game where he eluded Brian Urlacher for the first down was the type of play only a winner makes…While we’re at it, let’s also pass stars out to the O-Line for not allowing a sack in 33-pass attempts.

Stephen Gostkowski’s 52-yard field goal was about as close as you’re going to get. Even the ref was laughing at how it hugged the upright and crossbar. But it was a huge kick in a game where you knew scoring was going to be scarce. The rook came through big time.

On the other side of the ball, Asante Samuel was the man. Three interceptions is a good season for most DB’s, never mind a game. And what a great play on the final drive, when the Bears had been so successful at getting pass interference calls before that. Jumping in front of the receiver to take the ball away showed guts. The 9-tackles also helped. We’ve said it before; when this kid is good, he’s good. He was real good on Sunday…Richard Seymour was only credited with four tackles, but a sack, fumble recovery and blocked field goal made him a disruptive force all game.

Finally, how about a star for the FieldTurf. Wasn’t it nice to see two very good teams play a big game in Foxboro without the field affecting the outcome? Kudos to the crew that had the playing surface ready in two weeks instead of the usual 5-6.

Quality Quote: “I’m probably better than he is. He made that move seven yards away from Urlacher and I don’t know how he got around him, but bless him he did and got the first down.�—Dan Koppen, discussing Tom Brady’s running skills.

That’s my take…what’s yours? Was this a Super Bowl preview or just two playoff teams going at it in a playoff type atmosphere?