Week 2, September 11th, 1988, Chicago Bears (1-0) @ Indianapolis Colts (1-0)

Sunday, September 11th, 1988 1:00PM
Chicago Bears (1-0) @ Indianapolis Colts (1-0)
Hoosier Dome
Weather: Dome
Line: Chicago -1.5 (chicago), O/U 42 (over)

Attendance:  60,503 (60,127)

Chicago 27, Indianapolis 24

The Colts decided to keep QB Gary Hogeboom inactive and instead went with Jack Trudeau in their tilt with the Chicago Bears, who were playing their 2nd consecutive AFC East opponent.

The Bears took the opening possession the distance behind 46 rushing yards from running back Neal Anderson.  Jim McMahon (16-24, 149 Yards, 3 TD, 1 Int, 105.7 Rating) connected with tight end Emery Moorehead for the 5 yard touchdown connection to jump ahead 7-0.

On Indianapolis' chance to answer, Chicago Safety Dave Duerson intercepted a Trudeau (21-41, 257 Yards, 1 TD, 3 Int) pass to give McMahon a 25 yard field to work with.  4 Plays later, McMahon hit Anderson in stride for a 14 yard touchdown, giving the Bears a lightning quick 14-0 lead barely halfway into the 1st quarter.

Early in the 2nd quarter, Colt DB Willie Tullis intercepted a Jim McMahon pass in Bears territory, which led to a 17 yard run by Eric Dickerson (26-108 2 TD) to make it a 14-7 game.

Later in the 2nd however, Trudeau would again provide the Chicago offense with an abbreviated field, throwing an interception to Mike Richardson, who returned it 35 yards to the Colt 14.  The Colts defense held, leading to a 23 yard Kevin Butler Field Goal that brought the game to the eventual halftime score of 17-7.  Trudeau brought the Colts down the field at the end of the half, however, Dean Biasucci missed a 47 yard field goal attempt.

The 2nd half started without much offense.  The teams exchanged punts and Chicago slowly pushed the Colts back in the field position battle.  Rohn Stark got off a 52 yard punt from his 5 yard line, but Bear returner Dennis McKinnon ran it back 14 yards to the Indianapolis 43.  The Bears took 7 plays to score on a Dennis Gentry reception of Jim McMahon's 3rd touchdown strike.

The Colts answered quickly, 3 offensive plays later with a 54 yard long touchdown strike from Trudeau to Bill Brooks (7-130 TD) to cut the lead to 24-14 late in the 3rd quarter.

The 4th quarter began with a long Bear drive halted by a John Hand fumble recovery of a Neal Anderson fumble.  The Colts then had their own methodical drive, capped by a Dean Biasucci 26 yard field goal to bring the Colts within a touchdown of tying it with just over 5:00 to play.

The Bears surprised the Colts, who were cheating up to stop the rush, by hitting Dennis McKinnon (3-49) with a long 31 yard pass.  However, Neal Anderson again put the ball on the Hoosier Dome turf, this time recovered by Duane Bickett with 3:23 to play, and to the delight of the electric standing-room-only crowd.

Jack Trudeau converted on a 4th and 7, passing it to Brooks for 10 yards.  The same 2 players then connected on a 30 yard pass to the Bear 25 on the 1st play after the 2 minute warning.  Eric Dickerson ran off the remaining 25 yards on 2 plays for the Colts touchdown and the improbable 24-24 score.

Eric Dickerson cuts around the end for a game tying 11 yard run to tie the game with 1:30 remaining

Thomas Sanders took a short kickoff by Biasucci 38 yards to the Bear 48 yard line for a wonderful drive start.  Behind 19 tough yards from fullback Brad Muster, another reception by McKinnon, and a small contribution by Anderson, the Bears were in position for a 35 yard field goal attempt by Kevin Butler.  The kick sailed through the uprights with 1 second left and the Chicago Bears claimed the 27-24 victory for a 2-0 start.

Kevin Butler celebrates with teammates after hitting the last-second game-winning field goal

Player of the Game

Jim McMahon - Bears

McMahon had 3 touchdown passes and a 105.7 rating to lead the Bears offense to a gutsy road victory

1988 Chicago 27, 1988 Indianapolis 24
	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	OT	Total
1988 Chicago	14	3	7	3	0	27
1988 Indianapolis	0	7	7	10	0	24

Scoring Plays
Qtr	Clock	Poss	Scoring Description(Extra Point)	Score
1	9:12	1988 Chicago	E.Moorehead 5 yd. pass from J.McMahon (K.Butler kick)	7-0 CHN
1	5:44	1988 Chicago	N.Anderson 14 yd. pass from J.McMahon (K.Butler kick)	14-0 CHN
2	9:46	1988 Indianapolis	E.Dickerson 17 yd. run (D.Biasucci kick)	14-7 CHN
2	3:17	1988 Chicago	K.Butler 23 yd. field goal	17-7 CHN
3	3:24	1988 Chicago	D.Gentry 7 yd. pass from J.McMahon (K.Butler kick)	24-7 CHN
3	1:08	1988 Indianapolis	B.Brooks 54 yd. pass from J.Trudeau (D.Biasucci kick)	24-14 CHN
4	5:21	1988 Indianapolis	D.Biasucci 26 yd. field goal	24-17 CHN
4	1:30	1988 Indianapolis	E.Dickerson 11 yd. run (D.Biasucci kick)	24-24 INA
4	0:01	1988 Chicago	K.Butler 35 yd. field goal	27-24 CHN

Other Highlights
Qtr	Clock	Poss	Event	Player	Yards
1	7:35	1988 Chicago	Intercept	Dave Duerson	15
2	13:06	1988 Indianapolis	Intercept	Willie Tullis	0
2	5:17	1988 Chicago	Intercept	Mike Richardson	35
2	0:45	1988 Indianapolis	Missed Field Goal	Dean Biasucci	47
3	13:24	1988 Chicago	Intercept	Mike Richardson	10
4	12:12	1988 Chicago	Fumble	Neal Anderson
4	6:14	1988 Indianapolis	QBSack	Dan Hampton	-7
4	4:31	1988 Chicago	Pass	Dennis McKinnon	31
4	3:23	1988 Chicago	Fumble	Neal Anderson
4	1:52	1988 Indianapolis	Pass	Bill Brooks	30
4	1:22	1988 Chicago	Return	Thomas Sanders	38

Team Statistics
	1988 Chicago	1988 Indianapolis
First Downs by Rush-Pass-Pen-Total	9-10-3-22	10-11-0-21
Third Down Efficiency	2-8-25%	8-18-44%
Fourth Down Efficiency	0-1-0%	3-3-100%
Red Zone Efficiency (pts-poss-pct)	27-35-77%	17-21-81%
Total Offense-Plays-Avg Yards Per Play	321-62-5.2	359-71-5.1
Total Net Yards Rushing	172	109
Total Rushes	38	29
Average Per Rush	4.5	3.8
Passes Completed/Attempted	16/24 (66.7%)	21/41 (51.2%)
Net Yards Passing	149	250
Avg Yards Per Pass	6.2	6.3
Sacked/Yards Lost	0/0	1/7
Punts/Average	2/36.0	3/40.3
Punts Received/Return Yardage	2/22	0/0
Kickoffs/Returns	4/95	3/79
Interceptions/Returns	3/60	1/0
Penalties/Yards	4/20	10/76
Total Fumbles/Fumbles Lost	2/2	0/0
Time of Possession	29 mins 22 secs	30 mins 38 secs
Average Drive Start	CHN 41	INA 28

Passing Stats
	Att	Comp	Yds	Comp %	Yds/Att	TD	TD %	INT	INT %	Long	Sack	Rating
1988 Chicago
Jim McMahon	24	16	149	66.7	6.2	3	12.5	1	4.2	31	0/0	105.7
1988 Indianapolis
Jack Trudeau	41	21	257	51.2	6.3	1	2.4	3	7.3	54	1/7	48.5

Rushing Stats
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD	2 Pt Conv	Fumbles/Lost
1988 Chicago
Neal Anderson	23	108	4.7	15	0	0	2/2
Matt Suhey	7	18	2.6	6	0	0	0/0
Thomas Sanders	4	25	6.3	15	0	0	0/0
Brad Muster	4	21	5.3	14	0	0	0/0
1988 Indianapolis
Eric Dickerson	26	108	4.2	17	2	0	0/0
Albert Bentley	3	1	0.3	2	0	0	0/0

Receiving Stats
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD	2 Pt Conv
1988 Chicago
James Thornton	3	19	6.3	9	0	0
Brad Muster	3	25	8.3	14	0	0
Dennis McKinnon	3	49	16.3	31	0	0
Neal Anderson	3	34	11.3	15	1	0
Thomas Sanders	1	3	3.0	3	0	0
Emery Moorehead	1	5	5.0	5	1	0
Matt Suhey	1	7	7.0	7	0	0
Dennis Gentry	1	7	7.0	7	1	0
1988 Indianapolis
Bill Brooks	7	130	18.6	54	1	0
Eric Dickerson	4	36	9.0	10	0	0
Clarence Verdin	3	24	8.0	18	0	0
Mark Boyer	3	29	9.7	16	0	0
Albert Bentley	2	20	10.0	11	0	0
Pat Beach	1	5	5.0	5	0	0
Matt Bouza	1	13	13.0	13	0	0

Field Goals
	1-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	Totals	% Made
1988 Chicago
Kevin Butler	0/0	1/1	1/1	0/0	0/0	2/2	100
1988 Indianapolis
Dean Biasucci	0/0	1/1	0/0	0/1	0/0	1/2	50.0

Punting
	No	Avg	Net	Tb	Inside 20	Long	Blocked
1988 Chicago
Bryan Wagner	2	36.0	26.0	1	1	38	0
1988 Indianapolis
Rohn Stark	3	40.3	33.0	0	1	52	0

Kickoff Returns
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD
1988 Chicago
Dennis Gentry	2	42	21.0	25	0
Thomas Sanders	2	53	26.5	38	0
1988 Indianapolis
Albert Bentley	3	79	26.3	28	0

Punt Returns
	Ret	FC	Yds	Avg	Long	TD
1988 Chicago
Dennis McKinnon	2	0	22	11.0	14	0
1988 Indianapolis

Individual Defense
	Tackles	Sacks	Fum Rec
1988 Chicago
Mike Singletary	10	0	0
Jim Morrissey	7	0	0
Vestee Jackson	6	0	0
Mike Richardson	6	0	0
Al C. Harris	5	0	0
Ron Rivera	4	0	0
Richard Dent	3	0	0
Maurice Douglass	2	0	0
Dan Hampton	2	1	0
Troy A. Johnson	1	0	0
Dave Duerson	1	0	0
Steve McMichael	1	0	0
1988 Indianapolis
Fredd Young	9	0	0
Duane Bickett	8	0	1
Barry Krauss	8	0	0
O'Brien Alston	6	0	0
Eugene Daniel	4	0	0
Mike Prior	4	0	0
Craig Swoope	3	0	0
Joe Klecko	3	0	0
Jon Hand	2	0	1
Donnell Thompson	2	0	0
Willie Tullis	2	0	0

Interceptions
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD
1988 Chicago
Mike Richardson	2	45	22.5	35	0
Dave Duerson	1	15	15.0	15	0
1988 Indianapolis
Willie Tullis	1	0	0.0	0	0

Game Story

In a tightly fought contest the visitors from Chicago got past Indianapolis by the score of 27 to 24. Chicago controlled the ground game, out-rushing Indianapolis 172 to 109 yards. Chicago took the early lead outscoring Indianapolis 14 to 0 in the first quarter. They took the lead into the locker room at the half 17 to 7. Chicago led after three quarters 24 to 14. Jack Trudeau passed 41 times for 257 yards with a touchdown for Indianapolis.