Monday, October 19, 1998

Bears 13, Cowboys 12

CHICAGO (AP) - The Dallas Cowboys had plenty of chances to beat the Chicago Bears.

But the Cowboys failed to capitalize time and again in a listless performance against a 1-5 team.

"They made the plays when they had to and we made too many mistakes to win the ballgame," Dallas coach Chan Gailey said after the 13-12 loss to the Bears. "They executed and we didn't and that was the biggest part of it."

Jeff Jaeger kicked two fourth-quarter field goals, including the winning 29-yarder with 11 seconds left, as the Bears rallied for the victory on Sunday.

Jaeger, a 12-year veteran, hasn't gotten many shots this year, and he admitted to being nervous as he walked on the field.

"That's where the experience factor comes in," said Jaeger, who had just one field goal in the previous three games. "If you start doubting yourself, you can let that creep into your mind. ... You learn how to slow down a little bit."

Jaeger's feat wasn't the only Bears rarity allowed by Dallas.

Chicago scored in the third quarter for the first time since Nov. 16, 1997, as the Bears (2-5) beat the Cowboys (4-3) for the second straight time at Soldier Field. Bears coach Dave Wannstedt, the Cowboys' former defensive coordinator, is 2-1 against his former team.

Trailing 12-10 with 5:10 left, the Bears got the ball back at their own 20, and Erik Kramer immediately went to tight end Alonzo Mayes. The rookie, who fumbled two of his previous seven receptions this season, caught a 22-yard pass on the first play and another for 19 yards as Chicago moved to the Dallas 29.

After a series of short runs by Edgar Bennett got the Bears to the 11, Jaeger kicked the winning field goal. Dallas got the ball back and Jason Garrett tried to find Deion Sanders, but Andre Collins intercepted the pass to end the game.

"Right now, we're a team without a personality, but it's going to flourish," Sanders said. "We need to establish ourselves and play Dallas Cowboys football. Right now, we don't know what that is."

Other Cowboys had stronger words to describe the game, likely their last before quarterback Troy Aikman returns from his broken clavicle.

"We have not arrived, which is obvious, but we've still got a long season left," Gailey said.

Added tackle Chad Hennings: "Our downfall this year has been inconsistency. ... I don't think we're a good enough football team to be able to overcome a lot of the inconsistencies. It's frustrating, very frustrating."

Kramer was 18 of 30 for 233 yards and one touchdown. He also was sacked three times and intercepted once. Garrett, who had the third-best quarterback rating in the NFC while filling in for Aikman, was 14 of 26 for 136 yards and one touchdown in what was likely his last start.

"We won three and we lost two," Garrett said of his starting role. "Obviously we want the two losses back, but you can't have that."

Trailing 12-7 at the start of the fourth quarter, Chicago got some big plays from Curtis Conway, who was sitting on the bench with an ice bag on his neck just a few minutes earlier. Conway, who suffered a slight concussion when he fell backwards over Kenny Wheaton and landed on his neck just before halftime, caught passes of 16 and 13 yards as Chicago marched to the 5.

But the Bears were stopped there, and settled for Jaeger's 22-yard field goal with 8:24 left.

"I really thought we were going to punch it in and turn the game around dramatically," Kramer said. "It really hurt not getting that done."

With Dallas leading 6-0 after two first-half field goals from Richie Cunningham, the Bears finally broke their third-quarter drought on Kramer's 13-yard TD pass to Chris Penn. Chicago had been outscored 95-0 over the last 11 games in the third quarter, including 61-0 this season.

Bobby Engram caught passes of 31 and 10 yards to set up the score. Penn was sandwiched between defensive backs Omar Stoutmire and Kevin Smith in the corner of the end zone, but he leaped and hauled in the pass to make it 7-6.

"We scored in the third quarter? Unbelievable," Kramer said, smiling. "That gave us a big lift. But as quick as we got up, we went right down."

Just two minutes later, Kramer's midfield throw to Engram was tipped by Wheaton - straight into Dexter Coakley's hands at the Chicago 47. Coakley rumbled all the way into the end zone, but the score was waved off.

Officials said Kavika Pittman low-blocked James Williams after the interception. But replays seemed to show Pittman just fell, and Williams went tumbling after him.

But the Cowboys scored anyway as Garrett hit David LaFleur on a bootleg for a 1-yard score. Garrett tried to find Michael Irvin on the 2-point conversion, but it was incomplete and Dallas had a 12-7 lead with six seconds left in the third quarter.

Gailey said his decision to go for two points was a conventional call.

"If you kick the extra point and it's 13-7 and they score a touchdown it's 14-13 and you lose," Gailey said. "In general if that's in the second quarter or the third quarter, early in the third quarter, you may not do it. But later in the game that's a decision you make to try to put it in a situation where they have to go for two if they want to win it in regulation."