JETS ARTICLES - MON 11/20 - lots of stuff today

[Sperm Edwards]

http://jets.lohudblogs.com/2006/11/19/bears-10-jets-0-final-thoughts/

Lots of displeasure among the offensive players after the game. Essentially, they feel like they lost the game for the defense.

Which is kind of how I saw it, too.

Reading between the lines, I think some of the players, at least among the wide receivers, were annoyed that much of the early game plan was devoted to establishing the running game. As Kevan Barlow said, nine out of 10 times he ran the ball (which was only four times, so maybe it

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.nj.com/jets/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1164002767273740.xml&coll=1

Jets drop the ball

Monday, November 20, 2006

BY DAVE HUTCHINSON

Star-Ledger Staff

On a day when the Jets defense hung tough with the big, bad Chicago Bears' top-ranked defense in a heavyweight battle, their offense and their coach betrayed them.

Jets quarterback Chad Pennington threw two costly interceptions, including one in the end zone on a play in which he didn't see an uncovered Laveranues Coles, and coach Eric Mangini signed off on an onside kick that backfired to start the second half.

The interceptions and Mangini's decision helped spark the Bears to a 10-0 victory yesterday at Giants Stadium that comes on the heels of the Jets' stunning upset of the Patriots last week.

It was the second time this season the Jets (5-5) have been shut out -- a 41-0 hammering by the Jaguars is the other. It's the first time since 1989 the Jets have been shut out twice in the same season.

While their playoff hopes took a hit, the good news for the Jets is their final six games are against opponents who currently have losing records.

Of course, the Bears (9-1), who improved their league-high takeaway total to 29, have knocked around a lot of teams this season. But the Jets felt much of the damage was self-inflicted.

"Our defense played an excellent football game and the offense lost the game," wide receiver Laveranues Coles said. "Offensively, we didn't help our defense at all. I don't think it's anything (the Bears) did, it was all us.

When we look at the film (today), we're going to be disappointed. We let one slip away."

After starting the season with five touchdowns and one interception in his first three games, Pennington has fallen on hard times. He has thrown one touchdown and five interceptions in the past three games.

Pennington, who said he feels good physically, underthrew and overthrew receivers, made bad reads and threw into coverage. Both interceptions were thrown right to defenders. Though he was sacked twice, Pennington had solid protection.

"Right now, offensively we're going through a period where things aren't going our way," said Pennington, who completed 19 of 35 passes for 162 yards, two interceptions and a 42.8 passer rating.

"How we're losing, being ineffective in the passing game, that's disappointing, especially after the success we experienced early in the season when our passing game was carrying us."

Mangini, who has been aggressive all season, decided to begin the second half of a scoreless game with an onside kick. But the Bears were tipped off by the alignment of the Jets players, especially Kerry Rhodes.

Safety Chris Harris recovered the room-service bounce at the Jets' 44-yard line. The Bears, however, had to settle for a field goal as the Jets' defense held on a first-and-goal from the 4.

"It looked good in practice," Mangini said of the onside kick. "It was a good opportunity. I really liked the play. I liked the situation. I liked the call. You have to take a calculated risk."

Defensively, the Jets, who once again were a blitz-happy bunch, hounded Bears quarterback Rex Grossman throughout the game. He completed 11 of 22 passes for 119 yards (57 coming on a TD pass), one touchdown and no interceptions. They did allow 173 rushing yards on 35 attempts, including 121 on 23 carries to Thomas Jones.

The unit's lone mistake came when rookie cornerback Drew Coleman missed the tackle on a short sideline pass to wide receiver Mark Bradley on an all-out blitz. Bradley went 57 yards for the touchdown to put the Bears up 10 with 14:50 left in the fourth quarter.

"I tried to get outside to tackle him and force him inside to the defense but I slipped and he scored," said Coleman, who also struggled last week against the Patriots. "It hurts. We were in the game."

The Jets had a chance to get on the scoreboard midway through the first quarter. But facing a third-and-goal from the 5, Pennington was intercepted by middle linebacker Brian Urlacher in the end zone. Coles was wide open on the play, but Pennington didn't see him.

"The read didn't tell me to go to Laveranues' side," Pennington said. "They (the Bears) busted the coverage. ... I didn't see (Urlacher) until I let go of the ball."

Neither team scored in the first half -- the second time this season that has happened in an NFL game. The Steelers and Jaguars accomplished the feat in Week 2 at Jacksonville, Fla.

After the Bears' field goal off Mangini's ill-advised onside kick call, the Jets had a chance to score on the ensuing possession.

But on a second-and-15 from the Bears' 30-yard line, Pennington was pressured by defensive end Alex Brown and tried to throw the ball away on a tight end screen to Chris Baker.

Instead, he threw it directly to Bears cornerback Nathan Vasher.

Pennington said he threw it to the screen area and figured it would be incomplete because he didn't see anyone there. He figured wrong.

"We slipped up on an opportunity. We could've beaten a good team," defensive end Shaun Ellis said.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.nj.com/jets/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1164002469273740.xml&coll=1

These alert Bears sniff out trick play, pounce on chance

Monday, November 20, 2006

BY BRIDGET WENTWORTH

Star-Ledger Staff

When the Chicago Bears lined up for the Jets' kickoff at the start of the third quarter, Chris Harris and Darrell McClover immediately knew something was up.

"McClover tapped me and said, 'Hey, I think they're coming this way,'" Harris said.

McClover was right.

The Bears had watched film of the Jets all week in preparation for yesterday's matchup at Giants Stadium. Early this season, Kerry Rhodes had recovered an onside kick for the Jets against the Colts. When Harris, a safety, and McClover, a linebacker, saw Rhodes -- and not Rashad Washington -- lined up on the right side of the Jets' formation, they prepared themselves for the onside kick they knew was coming.

The Jets did not surprise the Bears with the trick play to start the second half -- not at all. Harris caught Mike Nugent's kick cleanly at the Jets' 44-yard line, setting up a seven-play drive that resulted in Robbie Gould's 20-yard field goal in what would become a 10-0 Bears victory.

"I just thought, 'I need to come down with this ball,'" Harris said. "We didn't know which way it was going to go, but we knew it was going to happen. When they kicked it my way, I was just hoping I didn't get hit too hard.

"It could have been a disastrous play if we didn't get it, and a big play for them."

The Jets practiced the play all week, and coach Eric Mangini felt good enough about it to take what he called "a calculated risk" in a 0-0 game. It might have worked better had Nugent done what he wanted to do with the ball.

"I think I would have given my teammates a better chance if I had gotten a little more air under the ball," Nugent said. "We had really been doing a good job of it in practice."

Before the Bears even saw the way the Jets were lined up on the kickoff, they had a feeling Mangini might try something to break the game open.

"This coach, that's his style," Harris said. "He does big plays, and we kind of saw it. We kind of had a heads-up. We had a hunch they might do something, because he does trick plays.

"We thought they were trying to get the momentum going, get a short field for the offense. We were ready for it."

The only Bears player who admitted to being surprised by the timing of the play was quarterback Rex Grossman.

"It definitely helped us get points on the board," Grossman said. "Any time you get points on the board, you start to feel better, you get a little bit more relaxed. And you get into your game plan -- you get that goose egg off the scoreboard."

And you start to think that the other team might not recover from the failure.

"That hurt them. That hurt them," Bears defensive end Alex Brown said. "Our special teams are ready for just about anything. Our offense took it right down the field. That essentially won the game, since they didn't score anything."

Brown thought the Bears were going to get a touchdown out of it after running back Thomas Jones single-handedly drove the ball to the Jets' 4-yard line on four carries. But the Jets stopped Jones short of the end zone on three more plays, forcing the Bears to settle for the field goal.

As it turned out, that was enough.

"He (Mangini) takes chances as a head coach. I know that," Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher said. "Their defense was playing well the first half. Maybe he thought it was going to be a good situation to try that. Luckily our guys were ready. Chris made a nice play."

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.nj.com/jets/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1164002491273740.xml&coll=1

Jets couldn't get offense in gear

Monday, November 20, 2006

BY BRENDAN PRUNTY

Star-Ledger Staff

OVERVIEW

It looked as if the Jets were primed to score the upset early after going into the half scoreless. But, a botched onside kick to start the second half, coupled with two Chad Pennington interceptions doomed the Jets.

Gang Green's defense played well, allowing only 284 yards of offense to Chicago. But the Jets offense was completely stagnant, and couldn't get anything rolling all day long. Laveranues Coles did haul in 80 yards receiving, but it wasn't enough. The Bears limited the Jets running game and forced Pennington to beat them through the air.

Q&A

Is this a 'moral victory?'

Officially? No. Unofficially? Yes. On paper a far superior Bears team should have blown out the Jets. Chicago came into the game with the NFL's top-ranked defense, the Jets with the 31st ranked. However, the game wasn't decided until a 57-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Mark Bradley, only seconds into the fourth quarter, The Jets played tough defense all day long, keeping Bears quarterback Rex Grossman off-balance for much of the game. However, they never forced Grossman into any turnovers, which really hurt them offensively.

What was Mangini thinking with that onside kick?

Only in the NFL can somebody go from "Man-genius" one week to "Man-dummy" the next. Trying the onside kick to start the game is one thing, but to begin the second half? Talk about a dumb decision. The Jets had a great first half and had the momentum to begin the second half, only to have Mangini throw it away with that kick. The Bears took the kick and proceeded to drive down the field for a field goal. In a game that was clearly a battle of field position, to give up the ball in your own territory is not good football.

Was Thomas Jones' fumble actually a fumble?

From the replay perspective, it was. Jones appeared to begin to lose possession of the ball just before his knee hit the ground. The referees originally called it a fumble, but Bears head coach Lovie Smith challenged the play and it was eventually overturned. Why are we talking about this play, you ask? Well, as we said before, yesterday's game was one of field position and getting a key turnover that could possibly lead to points was crucial.

So where are the Jets now?

The Jets are still one of the surprise teams this season. They appear to be light years ahead of expectations. Think about this, the Jets lost to the Colts by three points and the Bears by 10. Those two teams are currently the favorites to go to the Super Bowl. But with the Patriots' win yesterday over Green Bay, the Jets are now two games behind in the AFC East.

DID YOU NOTICE?

When yesterday's game went to the half scoreless, it was only the second time that happened this season. The other came in Week 2 when the Jaguars and the Steelers finished the first half scoreless. The Jags won that came 9-0. ... Jets special teams once again helped keep them in the game. Kick returner Justin Miller averaged 16.0 yards on three returns, while punt returner Tim Dwight averaged 13.5 yards on two returns. ... Bears DT Tommie Harris left the game to receive an IV after experiencing cramps. ... Through the third quarter Rex Grossman only completed one of seven passes against the Jets blitz. ... In the fourth quarter Bears MLB Brian Urlacher laid a loud hit on Jets RB Leon Washington. The crowd reacted with a chorus of "ooh's." Washington was okay and Urlacher laughed it off. ... The Bears have not allowed 300 total yards in a game this season long.

NEXT WEEK

vs. Houston

SUNDAY, 1:00 P.M. -- GIANTS STADIUM -- Ch. 2

LAST MEETING: Jets 29-7 on Dec. 5, 2004

WHY THIS IS A GOOD MATCHUP FOR THE JETS: The Jets have a very aggressive defense, which should serve them well against the Texans' weak offensive line,

WHY THIS ISN'T A GOOD MATCHUP FOR THE JETS: While the Jets have been overachieved against teams like Chicago, Indianapolis and New England, they haven't exactly gotten up for the Tennessee's, Detroit's and Cleveland's of the NFL.

PREDICTION: Jets 26, Texans 24

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.nj.com/jets/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1164002449273740.xml&coll=1

Running game stymied by Bears

Monday, November 20, 2006

BY DAVE HUTCHINSON

Star-Ledger Staff

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- After watching the Bears' last three games in which they allowed a 100-yard rusher in each, the Jets tried to establish the run yesterday.

The strategy went nowhere and so did the Jets' running backs.

The Jets' three-headed running back rotation of Kevan Barlow, Leon Washington and Cedric Houston rushed for just 74 yards on 28 carries in the 10-0 loss at Giants Stadium.

Houston, who had been inactive since Week 4 after a knee injury, had 50 yards on 11 carries. Washington was held to 22 yards on 13 attempts and Barlow had two yards on four rushes.

Barlow, who rushed for 75 yards on 17 carries last week against the Patriots, said the Bears had eight players in the box much of the game.

"Our mind-set going into the game was that we wanted to run the ball and keep our running backs fresh," Barlow said.

The Bears stuffed the Jets' running plans despite playing much of the game without Pro Bowl DT Tommie Harris, who became dehydrated in the first half and took fluids through an IV.

Mark Bradley's 57-yard touchdown run was his second for the Bears at Giants Stadium in two weeks. Bradley scored his first career touchdown last week in Chicago's 38-20 victory over the Giants.

"It's kind of like déjà vu. Coming back again, it was kind of a familiar atmosphere," Bradley said. "We got the feeling of how it was going to be, even though with the Jets, it's a little bit rowdier."

Bradley high-stepped it into the end zone just ahead of Jonathan Vilma, and Bears head coach Lovie Smith had a word with him about that.

"I learned my lesson," Bradley said. "After looking at it on the Jumbotron, I think I started it a little early. It's about being smart and having ball security."

Pennington's interception in the red zone by Bears LB Brian Urlacher was the second of his career, both coming this season. Entering the season, he had thrown 47 career TDs in the red zone, including the postseason, without an interception.

"I could kind of be like the (weakside LB), just kind of sit there and cheat a little bit," Urlacher said. "I just read (Pennington's) eyes. I really don't think he saw me because he threw it right to me."

Rookie C Nick Mangold had his hands full with Urlacher, who tied for the team high with 11 tackles in addition to his interception.

"It's kind of funny because I'm a rookie and there is such a great player in front of me," Mangold said. "He plays a great game and he did today. He moves around real quick and makes sure his defense is in the right position. He's a heck of a player."

The Jets, perhaps thinking of dangerous kick returner Devin Hester, who returned a missed field goal an NFL-record 108 yards against the Giants last week, passed up field-goal attempts of 50 and 52 yards by Mike Nugent.

Though the Jets respect Hester, Nugent was a second-round pick last season and came in with a reputation for having a big leg.

CB Andre Dyson hurt his neck in the second half and didn't return.... S Kerry Rhodes recorded a sack on a blitz, his fourth sack of the season.... WR Tim Dwight's 28-yard run on a reverse was the Jets' longest run of the season.... P Ben Graham, who had a 67-yard punt yesterday, has had punts of 69 and another 67-yarder this season.

The Bears won back-to-back road games at Giants Stadium, defeating both the Giants and Jets. Chicago is the first team since the Redskins in 1999 to play consecutive road games at Giants Stadium. The Redskins lost both.

LB Anthony Schlegel, a third-round pick out of Ohio State, was activated for the first time this season. No word if it had to do with Ohio State's victory over Michigan.... FB B.J. Askew (foot) was inactive.... Bears CB Derrick Strait, an ex-Jet, was among the inactives.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/cs-061119jetsview,1,5806520.story?coll=cs-bears-headlines

Jets view: Halt 'p-word' nonsense

By Dave Anderson

New York Times

November 19, 2006, 10:25 PM CST

Dear Coach,

It's time to stop being coy about refusing to use the "p-word," as in playoffs.

It's time for you, the Jets' rookie coach, to use the word itself—"playoffs"—in every team meeting, in every news conference. Because the Jets, at 5-5 and with each of their final six games against a team with a losing record, are still very much in the playoff picture in the American Football Conference despite Sunday's 10-0 loss to the Bears.

Don't perish the thought of the playoffs. Preach the playoffs.

Even if the Jaguars beat the Giants on Monday night, the Jaguars and the Chiefs, at 6-4, will be tied for the sixth and last AFC wild card, but the Jets would be only one game behind.

That doesn't mean your Jets will win all six, , but your Jets are capable of winning all six. If they were to win all six, they would be 11-5, a virtual lock for an AFC wild card. If they were to win five of the six, a 10-6 record might be good enough.

So don't pretend that the word "playoffs" is not in your vocabulary. Don't make the playoffs a mystery. Make it your goal and your players' goal. The playoffs are why pro football teams and pro football players play. And why pro football coaches coach. To make the playoffs. To have a shot at the Super Bowl.

Losing to the Bears isn't something for you or your players to be ashamed of. The Bears are 9-1, by far the best team in the National Football Conference.

As the head coach, you insisted that Chad Pennington made "a lot of good decisions. … Chad called a lot of good plays." But the Bears' defense is considered the best.

As the head coach, you correctly took the blame for the unsuccessful onside kick to start the second half that gave the Bears the ball on the Jets' 40 before seven consecutive rushes by running back Thomas Jones positioned Robbie Gould's 20-yard field goal.

"It looked good in practice," you said of the onside kick. "You have to take a calculated risk."

The onside kick backfired. And so will all your silliness about not using the "p-word" if you don't say "playoffs" loud and clear.

Say it so your players will know why they're playing. And why you're coaching.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/20/sports/football/20green.html

Urlacher Comes Up With a Game-Changing Play

By DAVID PICKER

Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher (54) intercepted a pass in the end zone and returned it 36 yards to end

the Jets’ best scoring chance.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., Nov. 19 — The Chicago Bears made a handful of game-changing plays Sunday against the Jets, none bigger than Brian Urlacher’s interception in the second quarter. It spoiled the Jets’ best scoring opportunity and preserved the Bears’ second shutout of the season, a 10-0 victory at Giants Stadium.

The Jets (5-5) had driven to the Bears’ 6. Chad Pennington lofted a third-down pass intended for tight end Chris Baker, who was covered by a crowd of defenders in the back of the end zone. Urlacher, the Bears’ middle linebacker, studied Pennington’s face like a textbook before cutting across the field to pick off his pass. He returned the ball to the Chicago 33.

“I was just reading the quarterback’s eyes,” said Urlacher, the anchor of the defense, which entered the game ranked first in total yards allowed and takeaways. “I don’t think Chad saw me. With the amount of pressure our defensive line puts on the quarterback, it lets us cheat a bit.”

It was only the second interception in the red zone of Pennington’s seven-year career, but it was deflating for the Jets. They crossed midfield only twice more and did not enter the red zone again.

“We were in some tough situations,” Bears Coach Lovie Smith said. “The big interception by Brian Urlacher got us out of a bind. But he’s a playmaker who we expect to make those kinds of plays.”

The Bears’ offense, like the Jets’, sputtered during the first half. Quarterback Rex Grossman was under constant pressure. The game was scoreless at halftime.

A week earlier, the Bears (9-1) defeated the Giants at Giants Stadium, coming alive after a lackluster first half. The complexion of Sunday’s game once again changed drastically in the second half. The Jets’ surprise onside kick at the start of the third quarter failed, giving the Bears possession at the Jets’ 44.

Several Bears players said that they were expecting the unexpected from Jets Coach Eric Mangini.

“He takes chances as a head coach, I know that,” Urlacher said. “Their defense was playing well the first half, so maybe he thought it was a good situation to try that. Luckily, our guys were paying attention.”

The Bears drove 42 yards on the next seven plays — all runs by Thomas Jones — and took a 3-0 lead on Robbie Gould’s 20-yard field goal.

Jones is also expected to produce big plays, and he ran for a game-high 121 yards on 23 carries. The Jets blitzed often, which gave Jones room to scamper. His longest run, at the start of the second half, went for 19 yards.

“It feels good when you get in a rhythm,” Jones said. “Unless you get hit in the backfield, you feel like no one can stop you from getting at least 4 or 5 yards every time. Every running back would know what I’m talking about when you get in a zone like that.”

In the Bears’ 38-20 victory against the Giants, Grossman played noticeably better during the final 30 minutes. Against the Jets, he completed 6 of 11 passes for 112 yards after halftime. Most of those yards came on a 57-yard touchdown pass to Mark Bradley that capped the scoring.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Grossman quickly threw a short pass to Bradley, who raced down the right sideline for the score, high-stepping the final few yards, much to Smith’s displeasure. Two things went terribly wrong for the Jets on the play. Cornerback Drew Coleman fell down as Bradley burst off the line, and safety Kerry Rhodes blitzed, leaving Coleman in single coverage.

“They were putting their cornerbacks on an island with pretty much no one else to help,” Grossman said. “They would bring eight players on a blitz. You got a quick hitch there, and he had the whole rest of the field to work with. He made one guy miss.”

Even from the Bears’ perspective, Sunday’s game was not pretty. Their point total was their lowest this season, and Grossman passed for only 7 yards in the first half.

But after the game, as they hurried out of the visitors’ locker room for a flight home, Urlacher and many of his teammates spoke more about the handful of plays that turned around a close game.

As Urlacher put it, “Any time you get a shutout in the N.F.L., it’s big.”

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061120/SPORTS01/611200347/1108/SPORTS01

Jets cut off at the pass

By Andrew Gross

The Journal News

(Original Publication: November 20, 2006)

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - The exact transcript of the sideline conversation will remain a private matter between Jets quarterback Chad Pennington and Laveranues Coles. The gist was the wide receiver saying he was open.

But Pennington never looked toward the left side of the end zone on that second-quarter play despite the Bears' blowing their cover-2 zone coverage. Instead, he focused on tight end Chris Baker over the middle on third-and-goal from the 6, so much so that middle linebacker Brian Urlacher read his eyes, moved to his left and returned the interception to the 33.

The Jets' best scoring opportunity in yesterday's 10-0 loss at the Meadowlands had been wasted.

"I'm going to give them the credit for winning the ballgame, but there's nothing that they did to us," Coles said. "Offensively, we destroyed the game for our defense."

Indeed, the Jets (5-5) hurt themselves as much as the Bears (9-1) inflicted wounds, as they were shut out for the second time this season.

Pennington threw two interceptions. Coach Eric Mangini lost badly on his gamble to start the second half with an onside kick after a scoreless first half, leading to Robbie Gould's 20-yard field goal. And rookie cornerback Drew Coleman slipped as the Jets blitzed, leading to Mark Bradley's 57-yard touchdown catch on a short curl pattern on the first play of the fourth quarter.

"We talked all this week about the importance of not giving the ball away and creating turnovers, and unfortunately we did turn the ball over," Mangini said. "We didn't generate any. The margin for error against a really good team is small."

The Jets also had safety Kerry Rhodes' fumble recovery at the Bears 35 late in the first half overturned, as Chicago coach Lovie Smith successfully challenged that running back Thomas Jones had been down at the 28. Brad Maynard's punt then pinned the Jets at their 24.

The Bears, who had beaten the Giants 38-20 a week ago, became the first road team to defeat both of Giants Stadium's tenants in successive weeks since the Jets moved to the Meadowlands in 1984.

Pennington completed 19 of 35 passes for 162 yards and a paltry passer rating of 42.8 after leading the Jets to a 17-14 win at New England last week.

"It's just working through this system and getting back the rhythm and feel we had earlier in the season," Pennington said. "Getting that chemistry back."

But facing the league's No. 1 defense, Mangini and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer placed a premium on establishing the running game.

"You get a game plan; you go out trying to do your best trying to execute it - that's all you can do," said Coles, who had eight catches for 80 yards. "We felt like we needed to come out and establish the run. Last week, it was different; we said we were going to throw the ball."

To that end, Cedric Houston was active for the first time since injuring his left knee against the Colts Oct. 1, giving the Jets a trio of backs along with rookie Leon Washington and Kevan Barlow. Yet the Jets could muster only 108 rushing yards and went just 7 of 19 on third- and fourth-down conversions.

Thirty-three of those rushing yards came on the Jets' first series, 28 on a reverse by wide receiver Tim Dwight. The Jets had just 17 rushing yards in the second half.

"With the amount of pressure our defensive line puts on the quarterback, it lets us cheat a little bit," Urlacher said. "They gassed us early, but that always happens at the beginning of the game for us. We were able to shut the run down in the second half."

"They had a good defensive plan," said Barlow, who was held to 2 yards on four carries after gaining a season-high 75 against the Patriots. "Nine out of 10 times, I think it was eight men in the box."

Plus, the Jets were penalized six times for 40 yards, with Baker, Coles, left tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson and center Nick Mangold all called for false starts.

"We were able to move the ball, but we couldn't cap it off," said Baker, who had one catch for 3 yards. "A lot of times in games, you get that big play that puts you over the hump. We just couldn't get that play for whatever reason."

Pennington's second interception was also headed toward Baker, on a busted screen play midway through the third quarter. Pennington, rolling right, was pressured by defensive end Alex Brown and collided with Washington.

He threw back to his left, hoping to throw it away, but never saw cornerback Nathan Vasher.

And the Jets never could figure out what was going wrong.

"I can't really put a pinpoint on what it is," said Jets wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery, who had three catches for 25 yards. "I just didn't feel that groove on offense today, period."

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061120/SPORTS01/611200353/1108/SPORTS01

Jets' defense stout except for one play

By Brian Heyman

The Journal News

(Original Publication: November 20, 2006)

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Mark Bradley caught the short pass to the right side at midfield, made an inside move and - oops, there went Drew Coleman's feet right out from under him. And no one was catching that Bears receiver, not with so many Jets stuck back in Rex Grossman's neighborhood.

"It was max pressure," coach Eric Mangini said. "Somebody's band is going to play on that."

It turned out to be the Bears' band playing the happy tune. The slip on the first play of the fourth quarter turned out to be the lone big slip by the Jets' defense yesterday at the Meadowlands.

Yes, that defense didn't create any turnovers, managed just one sack despite turning up the heat again on the quarterback, and got creased for 121 yards by Thomas Jones via the ground route. Here, though, was the bottom line: Chicago had the ball 10 times (minus a final kneeldown) and was forced to punt on eight of those possessions. The class of the NFC to date scored only on a field goal and that 57-yard touchdown.

But the Jets wasted the solid defensive work. The Bears pitched a 10-0 shutout, moving them to 9-1 and dropping the Jets to 5-5.

"We played good," Coleman said about the defensive side of the ball. "We probably had a couple of bad breaks here and there. But you take away the long pass and anything could've happened."

But there wasn't a lot of satisfaction to be found along the defensive stops in the locker room despite a second straight strong effort.

"It's a loss," linebacker Bryan Thomas said. "You want the victory."

The Jets' 31st-ranked defense held up its end in the first half in the comparison with Chicago's No. 1-ranked defense, pitching a shutout of its own and yielding just 7 yards on five completions by Grossman. And it nearly forced a turnover that could have changed the complexion of the game with 3:44 left before intermission.

Eric Smith got his left hand in to poke the ball out as Jones was being dragged down at his own 28 after a 17-yard run. Kerry Rhodes recovered at the 35. The question was whether Jones' knee had touched down first. Bears coach Lovie Smith raised the red flag to challenge.

It was close, but referee Gene Steratore reversed the call. Chicago had to punt, so the Jets started at their 24, losing 41 yards in the transaction. They ultimately had to punt, too.

"It was disappointing," Smith said. "It would've put the offense in a good position."

Mangini put the defense in a bad position with the second-half kickoff. His choice to open with an onside kick didn't work out, giving the Bears the ball just 44 yards from the goal line.

Soon they had first-and-goal at the 4. But two Jones runs moved the ball only to the 2, and Erik Coleman and Jonathan Vilma stuffed Jones for no gain on third down, leading to Robbie Gould's 20-yard field goal.

"It was encouraging for us," Vilma said. "We knew we could hold them. That wasn't a surprise for us."

The touchdown on second-and-six from the Chicago 43 wasn't so encouraging for them, especially for the rookie corner covering. Victor Hobson tried to run Bradley down, but the linebacker couldn't catch him.

"I just slipped," Drew Coleman said, "so it was just a bad break for me. ... I'll put it behind me, but it's always going to be in the back of my head.

"It hurts because we were in the game. We were stopping them all day."

But to live by the blitz sometimes means to die by the blitz.

"Several times they had an all-out blitz and didn't have any safety help, kind of putting the corners out there on an island," Grossman said. "It was just a three-step drop, hit him with a quick hit. So he turned to the inside where (Coleman) had no help. He just outran everybody. It was a great play by Mark, and the offensive line did a great job picking up their blitz."

Their blitz had made Tom Brady miserable the previous Sunday in the Jets' 17-14 win at New England. Grossman, who arrived with 11 interceptions and a reputation for melting under pass-rush heat, threw incompletions in the face of the pressure but wasn't picked off. He finished 11 of 22 for 119 yards. And only Rhodes got to him for a sack, a second-quarter blitz by the safety.

"You've got to give them credit," Vilma said. "They did a good job of handling the pressure. Granted, he didn't have too many big plays besides one. But that one gave them seven points, and that's all they needed."

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061120/COLUMNIST03/611200348/1108/SPORTS01

'Manginius' outsmarts himself with onside kick

By Ian O'Connor

(Original Publication: November 20, 2006)

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Between his mind-numbing meetings and his mind-numbing film sessions, Eric Mangini must have found a minute or three to read his own headlines. Read them? Shoot, he probably even admired them. Mangini is human, after all, no matter how desperately he would like you to believe otherwise.

Manginius. Yes, it has a cute ring to it, especially when the Jets' coach is making Bill Belichick, football's leading mad scientist, look as dumb as the grudge he's holding against the Patriots protege who headed south in every literal and figurative way.

It had been a glorious week for Mangini, who did everything to Belichick but wipe that doomsday expression from his face. The NFL had a fresh challenger to the intellectual throne, a coach who might be smart enough to lead the Jets away from their rich tradition of dysfunction and woe.

You think Mangini didn't get caught up in his own coronation-to-be? Then go ahead and explain that onside kick he attempted yesterday to start the second half, the one that gave the Bears the same life Tom Coughlin gave them last week on this very field.

Coughlin made an absurd choice in attempting a 52-yard field goal before watching Chicago take it 108 yards the other way. Mangini? He made the Bears feel right at home in their 10-0 triumph by reducing a knock-'em, sock-'em, Old School football game to a study in reckless New Age gimmickry.

"The margin for error against a really good team is small," Mangini said.

As small as Mangini's thinking on an audible that might ultimately cost his team a playoff berth.

The Jets had held Chicago to a grand sum of three first downs and 80 net yards in the first half, including minus-1 yards of passing from Rex Grossman. In fact, the '06 Jets were making like the '85 Bears.

Why in the world would Mangini dramatically alter the dynamic of a scoreless fight with the NFC's best team by ordering up a play that probably works minus-1 percent of the time?

"I went for the onside kick because we've been practicing it for quite a few weeks," Mangini said. "It looked good and I thought that this was our best opportunity. I really liked the play, liked the situation, liked the call."

It was the dumbest call he's made as a head coach.

Funny thing about the Bears: They were 8-1 for a reason. Lovie Smith has good, smart, well-prepared players who do good, smart, well-prepared things.

Chris Harris is one of them. He's the son of retired teachers, a kid who spent his first three high school years in the band before trying out for football. If nothing else, Harris knows when something's off key.

So as he lined up as part of the Bears' kick return team, Harris figured the Jets were up to no good. Kerry Rhodes, who had recovered an onside kick against the Colts, was positioned on the left side of the Jets' kickoff formation. "They have (Rashad Washington) normally over there," Harris said, "so that put up a red flag."

Darrell McClover, Harris' teammate, saw the same flag. "Darrell hit me on my shoulder and said, 'Hey, watch it, it might be coming over here,' " Harris said. "So I scooted up a little bit."

He scooted into the spot where Mike Nugent would squib him the ball.

The kicker hadn't gotten the onside call in the halftime locker room, but when the Jets huddled up on the field. Nugent simply did as he was told. If he was shocked that Mangini would take such a wild gamble at such a fragile time, Nugent wasn't about to act the part.

He's a kicker, and nobody wants to hear from a kicker.

"I needed a little more hang time on that ball so Kerry or somebody could jump under it," Nugent said.

He needed veto power, is what he needed. Nugent set the ball on the tee, stepped away from it, and then made a spin pivot straight out of the NBA, a stop-on-a-dime misdirection cut back toward the ball and the planned ambush.

One problem: "We were ready for it," Harris said.

The short field Mangini was trying to create for the Jets became the short field Mangini successfully created for the Bears.

"That was surprising," Grossman said, "and it definitely helped us get points on the board. Any time you get points up on the board you start to feel better, get a little bit more relaxed."

The Bears started on the Jets 44 and got three points out of it, three points after seven consecutive Thomas Jones runs. They were three points that felt like fourteen.

Maybe a competent Chad Pennington would've made things different for Mangini the way a competent Eli Manning would've made things different for Coughlin against the Bears last week. Take away Pennington's two brutal interceptions and the Jets might be 6-4 this morning and heading for the playoffs, rather than 5-5 and hoping for a matchup with Rutgers in the Motor City Bowl.

Only this one stays on Mangini. Down the stretch, the rookie coach made a wretched choice by punting on fourth-and-12 from the Chicago 37 rather than going for one of the two scores he needed.

By then, Mangini had already turned the game in the Bears' favor. Nugent tried to take the fall for delivering a sorry onside kick, but his coach whiffed on the assignment.

"If you like something and you like the opportunity," Mangini said, "there's risk involved in everything you do. And you have to take calculated risks."

This risk was reckless, unnecessary and (perhaps) fatal to the Jets' playoff ambitions. The Manginius got too smart for his own good yesterday, and somewhere Bill Belichick was surely raising a glass to that.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/bears/142601,CST-SPT-bearnt20.article

Ex-Jet McClover sounds onside alarm

November 20, 2006

BY BRAD BIGGS Staff Reporter

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The Bears stopped short of calling the New York Jets a desperate team, but their onside-kick attempt sure portrayed them that way.

After his team limited the Bears to 80 yards of offense in a scoreless first half and allowed them to cross midfield only once, rookie Jets coach Eric Mangini called for an onside try to open the third quarter. Kicker Mike Nugent set the ball on the tee and began walking backward before spinning and driving the ball into the ground to his left.

Chris Harris, lined up as the right tackle on the kick-return unit, fielded the ball easily at the Jets' 44, providing the Bears with positive field position and leading to their first score, a 20-yard Robbie Gould field goal. Harris was tipped off the kick was coming by teammate Darrell McClover, who was waived by the Jets in their final cutdown.

McClover noticed that Kerry Rhodes was in front of them, and he typically had been on Nugent's other side in film the Bears had reviewed.

''He tapped me on my chest and said, 'Hey, I think it might be coming right now,''' Harris said. ''We were ready for it.''

Special-teams coordinator Dave Toub had told his group that he figured his Jets counterpart, Mike Westhoff, would have some chicanery in store. New York had run a successful onside kick earlier in the season against Indianapolis, with Rhodes recovering a ball that had been kicked to the other side.

''Sometimes you just have a feeling someone is going to have some tricks,'' Toub said. ''I just had that idea.''

Thomas Jones carried seven straight times after Harris' recovery, and Gould hit his 26th consecutive field goal -- all the points the Bears would need.

''That was surprising,'' quarterback Rex Grossman said. ''That definitely helped us get points on the board. Anytime you get points on the board, you start to feel better, get a little more relaxed and get into your game plan.''

Explained Mangini, unlikely to be referred to as ''Man-genius'' again anytime soon: ''We have been practicing it for quite a few weeks. It looked good in practice. It was a good opportunity.

''I really liked the play, I liked the situation, I liked the call. It's like anything else. There is a risk involved in everything you do.''

SHORING IT UP: It looked as if the Bears were in store for another long afternoon defending the run as the Jets piled up 84 yards on their first three possessions behind Cedric Houston, Leon Washington and a 28-yard flanker reverse by Tim Dwight. The Bears had allowed an opposing player to rush for 100 or more yards in each of their previous three games, but the defense came together and wound up holding New York to 108 for the game.

The key was adjustments made on the sideline. What threw the Bears off early was a lot of pre-snap movement by New York. The Jets shifted players around, and quarterback Chad Pennington was able to detect what the Bears were going to do on each play and make the final adjustment. The Bears did a better job of disguising their looks, and New York suddenly was stymied.

''After the third series, we were able to relax and settle down,'' defensive coordinator Ron Rivera said. ''Bam! Our guys took charge.''

Middle linebacker Brian Urlacher played a big role in steadying the defense. He made 11 tackles, as did strong safety Todd Johnson.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkxMjEmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTcwMjM0NzQmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2

Grim and Bear it

Monday, November 20, 2006

By RANDY LANGE

STAFF WRITER

EAST RUTHERFORD -- In the days before the Jets played for the big-money pot against Chicago, Eric Mangini used a poker term to talk about getting small advantages on the football field.

"If somebody has a tell and you can get what the tell is," the Jets' coach said, "it helps."

Sunday, the Jets supplied a tournament full of tells and helped the big, bad Bears to a 10-0 victory.

Mangini gambled by going for an onside kick with the second-half kickoff – and the Jets couldn't have telegraphed it better to the Bears.

Before that, Chad Pennington, whom coordinator Brian Schottenheimer has said "tries to do too much with his eyes," looked right at Brian Urlacher in throwing the second red-zone interception of his career.

After that, Chicago quarterback Rex Grossman, who fared badly against three other eight-man pressure packages, was ready for the last one, throwing a 7-yard curl that wideout Mark Bradley took past corner Drew Coleman for the final 50 yards and the game's only touchdown.

"Any loss is tough to swallow," said Pennington, who scuffled through a third off-passing performance in his last six games, "especially when you lose a tough one and you had opportunities to make it a game and make something happen."

There's no reason this loss to the brawny Bears (9-1) has to stop the 5-5 Jets from making more happen in this season of unexpected progress under Mangini.

Yet after a first half that went the Jets' way in all but the scoreless tie, the game for the first time turned in the visitors' favor when Mike Nugent's high hopper, similar to the onside kick Kerry Rhodes recovered against Indianapolis, hopped right to the Bears' Chris Harris at the Jets' 44.

"We've been practicing it for quite a few weeks," Mangini said of the decision. "It looked good in practice. It was a good opportunity. I really liked the play, I liked the situation, I liked the call."

The Jets defended the high-risk, high-reward maneuver.

"We're playing to win, not to lose," linebacker Jonathan Vilma said.

But consider that Rhodes, normally the right end on the coverage team -- from where he made his Game 4 onside recovery -- was on the left side. Also, former Jet Darrell McClover, cut in training camp, is now a Bear and prepped his new team on his old team's gadgetry.

"We had an idea something was up," Harris said.

The same was true in the second quarter, when Pennington threw the first of two interceptions, both intended for tight end Chris Baker. In 12 plays, the Jets had no-huddled their way smartly from their 24 to third-and-goal at the Chicago 6.

But Pennington tried to thread the needle to Baker and wound up getting stuck by Urlacher, who took the pick to the Bears' 33.

Said the linebacker: "I was just reading the quarterback's eyes."

Later, on the first play of the final period, the Jets went to the blitz once too often. Their first-half pressure was outstanding when Chicago's passing attack netted minus-1 yard.

But when they called "zero coverage" again on second-and-6 near midfield, Grossman was ready.

Offensive coordinator Ron Turner, he said, "did a great job of understanding what the Jets were doing after a while, knowing they were putting their cornerbacks out on an island."

Coleman was on that island this time and he was no survivor. The Jets' rookie stumbled as Bradley caught the pass, curled past him and sped unimpeded for the TD.

Gang Green tried to mount a scoring drive, but as tailback Cedric Houston said, "They're not the No. 1-ranked defense in the NFL for nothing."

Nothing is what the Jets finished with – their second shutout in a season for the first time since 1989 – and the challenge becomes not to let Sunday's risky business tell the tale for the rest of the season.

No one felt it would.

"It's not a setback. This game's over," defensive end Bryan Thomas said. "We'll get this out of our system and head on to Houston."

That will be in six days, still at home, in a friendly game of Texans Hold 'Em.

E-mail: lange@northjersey.com

* * *

Coming up empty

The five seasons in which the Jets have been shut out at least twice:

1971

Game 1 at Baltimore, 22-0

Game 4 at New England, 20-0

1976

Game 3 at Miami, 16-0

Game 7 vs. BALTIMORE, 20-0

1977

Game 1 at Houston, 20-0

Game 9 vs. SEATTLE, 17-0

Game 14 at Philadelphia, 27-0

1989

Game 14 vs. PITTSBURGH, 13-0

Game 16 vs. BUFFALO, 37-0

2006

Game 5 at Jacksonville, 41-0

Game 10 vs. CHICAGO, 10-0

Home games in CAPS

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/11202006/sports/jets/blanked_by_the_bears_jets_mark_cannizzaro.htm

BLANKED BY THE BEARS

By MARK CANNIZZARO

November 20, 2006 -- Saturday Night at the Fights for the Jets as they prepared for yesterday's clash with the Bears at Giants Stadium consisted of a special visit from legendary boxing trainer Teddy Atlas at the team hotel and some old footage of middleweight Vito Antuofermo's gutsy upset victory over Cyclone Hart in 1978.

Atlas is a friend of Eric Mangini's and the Antuofermo bout as it related to the Bears game was this: Mangini, who shows his players a carefully selected fight every Saturday night before a game, told his players all week that this was going to be the most physical game they've been a part of this season.

Antuofermo, in that bout against Hart, was nearly knocked out in the first round, and, by the fourth round Hart had broken four of Antuofermo's ribs yet Antuofermo fought on. By the fifth round, Antuofermo knocked Hart out, leaving the defeated fighter stunned with tears streaming down his face afterward.

In the Bears yesterday, the Jets got exactly what Mangini advertised: a speedy, aggressive team that pounds and bruises anyone who touches the football.

For nearly all of the game, particularly the first half, the Jets matched the Bears' brawn, going toe-to-toe with the NFC's best team.

In the end, though, there were three punishing blows that the Jets simply could not overcome en route to the post-game showers, and ironically those blows were self-inflicted, like three "own goals" in soccer.

The generous Jets lost to the Bears 10-0 yesterday because:

n Chad Pennington (19-35, 162 yards, 2 INTs, 42.8 rating) threw an interception to Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher in the Chicago end zone with 11:12 remaining in the first half and the Jets poised to score at least a field goal out of the 13-play drive in a scoreless game.

n Pennington, from the Chicago 26-yard line, threw an interception to Bears' cornerback Nathan Vasher, again with the Jets appearing poised to score at least a field goal with 5:26 remaining in the third quarter and the Jets trailing 3-0.

n Jets rookie cornerback Drew Coleman slipped when he was deked out on an inside move by Bears receiver Mark Bradley after he caught a short pass and turned it into a 57-yard touchdown reception that gave Chicago the 10-0 lead it would never relinquish.

The loss for the Jets took a lot of air out of the spirited victory they enjoyed last week in New England. It, too, was a clear message that the 5-5 Jets are not truly ready to knock heads with the league's elite quite yet.

"We know we're not there yet," Jets linebacker Matt Chatham said.

"We know we're close. Those are the kinds of teams that, by the end of December, we need to consistently be able to beat in order to be the kind of team we want to be. So these kinds of games are measuring sticks."

In the 9-1 Bears, the Jets were smacked in the head by that measuring stick.

"The most frustrating part of it is it went identically as we expected it," Chatham said of the game. "The fact that it was going to be a slugfest, the fact that it was going to come down to who makes the fewest mistakes. They won the turnover battle. We lost it, and that was the difference in the game.

"It went how we thought it would ... just not in our favor."

A pivotal point in the game was the first play of the second half in the form of a classic second-guessable surprise onsides kick attempt by the Jets on the opening kickoff of the third quarter.

Jets kicker Mike Nugent dribbled the ball to his left and Bears safety Chris Harris recovered at the Jets' 40-yard line.

From there, the Bears ran the ball seven consecutive times before being stopped at the two-yard line, so they settled for a Robbie Gould 20-yard FG and a 3-0 lead.

To that point, the Jets had controlled the Bears in the first half, holding them to three first downs and dominating in time of possession and yards gained.

However, the very fans who'll cry about the failed play are the same ones who complained so vehemently that the last coaching regime never took any daring chances.

"It was a good opportunity, I really liked the play, I liked the situation, I liked the call," Mangini said. "It you like something and you like the opportunity, there is a risk involved in everything you do."

Not a single player in the Jets locker room so much as whispered a complaint about the call.

"I loved it," Chatham said. "I love that Mike [Westhoff, the special teams coach] made that call. I stand behind him 1,000 percent.

"We're not going to stop being aggressive. The kick just didn't work out."

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/11202006/sports/jets/mangini_sticks_with_tricks__for_better_or_worse_jets_mike_vaccaro.htm

MANGINI STICKS WITH TRICKS, FOR BETTER OR WORSE

By MIKE VACCARO

November 20, 2006 -- BEFORE we ever knew a thing about the man, we knew of his pedigree. We knew that Bill Parcells begat Bill Belichick, and we knew that Bill Belichick begat Eric Mangini, and if there is one thing for which both the trunk and the main branch of that coaching tree is renowned, it is this:

They are not afraid to gamble. They are not afraid to go when the Book says to stay, they are not afraid to pass when the Book says to run, they are not afraid to zig when the book says to zag. This is the kind of football for which fans are supposed to crave, riverboat football. Anti-Herm football.

When it works, it makes stadiums stand up and roar. And when it fails? Well, the risks you never forget are the ones that don't turn out the right way. Ask a Jets fan if Leon Johnson throwing a halfback option still visits the occasional nightmare.

Mangini took a risk yesterday. The Jets had played the Bears to a dead draw across the first half, would have had a lead if Chad Pennington hadn't come to work dressed up like Richard Todd. The defense had played magnificently. The Meadowlands was jumping, smelling the upset, stalking it.

This is what the Book says to do in just such a situation: kick the ball deep, lob the next volley in the war of field position and attrition, hope for a turnover, settle for a quick three-and-out.

But Mangini had already thrown his copy of the Book into a wood chipper.

"When I heard what we were going to do," kicker Mike Nugent said, "I was very, very excited."

Mangini had called for an onside kick. The Jets had practiced it all week. They'd studied miles of Bears film and detected something that told them they might be vulnerable to just such an audacious decision. Nugent got the news in the pre-kick huddle. The other 10 Jets gathered around him were just as jazzed; so were the others when word started to spread.

"That's exactly the way we should be playing," is the way Jonathan Vilma put it. "You don't want to wait around and see if something can happen. You want to make something happen."

It was bold, sure, and it was brazen, yes, and it wound up irreversibly changing the scope of the game, because Nugent - his words - "didn't quite kick it high enough" and Chris Harris smothered it. The Bears had a short field, and a few moments later it was 3-0, and the Jets were in a fix, and maybe that would have happened anyway, because the Bears are now 9-1 after this 10-0 victory, and the Jets are 5-5.

"I really liked the play, I liked the situation, and I liked the call," Mangini said, a quiet defiance in his voice. "I was comfortable with it. I think it's like anything else. If you like something and you like the opportunity, there's risk involved in everything you do."

Was it reckless? Sure it was. But we already know Mangini isn't afraid of walking on the reckless side of the street. Two months ago, in the second half of a tie game against the Colts, Mangini eschewed what would have been a chip-shot 20-yard field goal in favor of going for it on fourth-and-goal from the 2.

That gamble didn't work, either, and the Jets wound up losing that game, too, and there's little question that most of the coaches currently roaming sidelines in the NFL would suffer from the bends after tempting face twice and getting torched both times.

But there's something else to remember: The best team in the AFC is the Colts right now. The best team in the NFC is the Bears.

And in the season's first 10 weeks, the Jets have been right there with both of them, when they really have little business inhabiting the same stadium with either of them.

The meek may inherit the earth, but they don't play the best teams in the sport even without being partially made of brass. For better and for worse.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/11202006/sports/jets/chad_can_t_rule_game_of_inches_jets_jay_greenberg.htm

CHAD CAN’T RULE GAME OF INCHES

By JAY GREENBERG

November 20, 2006 -- THE better the opponent, the greater the shrinkage of margin for error. And the Bears have a defense even quicker than Chad Pennington to take responsibility, which is very quick indeed.

“Their front seven is especially fast,” said the Jets quarterback.

“They do a great job rushing the passer and penetrating gaps.

“We knew they would get a few plays on us. As long as we minimized those to where we could bounce back and get a few plays on them, we would be OK.”

The Jets never got a single play yesterday, not when it counted. In the second quarter, at thirdand-six at the Chicago six, Pennington didn’t see Brian Urlacher before the Bears’ All-Pro linebacker flashed in front of Chris Baker and reached down and backward for an utterly athletic interception.

In the third quarter, second and-15 at the Bears 30, Pennington failed to notice Nathan Vasher, who cut in front of Baker on a tight-end screen and picked the quarterback again.

Except for Drew Coleman slipping on a 57-yard Rex Grossman touchdown pass to Mark Bradley and a short field off a failed Jets onside kick to start the second half, the two interceptions essentially were the Bears’ 10-0 win yesterday, never mind another exceptional effort by the Jets defense, never mind any other throws a sometimes wide and high Pennington (19-for-35, 162 yards) made during four failed journeys into Chicago territory.

“It’s not easy,” said Pennington, and tell Eli Manning about it. “But (the problem is) simple, the chemistry is a little off.

“My arm feels good. I didn’t miss anything [throwing] behind, that’s for sure. Mentally, this is something I haven’t experienced, the inconsistency. Six inches here and there are causing it. It’s disappointing after the success we had earlier, when the passing game was carrying us.”

“The good thing is it’s something we can fix.”

An even better thing is the Bears finally have left town, leaving the Jets, who fell two games behind the Patriots for the division lead and one behind the Chiefs for the AFC’s final wild card spot, still with far and away the easiest schedule of all the second-tier contenders.

Even at 5-5, anybody can see this is multiple times the team most of us expected them to be. And if Pennington just had seen Laveranues Coles open in the left corner of the end zone before trying Baker on the Urlacher’s interception, the Jets might have beaten the NFL’s best team.

“The read didn’t tell me to go to Laveranues’ side,” said Pennington. “They were playing a cover two zone,

had three on two over there. They just happened to bust the coverage. I can’t control that.

“Chris Baker did a great job winning the route and Urlacher made a great play, broke real quickly. I didn’t see him until I let go.”

Vasher lurked in the flat after Pennington had bumped slightly with Leon Washington on the fake, which didn’t help the quarterback avoid severe pressure. Still Pennington insisted he wasn’t just throwing the ball up

for grabs, actually was throwing it away.

“It looked like there was nobody out there so I threw it in the direction Chris was running [to avoid a grounding penalty],” he said. “Where [Vasher] came from I dont know.”

These Bears, at 9-1, aren’t out of nowhere, even if yesterday it seemed like they were coming from there. Pennington wasn’t born yesterday even if, on two plays, it looked like he was coming fresh from the practice squad. Next week, he’ll be playing Houston, and will see much more, like all of us a different quarterback.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/11202006/sports/jets/houston_has_no_problem_jets_mark_cannizzaro.htm

HOUSTON HAS NO PROBLEM

By MARK CANNIZZARO

November 20, 2006 -- You can excuse Cedric Houston for wondering before yesterday if he were still a part of the Jets' offense.

After suffering an injured knee in Week 4 against the Colts, Houston has been on the inactive list. The few weeks he has been healthy enough to play, he was not invited to the active list by the coaches.

Yesterday, Houston finally got back into the game and ran effectively, leading the Jets with a career-high 50 yards on 11 carries for a 4.5-yard average. "It felt good to put my jersey on, let along play and have a good game," Houston said. "The last three or four weeks, I was thinking I was going to play."

When he got the ball yesterday, Houston said, "I was happy. I had a big smile on my face all day."

While Houston and Leon Washington (13-22) got the bulk of the carries, last week's top runner, Kevan Barlow, got only four carries.

"They wanted to use us in a rotation and that's the way it played out," Barlow said.

*

The Jets slowed themselves on offense with an inexcusable amount of penalties. The guilty parties were LG Pete Kendall for holding and LT D'Brickashaw Ferguson, WR Laveranues Coles, TE Chris Baker and C Nick Mangold, all for false starts. . . . Even though the Jets' defense played well, it still allowed Thomas Jones to rush for 121 yards on 23 carries and the Bears to gain a total of 173 yards on 35 carries.

*

S Kerry Rhodes (eight tackles) had a very active game with a sack of Rex Grossman and several pressures with some blitzes. Rhodes' sack, his fourth of the season, was the only one on Grossman, who has been sacked only 12 times this season.

*

The Jets' offense completely sputtered in the second half, during which it gained only 108 yards. The Bears have now gone all 10 games this season without allowing an opponent to gain 300 yards yards in offense. . . . As for the Jets, they were shut out for the second time this season, the first time that's happened since 1989. . . . Chad Pennington's INT in the end zone to Bears LB Brian Urlacher was only the second pick he's thrown in the red zone in his career.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/11202006/sports/jets/slip_up_costly_to_drew_jets_mark_cannizzaro.htm

SLIP-UP COSTLY TO DREW

By MARK CANNIZZARO

November 20, 2006 -- Drew Coleman, more than any Jets player, needs to employ the five-second rule Eric Mangini has installed as a mandate for his team.

Coleman, the Jets' rookie cornerback, needs to forget about the terrible gaffe he committed to help the Bears seal their 10-0 victory over the Jets and hope he's forgiven.

The fateful play came on the first play of the fourth quarter with Chicago QB Rex Grossman, who had been stifled by the Jets' defense to that point, completed a short pass to Mark Bradley at midfield and Bradley put a little inside spin move on Coleman, who slipped and fell.

From there, Bradley jogged into the end zone untouched for a 10-0 lead. He was untouched because there was no safety help deep with the Jets in a "maximum-pressure" blitz. Both safeties - Kerry Rhodes and Erik Coleman - were rushing the quarterback.

"The margin for error against a really good football team is small," Mangini said. "So, one missed tackle, a mistake under pressure, can be the difference."

And so it was. It broke a tight game into a comfortable Bears' lead.

"I was trying to get to the outside of him to tackle him and he made a good move and he scored," Coleman said. "I knew I had no help; I just tried to slow him down. Unfortunately, I slipped before I could get him slowed down. He made a good move and scored a touchdown. I can't take anything away from him."

Grossman said: "Several times they had an all-out blitz and didn't have safety help, kind of putting the corners out there on an island. It was just a three-step drop and I hit him quick with it. [bradley] turned to the inside and outran everybody. It was a great play by Mark."

It was a devastating blow for Coleman, who had become such a success story for the Jets this season, earning a starting job as a sixth-round draft pick.

"It hurt, because we were in the game and we had been stopping them all day," Coleman said. "It hurts, but I've got to put it behind me and get ready for next week."

As someone asked Coleman if this were likely to "stay with him for a while," Erik Coleman in the next locker, said, "Five-second rule."

"I'm going to put it behind me, but it's always going to be in the back of my head," Drew Coleman said. "It was a big play and they capitalized on it and it was the turning point of the game."

Andre Dyson, a veteran starting cornerback for the Jets, was sympathetic toward his young teammate.

"It's happened to all of us," Dyson said. "It hurts. You live and learn from it. I feel partially responsible, because I feel like I should have been in there in that situation, but I was on the sideline. It should have been me out there in that situation."

Dyson had been knocked out of the game with a neck injury after colliding with teammate Eric Smith on a play in the third quarter.

He was not the only player to encourage Coleman.

"A lot of the guys on defense and offense came up to me and said to put it behind me, that they needed me the rest of the game," he said. "They came up and encouraged me to put it behind me and just get back to focusing on the game."

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.newsday.com/sports/football/jets/ny-sppow204984389nov20,0,4168036.column?coll=ny-jets-print

Chad's limits can lead to risks

Shaun Powell

SPORTS COLUMNIST

November 20, 2006

He called for an onside kick to start the second half in a scoreless game and took a calculated gamble because, well, he had to. Eric Mangini's offense wasn't going anywhere yesterday, not against a defense like the Bears'. He desperately needed a lift.

But Jets kicker Mike Nugent popped up the ball right into the hands of Chicago special-teamer Chris Harris, and that, folks, was the ballgame. The Bears kicked a field goal that essentially became the winning points, and this morning, instead of questioning the strategy of a daring coach who refreshingly plays to win, why not wonder why he was placed in that position? How about wondering, instead, why the Jets can't beat anyone with a big play?

Well, you already know the answer.

Chad Pennington is many things, most of them good, but a downfield thrower he ain't. If he could pass half as far as Ben Graham punts, he'd be dangerous. Instead, the Jets' offense must be designed to maximize his main asset, accuracy, and hide his biggest flaw, the long ball. The Jets, therefore, are constantly stuck in ball-control mode, dinking and dunking their way downfield, hoping to get close enough to the end zone to sneak in.

Early on, they succeeded this way, but it's now Week 11 and the other teams, you know, watch video. By now, they're smart enough to keep their linebackers tight and their safeties in to contain a Jets offense without wings. You might think Mangini's onside-kick decision doesn't quite fly, but if so, neither does the football from Pennington's right hand.

Twice the Jets came within scoring range yesterday, and twice the Bears intercepted short tosses from Pennington to capture a 10-0 victory on a chilly day for football and for scoring.

Brian Urlacher grabbed the first one, when Pennington decided to throw into tight coverage rather than look toward the left side of the end zone, where Laveranues Coles was wide open. The quarterback and his favorite receiver are close friends, but Coles gave Pennington an earful when they left the field.

Then, 30 yards away from the goal line, Pennington felt heat and lofted a helium ball that was picked off by Nathan Vasher.

Against a team that rarely gives you many chances to score, the Jets exhausted both of them and removed themselves from upset contention. Two interceptions of Pennington passes and a missed tackle by cornerback Drew Coleman on a short pass by Rex Grossman that turned into a 57-yard touchdown were the difference in a game featuring a legitimate contender and a team that wants to be one when it grows up.

There is no growth, however, coming from Pennington. With 10 touchdown passes and 11 interceptions on the year, he's as good as he gets.

Sure, ask the Raiders and Redskins and a half-dozen other teams and they'll tell you Pennington is good enough for them. In that sense, the Jets are blessed not to have a major quarterback concern.

But their offense is limited because Pennington can't throw deep. He can't beat anyone with anything but short slants and hope his wideouts turn 10-yard catches into 35-yard gains. Without a dependable week-in-and-week-out running back, that, basically, is the extent of the Jets' attack.

"We're going through a period offensively where things aren't going our way," Pennington said. "It's disappointing to me."

After the Bears scored twice, the Jets tried to muster a rally, and this is where they're weakest. With Pennington, the Jets are about ball control, not quick TD strikes, and they lack the personnel to change the personality of their team.

In that sense, it's quite possible that Coles is the most under-utilized receiver in football, primarily because his routes are limited to curl patterns. Coles has better speed than most receivers, although you'd never know. Given a quarterback with a strong arm, Coles would be one of the best deep threats in football. Instead, the size of his football field is half that of others.

"As a wideout, there's a lot of opportunities out there, especially in one-on-one matchups," Coles said.

Some of those opportunities are wasted because the Jets can't go downfield.

Therefore, don't expect big plays in the coming weeks.

Expect more onside kicks.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.newsday.com/sports/football/jets/ny-spjbar204984390nov20,0,5893807.story?coll=ny-jets-print

Onside kick looked better in practice than game

BY BOB HERZOG

Newsday Staff Writer

November 20, 2006

It worked in practice.

In fact, the Jets' onside-kick drills were so effective in the past couple of weeks that coach Eric Mangini decided the first play of the second half in a scoreless duel was the right time to try it for real. But "practice makes perfect" didn't apply yesterday.

Mike Nugent's popped-up kickoff was caught on the fly by a leaping Bear, Chris Harris, at the Jets' 44, giving Chicago a short field that was turned into a short field goal eight plays later.

Regrets? Mangini had none.

"We went for it because it looked good in practice. It was a good opportunity. I really liked the play. I liked the situation. I liked the call," Mangini said. "If you like something and you like the opportunity, you have to take a calculated risk. It was something we liked, in a situation we liked it in."

That's enough "likes" from the coach to qualify for a teenager's phone conversation, but what no Jet liked was the outcome.

"We had been working on it all week and we knew we were going to take a chance at some point in the game," said Kerry Rhodes, who was supposed to make the recovery. "I guess they [the coaches] thought it was a good time to do it. It didn't work out and they got three points, but we can't second-guess ourselves."

Nugent - who set the ball on the tee, turned and took three short steps, then abruptly came back to the ball and popped it up - said his execution threw off the timing on the play. "In my opinion, I didn't hit it as good as I did in practice," he said. "It needed more height. It got to him [Harris] too fast."

Special-teams captain Matt Chatham said: "It wasn't executed exactly as we've done it in practice. It generally hits at a certain point and Kerry recovers it. We were a little off in what we were trying to get done."

Did they also tip their hand? Nugent insisted, "We didn't do anything to give it away," but at least one Bear thought otherwise.

Harris, who didn't appear the least bit surprised by the kick, said: "From studying their film and knowing who they line up on the right side [the Jets' left side], they had a couple of guys who don't normally line up on the right side."

One of them was Rhodes, a regular player on kickoff coverage who recovered an onside kick against the Colts in Week 4, but one who usually lines up on the other side.

"It's not his No. 1 job, but he comes in and out," Chatham said. "I don't think they were ready for it. I think it was just a one-man thing and the guy made a nice play."

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.newsday.com/sports/football/ny-spjnotes204984411nov20,0,646305.story?coll=ny-football-headlines

JETS NOTEBOOK

Houston, Dwight contribute

BY TOM ROCK

Newsday Staff Writer

November 20, 2006

On a lackluster offensive day, a pair of players who had been absent nearly the entire season accounted for a significant chunk of the Jets' yardage.

Running back Cedric Houston and wide receiver Tim Dwight, who between them had amassed 122 yards in the first nine games, totaled 118 in yesterday's 10-0 loss to the Bears.

Houston, who had been sidelined with a hyperextended knee since Week 4, was the Jets' leading rusher with 50 yards on 11 carries. Dwight made five catches for 40 yards, had the Jets' longest run from scrimmage on a 28-yard reverse in the first quarter, and also returned two punts for 27 yards.

With Houston in the backfield, the Jets' two-man running attack became even more crowded. Kevan Barlow, who had 75 yards against the Patriots last week, was limited to four carries for 2 yards. Rookie Leon Washington carried 13 times for only 22 yards, 16 of them on his one long run.

"Cedric has had some real good weeks of practice and we had all three running backs up because we were committed to running the ball today," Jets coach Eric Mangini said. "The different plays determined the different amount of carries."

Conversation piece

With Chad Pennington directing the no-huddle Jets offense and LB Brian Urlacher making adjustments on defense, there was plenty of talking when the Jets had the ball. "It's a big chess match out there," said center Nick Mangold, who was in the middle of the chatty players. "It was a battle back and forth to see who is going to be in the right play and in the right defense."

Jet streams

Rookie LB Anthony Schlegel dressed for the first time this season and participated in some special-teams plays ... The last NFL game scoreless at halftime was the Steelers-Jaguars contest in Week 2 ... Justin Miller is third on the Jets' all-time kickoff return list with 2,589 career yards and is the second Jet to surpass 1,000 yards in each of his first two seasons. Bruce Harper did it in 1977 and '78.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.newsday.com/sports/football/ny-spjgrades204984412nov20,0,4801522.story?coll=ny-football-headlines

GRADING THE JETS

BY TOM ROCK

November 20, 2006

OFFENSE

D

The Jets' game plan was to establish the run, which they never did, and counterpunch with the pass, which backfired for two interceptions. Chad Pennington had his third poor game of the season, throwing the two picks and completing 19 of 35 for 162 yards. Jets runners were never able to get outside the Bears' speedy defense and managed 108 yards while being taken for a loss on seven plays, six in the first half. Gaining 264 yards against the Bears is pretty good, but the big doughnut that never changed on the Jets' side of the scoreboard is how the unit should be measured.

DEFENSE

B+

Their next-to-last ranking in the NFL might not improve much after allowing 284 yards, but the defense played very well for the second game in a row and has been a unit on the rise since it started playing aggressively late in the Browns loss. Holding the Bears to a field goal after the onside kick to start the second half was impressive and validated Eric Mangini's faith in the unit. The Jets were one missed tackle by Drew Coleman and a resulting 57-yard touchdown pass away from keeping the Bears out of the end zone, but giving up 10 points should be enough to win.

SPECIAL TEAMS

C

The execution on the onside kick was, according to Jets players, slightly askew. Ben Graham boomed some ridiculously long punts - three of them so long that they turned into touchbacks - but his shortest of the game was a 39-yarder right before the Bears' only touchdown. The Jets contained dangerous returner Devin Hester, and Tim Dwight had two punt returns for 27 yards. Lack of trust in Mike Nugent's kicking came up twice as the Jets decided not to try a 52-yard field goal in the first quarter as well as a 49-yarder late in the fourth when they needed points on their next-to-last drive.

COACHING

C

The onside kick to open the second half may or may not have caught the Bears off guard, but it was very Mangini-like to try to stir things up and get the offense jump-started. The coaching staff was effective in avoiding a New England hangover, and this loss came down to execution rather than decision-making. There may not have been any way to properly prepare for the speed of the Bears' defense - rookie linebacker Anthony Schlegel played the role of Brian Urlacher during the week - but after the Jets ran for 91 yards in the first half, the Bears adjusted and limited them to 17 in the second half.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.newsday.com/sports/football/ny-spbears204984384nov20,0,4130025.story?coll=ny-football-headlines

Team from Second City rules in NY

BY ANTHONY RIEBER

Newsday Staff Writer

November 20, 2006

Like many visitors to the New York area this time of year, the Bears thoroughly enjoyed their back-to-back weekends here. They picked up a couple of trinkets to take back to Chicago - a 10-0 victory over the Jets yesterday that can bookend nicely with last Sunday's 38-20 win over the Giants - and head into the final six weeks of the season with a terrific chance to be home for the entire NFC playoffs.

At 9-1, the Bears have the best record in the conference by 2 1/2 games over the Giants. After outscoring the Giants a week ago in a second-half comeback, they whupped the Jets with a refocused defense and just enough offense.

"New York has been good to us," Bears coach Lovie Smith said. "Coming here, tough place to play, getting two wins like that is big. It's big for our ballclub to get that ninth win."

Chicago overcame an unspectacular but turnover-free afternoon from quarterback Rex Grossman (11-for-21, 119 yards, 1 TD) by using its No. 1-ranked defense to record its second shutout of the season. Chad Pennington threw a pair of interceptions, including a killer to linebacker Brian Urlacher in the end zone in the second quarter, when the game was scoreless.

"I was just reading the quarterback's eyes," said Urlacher, who returned the interception 36 yards despite playing with a sprained big toe on his left foot. "In the red zone, you don't have to drop very far. I was just reading his eyes and I don't think he saw me."

The game was still scoreless at halftime. After Robbie Gould's 20-yard field goal early in the third quarter gave the Bears a 3-0 lead, Grossman hooked up with Mark Bradley for a 57-yard touchdown 10 seconds into the fourth. Bradley caught the pass near the right sideline at the 50, made an inside move to escape rookie cornerback Drew Coleman and outran the Jets to the end zone.

"There were several times they had an all-out blitz and didn't have any safety help," Grossman said. "Put the corners kind of on an island."

The Bears held the Jets to 264 yards, keeping alive their seasonlong streak of holding opponents to fewer than 300. Chicago is the only team in the NFL to do that. Jacksonville also has two shutouts this season; Chicago's first was 26-0 at Green Bay on Sept. 10.

"Anytime you get a shutout, especially on the road, there's not a lot of them," Smith said. "Great job by our defense. We were in some tough situations. Big interception from Brian Urlacher really got us out of a bind. We have a lot of playmakers that we expect to make those type of plays."

They expect to be making them in January at Soldier Field. But for now, the Bears will gear up for their third straight road game, at New England next Sunday. New England is close to New York, right? Then the Bears should feel right at home.

Bearing down

Chicago's defense got better as the day went on yesterday. The Jets' fourth-quarter numbers are inflated by their final, futile drive in the 10-0 loss to the Bears:

1st quarter

Jets first downs 5

Jets total yards 105

2nd quarter

First downs 3

Total yards 51

3rd quarter

First downs 2

Total yards 47

4th quarter

First downs 5

Total yards 61

Totals

First downs 15

Total yards 264

[JetCane]

http://www.nj.com/jets/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1164002469273740.xml&coll=1

These alert Bears sniff out trick play, pounce on chance

Monday, November 20, 2006

BY BRIDGET WENTWORTH

Star-Ledger Staff

When the Chicago Bears lined up for the Jets' kickoff at the start of the third quarter, Chris Harris and Darrell McClover immediately knew something was up.

"McClover tapped me and said, 'Hey, I think they're coming this way,'" Harris said.

McClover was right.

Funny how a 9-1 team believes he is good enough to play on their team.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.newsday.com/sports/football/jets/ny-spjqa204984386nov20,0,773938.story?coll=ny-jets-print

JETS Q & A

Can we replay it again?

BY TOM ROCK

Newsday Staff Writer

November 20, 2006

Shouldn't Thomas Jones' fumble in the second quarter have stood up to instant replay?

Sure seemed like it. Though there might not have been enough video evidence for referee Gene Steratore to certainly call it a fumble, there didn't seem to be enough to overturn the call on the field. That call was a fumble (recovered by Kerry Rhodes), and it would have given the Jets the ball at the Bears' 35 with 3:44 left in the half. "During the play I felt like it came out," said safety Eric Smith, who forced the ball loose but was unable to see a clear replay. Once overturned, the Bears punted and the Jets took over at their own 24, a swing of 41 yards.

Was Laveranues Coles open on Chad Pennington's first interception?

Yes, but he shouldn't have been. The Bears had a numbers advantage on that side of the field - three-to-two, according to Pennington - which kept the quarterback's attention focused on the right. "The read didn't tell me to go to Laveranues' side," Pennington said.

Doesn't Bears QB Rex Grossman usually crumble under pressure?

Well, the Bears game-planned their way out of that by using quick three-step drops in the second half and relying on Thomas Jones and his 121 rushing yards to carry the offense. "The likelihood of getting a turnover when they are not doing dropbacks is much less for us," Jets linebacker Matt Chatham said. The Jets' pressure did seem to rattle Grossman but never forced him to make a turnover. It was the first game since Oct. 8 that Grossman did not fumble or throw an interception.

What happened on the opening kickoff?

The Bears appeared to choose to defend one end zone at the opening coin toss, but when the teams lined up in that formation, the Bears balked. After consultation with the officials, the teams switched ends.

When was the last time the Jets were shut out twice in the same season?

You'd have to go back to 1989 when they lost, 13-0, to Pittsburgh in the 14th game and 37-0 against the Bills in the regular-season finale. The Jets were blanked, 41-0, by the Jaguars earlier this season.

Are the Jets' playoff hopes still a reality?

Yes, but a slightly dimmed reality. They might have seen their dreams of a division title vanish with this loss. But the Jets still have the easiest remaining schedule of all the wild-card contenders, and five wins in the last six games would not be an outrageous accomplishment.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.newsday.com/sports/football/jets/ny-spjets204984392nov20,0,6928605.story?coll=ny-jets-print

BEARS 10, JETS 0

Close far from top caliber

Handful of big plays by Bears turn back Jets, who don't measure up

BY TOM ROCK

Newsday Staff Writer

November 20, 2006

As measuring sticks go, this was a tough one.

The Bears have been one of the favorites to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl since training camp opened, have cruised through the regular season led by a nearly impenetrable defense, and seem poised to continue their push toward the playoffs after their second straight successful visit to Giants Stadium.

The Jets, well, what can be said about them with any degree of certainty?

Are they a playoff team? Perhaps. Do they have a solid defense? They were good yesterday, but look at the stats for the whole season. Can they outscore their mistakes? They sure couldn't yesterday. Is the head coach a genius? Less so than last week, thanks to a misplaced chip on the second-half kickoff.

With a chance to not only capture back-to-back "quality" wins but two straight victories of any kind - the kind they use to determine who plays in January - the Jets remain a mystery.

Several key breakdowns in execution kept them from making a clarifying statement about their still-murky season and led to a second shutout loss this year. One interception, one missed tackle and one questionable strategic call were the only scraps the Jets were willing to feed these hungry Bears, but Chicago managed to turn the morsels into a 10-0 meal.

A week after earning a world-beater mentality with a road win over the Patriots, the Jets (5-5) were splashed with reality.

"We know we're not there yet, but we know we're close," linebacker Matt Chatham said. "Those are the kinds of teams that by the end of December we need to consistently be able to beat to be the team we want to be."

As for measuring up to the 9-1 Bears, the Jets weren't in a compare-and-contrast mood after the game. Although the loss may have sapped all of the momentum won a week ago, it did little to shake the optimism.

"None of us are shaking," said receiver Laveranues Coles, who had eight catches for 80 yards. "We feel good about what we've been doing all year."

The Bears' only touchdown came on one of those few Jets gaffes. On second-and-6 on the first snap of the fourth quarter, Rex Grossman reacted to a Jets blitz and threw a short pass to Mark Bradley on a curl route. Cornerback Drew Coleman was alone in coverage and said he tried to force Bradley to the inside of the field, where he knew his help would be. But Bradley juked Coleman, forcing the rookie to slip, and took off for a 57-yard scoring play that made it 10-0 with 14:50 remaining.

"When you blitz and take chances, you've got to be able to make those tackles on the perimeter," Jets coach Eric Mangini said.

The Jets had one true opportunity to score, but linebacker Brian Urlacher stepped in the way. After driving deep into Bears territory early in the second quarter with a mix of eight runs and four passes, the Jets faced third-and-goal at the 6, but Chad Pennington threw the first of his two interceptions to squash momentum. Looking right the whole way without seeing Urlacher lurking - or Coles open on the left side of the end zone - Pennington tried to split a pair of defenders on a pass to tight end Chris Baker. Urlacher stepped in front of Baker for the pick and returned it to the Bears' 33.

"Chris Baker did a great job on the route and Urlacher made a great play," Pennington said. "He just broke on the football really quickly and made a great play. I didn't see him until I let go of the football."

With the Jets allowing a season-low 80 yards in the first half and the offense struggling against the Bears' granite facade, Mangini tried to spark the team by opening the second half with an onside kick. The Bears may have sniffed out the play - they said they suspected something was up, based on personnel - and when Mike Nugent's short pop-up kick didn't go as high as it had in practice, Chris Harris made a nice catch to give Chicago the ball at the Jets' 44.

The Bears had first-and-goal at the 4, but the Jets stopped Thomas Jones three times and held Chicago to a 20-yard field goal and the first points of the game.

The Jets' next drive ended just as their jaunt into the red zone in the second quarter had, with an interception by a defender Pennington never saw.

This time, after moving along on a seven-play drive to the Bears' 25 (the Jets then were pushed back by a false start to set up second-and-15 from the 30), Pennington rolled right and intended to throw a screen pass back to his left for Baker. Speedy defensive end Alex Brown got to Pennington before left tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson could roll into the proper pass protection, and when Pennington tried to float the ball into open space, cornerback Nathan Vasher was there to pick it off.

The Jets never got close to the Bears' end zone again.

[Sperm Edwards]

Bears get second straight in Meadowlands

East Rutherford, NJ (Sports Network) - Thomas Jones gained 121 yards on 23 carries as the Chicago Bears eeked out a 10-0 win over the New York Jets at Giants Stadium.

Rex Grossman completed 11-of-22 passes for 119 yards and a touchdown for the Bears (9-1), who beat the Giants, 38-20, at Giants Stadium last Sunday night. Mark Bradley hauled in four passes for 80 yards and a score.

"We expected them to blitz a bunch, and we stayed real conservative to try to get into a flow of what they were trying to do to us," said Grossman. "In turn that kind of threw me off a little bit because we never felt like we got into a rhythm. For the most part we didn't let them score, we ran the football well and we're going to win a lot of football games doing that."

Brian Urlacher made 11 tackles and picked off a pass while Nathan Vasher also intercepted a ball for Chicago, which is 9-1 for the first time since 1990.

Chad Pennington was 19-of-35 for 162 yards with two interceptions, including one in the Chicago end zone, while Laveranues Coles made eight catches for 80 yards for the Jets (5-5), who were shutout twice for the first time in a season since 1989.

"You've got to give them credit, they no how to play good defense," said Pennington. "We knew going into this game that we couldn't turn the ball over, that was key. We ended up having two turnovers, which set us back a little bit, but right now offensively we're going through a period where things just aren't going our way."

Cedric Houston ran the ball 11 times for 50 yards for New York, which has lost two of its last three games.

New York head coach Eric Mangini's decision to open up the third quarter with an onside kick after holding the Bears to no points in the first half proved costly, as Jones then ran the ball seven straight times, gaining 42 yards, before being stopped short on 3rd-and-goal. Robbie Gould booted a 20-yard field goal to draw first blood for a 3-0 lead.

New York once again was deep in Chicago territory when Pennington, who was under pressure from Alex Brown, floated a pass that was picked off by Vasher at the Bears 25.

Chicago extended its lead to 10-0 on the first play of the fourth quarter on a 57-yard TD pass to Bradley. Erik Coleman slipped on the coverage and there was no safety in the middle of the field to pick up coverage as the receiver raced downfield to the end zone.

The best drive by any team in the first half came from the Jets, who drove into the Bears' red zone before Urlacher picked off a pass in the end zone on 3rd-and-goal.

The Jets defense limited the Bears to just three first downs and 80 total yards of offense, including minus-one yard passing in the first 30 minutes, allowing Chicago to cross midfield once.

Game Notes

The Bears lead the all-time series 6-3...Grossman is 13-4 as a starter...This is the first time Pennington has made 10 consecutive starts in his career...Pennington threw just the second red-zone interception of his career...This was only the second scoreless first half of the NFL season (Jacksonville versus Pittsburgh on Monday night in Week 2). The Bears lead the NFL with 151 first-half points...Jets cornerback Andre Dyson left the game with a neck injury in the third quarter...Chicago has won 19 of its last 22 games...The Bears were penalized 10 times for 65 yards.

11/19 17:32:07 ET

powered by www.sportsnetwork.com.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/story/473083p-398064c.html

Jets net zero on Bear hunt

Shut out as Pennington and Mangini flop

BY RICH CIMINI

DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Eric Mangini's decision to try

an onside kick to start the

second half backfired yesterday.

Mark Bradley is in the clear en

route to a 57-yard touchdown

for the Bears.

It was dry and cool yesterday for the Jets' first home game in a month, a clean departure from the New England slop. But after three hours with the Bears, the Jets sure looked a lot messier than last week.

Chad Pennington's confidence was caked with mud, and his receivers were soaked with frustration. The passing game, so electric at the outset of the season, needs a trip to the cleaners, pronto. Their second shutout in six games left the quarterback in a self-proclaimed funk.

"Physically, I feel good. Mentally, this is something I haven't experienced in my career - the inconsistency part," Pennington said after the 10-0 loss at Giants Stadium.

In the span of seven days, the Jets went from singing in the rain to slinging in vain, or at least that's the way it seems every time Pennington drops back to pass. He threw two drive-killing interceptions, including an end-zone pick by linebacker Brian Urlacher, making it seven interceptions and no touchdown passes in the Jets' last three losses.

"Offensively, we destroyed the game for the defense," wide receiver Laveranues Coles said. "Our defense played an excellent game. Offensively, we lost the game."

The Jets' revived defense played another terrific game, keeping the Bears (9-1) out of the end zone for the first 45 minutes, but the Jets lost because of four critical mistakes. Three were made by the smartest guys on the team: coach Eric Mangini and Pennington.

Mangini didn't look like such a "Man-genius" with an onside kick to start the second half - a gamble that backfired and set up a Chicago field goal. As for Pennington, he ruined the Jets' best two drives with a telegraphed pass into the end zone (see Urlacher) and an attempted throwaway that landed in the hands of cornerback Nathan Vasher.

As a result, the Jets (5-5) dropped two games behind the first-place Patriots in the AFC East, absorbing a blow to their wild-card hopes. They hadn't been shut out twice in a season since 1989.

The back-to-reality defeat won't cost Mangini his job. But is the clock ticking on Pennington? After his sixth straight game under 200 yards, it's fair to wonder about his job security. Mangini, who gave no indication that he's even contemplating a change, defended his quarterback, as usual.

"I think Chad made a lot of good decisions," Mangini said. "Chad got us into a lot of good plays. There are plays I'm sure he'd like to have back, but he got us into good plays."

But Pennington admitted the Jets have been "ineffective in the passing game," and that his mojo with the receivers has gone AWOL. That was apparent on the Urlacher interception, a third-down play from the Bears' 5. Pennington looked for tight end Chris Baker the entire way, not seeing a wide-open Coles on the opposite side of the end zone.

After the play, Coles approached Pennington. Afterward, both players were unusually curt when asked about the conversation.

"What I discuss with my teammates is nobody's business," said Coles, who caught a team-high eight passes for only 80 yards.

Pennington also didn't elaborate on the conversation. Asked why he didn't throw to Coles, he became a bit defensive.

"The read didn't tell me to go to Laveranues' side," said Pennington, whose interception total has ballooned to 11, one shy of his career high. "They just happened to bust a coverage, so I can't control that."

Pennington (19-for-35, 162 yards) admitted he didn't see Urlacher, who said he was "just reading the quarterback's eyes." He also didn't see Vasher on a tight-end screen in the third quarter.

Under pressure from Alex Brown, who got past left tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Pennington lofted a pass across the field "in the screen area." He thought it was going to be a safe throwaway, but the Bears were in zone coverage, not man-to-man, and Vasher was in perfect position.

"We saw that (on film)," said Bears defensive coordinator Ron Rivera, claiming the Jets liked to use the tight-end screen in that situation.

Said Pennington: "Where he came from, I don't know."

Against a team like the Bears, who began the day with a league-leading 27 takeaways, the Jets knew they had little margin for error. They made one blunder on defense, as rookie cornerback Drew Coleman missed a tackle on an all-out blitz. It turned a seven-yard hitch into a 57-yard score for Mark Bradley.

Another rookie, Mangini, also contributed to the loss with the onside-kick gamble. Clearly, Mangini, concerned about Pennington's ability to move the ball against the NFL's top-rated defense, wanted his offense to have a short field.

"I really liked the play, I liked the situation, I liked the call," said Mangini, defending the strategy.

But several Chicago players said they knew something was fishy when Kerry Rhodes, who usually lines up on the right side, switched to left. Former Jet Darrell McClover alerted Chris Harris moments before Mike Nugent's kick.

"He hit me in the chest and said, 'Hey, I think it's coming this way,'" said Harris, who made the recovery.

A sloppy decision. A sloppy day.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/story/473084p-398066c.html

Chad picks bad time

Brutal day, but don't count out Jets just yet

By Mike Lupica

Chad Pennington hears it

from Laveranues Coles as

Bears make end zone

interception in the first

half.

Below, Pennington

gets hit by Alex Brown

while throwing another

interception, this time

in the second half.

The Jets were a tough out yesterday, and have been all year. This was still a tough loss. This was the wrong Sunday to be the team we thought we were getting instead of the one they had turned into just the Sunday before. They could have beaten the Bears yesterday, the best in the NFC. They could have beaten them in the big 1 o'clock game on Fox. They got shut out instead. In the second half it became clear the Jets could play all the way until "Desperate Housewives" and still not get a score.

Now there is no disgrace in losing to the defense of the Chicago Bears, because it is a defense big enough and bad enough to take them all the way to the Super Bowl. The Giants saw it at Giants Stadium last Sunday night and now the Bears have come right back and done it to the Jets. The Bears are 9-1 now. They can go all the way to the Super Bowl as long as Rex Grossman doesn't do what Chad Pennington did to the Jets yesterday, which means throw away his team's best chances to win the game.

Pennington did that in the first half when he had a chance to give the Jets a 7-0 lead, at a time when seven points would have felt like a basketball score the way the game was going. Pennington had his team down by the Bears' end zone and it was here that he took a shot at Chris Baker, who looked open. Looked open. Wasn't. Because Brian Urlacher, one of the great players in the sport, was looking at Pennington, reading him the way people read the Sunday crossword in the Times.

As soon as Pennington released the ball, Urlacher, three yards deep in that end zone, stepped in, took the ball away, ran the other way. It was going to be the Jets' best shot to score against the Bears yesterday. In the second half especially, this became a game in which the Jets looked more like the team that was supposed to win just four games this season than the team that has won five already.

It was also a game in which Pennington, even with better numbers, couldn't out-quarterback Grossman, who was 5-for-11 in the first half against the Jets with seven passing yards. Grossman really made one play of consequence, a 57-yard pass-run play with Mark Bradley. And Grossman only got that because the Jets were in a blitz and Drew Coleman, alone against Bradley on the outside, slipped and fell.

So Pennington wasn't the only one playing a rag-arm game yesterday, and not just at Giants Stadium. Pennington threw a couple of bad interceptions on the same day when the great Peyton Manning did the same thing in Dallas, and Manning wasn't going up against the likes of Urlacher and Nathan Vasher. Pennington threw it to Urlacher and looked like a raw rookie doing it. In the second half, under a big rush, being chased to his right and having just bumped into Leon Washington, one of his own guys, Pennington threw a screen pass in Baker's direction that looked like a kite until Vasher pulled it down.

"We knew going in that we couldn't turn the ball over," Pennington said.

He did it twice. Grossman, even getting lucky because a guy fell down, only made one play and it was still one more than Pennington did. Again: He was up against the Bears. When he threw that ball into the end zone, it wasn't just any linebacker, sitting there, it was Urlacher, the heir to Butkus in Chicago. When he went back into the pocket, it wasn't just any defense chasing him, it was, pound for pound, the best in the game. Pennington still didn't do very much to help his team win the game.

"Elementary physics," Pete Kendall of the Jets said in front of his locker afterward. "Mass times velocity."

This was the day when the Jets got no help from the quarterback and even got roughed up a bit by their coach, who decided that the start of the second half was the time for an onside kick. The Bears recovered on the Jets' 44-yard line and Thomas Jones ran the ball seven straight times from there, running the way you expected everybody to run against the Jets this season, and just over four minutes into the second half, the Bears were ahead 3-0.

Then just 10 seconds into the fourth quarter, Grossman threw his little pass in the flat and Bradley ran away and it was 10-0 for the Bears. They are the champions of Giants Stadium, tied with Manning's Colts for the best record in the NFL.

Two weeks ago, they lost at home to the Dolphins and people in Chicago had them going straight from 7-0 to 7-4. It was silly to write them off then, it's silly to write off the Jets now, not with the Texans still on the schedule and Buffalo still on the schedule, and the Vikings and the Dolphins. If they can beat the Patriots in Foxboro they can play with all those teams. They just lost out on some chance yesterday, a big game on Fox with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman and the whole pregame show at Giants Stadium.

"(The problems on offense) aren't anything we can't fix," Pennington said afterward.

He got his shoulder fixed, came back and won back his job when nobody thought he would do that. He is the easiest player in town for whom to root, even if his heart will always be much bigger than his arm. He still had a big shot at the Bears yesterday. He wasn't up to the job and neither were the Jets.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/story/473134p-398107c.html

Should be kicking themselves

By Gary Myers

Monday, November 20th, 2006

Eric Mangini surely watched enough tape of the Giants-Bears game from last week to make him dizzy. But for a smart guy, he was too stubborn to learn from Tom Coughlin's crucial mistake: Don't get too cute against the resourceful Bears.

Mangini fell into the same costly trap as Coughlin, picking the wrong time to succumb to the pressure of creating points on special teams in an attempt to overcome a lousy game by his quarterback. It was a big reason the Jets failed to build on last week's victory in New England and lost to Chicago, 10-0, on a day the Bears were begging the Jets to beat them.

The Jets' rookie coach opened the second half of a scoreless game with an onside kick. The Jets knew it was coming. So, apparently, did the Bears, who say they were tipped off by the Jet formation when Kerry Rhodes lined up on the left side. Chris Harris, a safety who obviously has good hands, easily recovered Mike Nugent's one-hopper at the Jets' 44, giving the inept Bears offense a much-appreciated short field. After the Jets stopped the Bears at the 2, Robbie Gould hit a 20-yard field goal.

It changed the feel of the game. The three-point deficit felt like 30.

Mangini didn't listen to his own pregame warning to his team: Don't give the ball away.

"We have been practicing it for quite a few weeks. It looked good in practice," Mangini said. "It was a good opportunity. I really like the play. I liked the situation. I liked the call."

So did Coughlin last week when he allowed Jay Feely to try a 52-yard field goal into the wind with over 11 minutes left and the Giants trailing by only 24-20. But Coughlin was trying to get points any way he could because Eli Manning was in the midst of a meltdown game. Devin Hester caught Feely's short kick eight yards deep in the end zone and by the time he went 108 yards, tying a record for the longest play in NFL history, Coughlin had taken the Giants out of the game.

Mangini shows every sign of being an excellent coach who very seldom will get outcoached. But he must learn when to pick his spots. He was successful with an onside kick against the Colts earlier this season, with Rhodes recovering, and it led to a touchdown. It made sense then because the Jets were going to need a lot of points to beat Indy. But he blew it later against the Colts in a tight game by unsuccessfully going for it on fourth down instead of kicking a field goal.

What he did yesterday was reckless. Pennington was playing terribly and had thrown the second red-zone interception of his career in the first half when he was picked off in the end zone by Brian Urlacher. He was trying to force a ball to Chris Baker when Laveranues Coles was wide open in the left corner. But Bears quarterback Rex Grossman had seven yards passing at the half. The Jets had limited Chicago to 80 yards.

This had become a field position game. It's great to be aggressive - Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick are never afraid to take risks - but Mangini selected the wrong time. He has changed the culture around the Jets, and the easy schedule the last six weeks - not playing one team that currently has a winning record - means they are very much in play, even at 5-5, for a wild-card spot.

That's why Mangini needed to just let his team keep playing against the Bears, instead of trying to make up for Pennington having another poor game. "There is risk involved in everything you do," Mangini said. "You've got to take calculated risks."

He put the defense in a bad spot, but Jonathan Vilma supported the decision. "Coach is going to go for the win, not play to lose," the linebacker said.

The Bears crossed midfield only once in the first half and made it only as far as the Jets' 41. So, why give them a shot with a short field? Harris said special teams coach Dave Taub told them in the sideline huddle, "Watch something fishy."

Then when they were lined up, Darrell McGlover, a linebacker cut by the Jets in training camp over the summer, "hit me and said, 'I think it might be coming this way,'" Harris said. "So we were ready for it."

Nugent said he should have made the ball take a bigger bounce. Harris, who moved up a little bit anticipating the onside kick, grabbed it before Rhodes or Eric Smith could get close to him. Harris said he was tipped off when Rhodes and not Rashad Washington was lined up on his side.

"That put up a red flag. This coach is known to do some things," Harris said.

All he wanted to do was hold onto the ball with the cavalry coming. "I was jacked up," he said. "To get that and create a short field for our offense and put them in scoring position, it's like getting an interception on defense."

The 3-0 deficit seemed insurmountable. It became 10-0 on the first play of the fourth quarter when Grossman caught the Jets in an all-out blitz and hit Mark Bradley on an eight-yard curl. Bradley spun away from rookie corner Drew Coleman and went 57 yards for the only touchdown of the game with nobody around to provide deep help.

Not even Mangini, who didn't help the Jets at all.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/story/473135p-398109c.html

Chicago double dip Swamps locals

BY OHM YOUNGMISUK

DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

The Chicago Bears didn't leave the Meadowlands last night singing "New York, New York."

But they could have after once again making Giants Stadium their home away from Chicago. For the second straight week, the Bears left the Swamp with a win, shutting out the Jets, 10-0.

Just call them the Monsters of the Meadowlands. After hammering the Giants, 38-20, last Sunday night, the Bears returned to their cramped visitors' locker room and collected another New York win at the expense of the Jets.

"New York has been good for us," said Bears coach Lovie Smith, whose team has two shutouts this season. "Coming here is a tough place to play and getting two wins here is big."

So far, the Bears and Colts - the teams with the best record in the NFL at 9-1 - are both 2-0 at the Meadowlands. However, while Peyton Manning's crew narrowly beat the Giants and Jets by a combined eight points, the Bears imposed their defensive will on Tom Coughlin's and Eric Mangini's teams.

In the second half of both their wins at the Meadowlands, the Bears took control of tight games and outscored the Giants and Jets by a combined 38-7.

Whenever the Bears needed a game-changing play, they got it.

Against the Giants, it was Devin Hester's historic 108-yard return of Jay Feely's missed 52-yard field goal that proved to be the backbreaker.

Yesterday, the Bears took advantage of two costly Jet mistakes. The first was the Jets' decision to attempt an onside kick at the start of the second half. With the game scoreless, the Bears, they said later, were tipped off by the Jet formation when Kerry Rhodes lined up on the left side. They recovered the kick, and turned it into a Robbie Gould field goal.

Then at the start of the fourth quarter, wide receiver Mark Bradley took a short pass and turned it into a 57-yard score when cornerback Drew Coleman slipped and missed the tackle. (Bradley had snagged a 29-yard touchdown pass from Rex Grossman against the Giants.)

The Bears then left it up to their defense, which suffocated the Jets for much of the game.

Chad Pennington threw two interceptions and couldn't get anything but short passes going. One of the picks came in the second quarter, that on third-and-6 from the Bears' 6 when Brian Urlacher read Pennington's eyes and intercepted a pass intended for tight end Chris Baker in the end zone.

For the second straight week, the Bears were constantly in the right place at the right time. Perhaps it's because the Bears feel as comfortable in the Meadowlands as they do on their practice field in suburban Chicago.

"We can make (Giants Stadium) our home field," said safety Chris Harris, who recovered the onside kick. "That is big, to come on the road, two weeks in a row and get a win and then a shutout. That is hard."

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/story/473085p-398069c.html

Grossman avoids blitz and bloopers

BY OHM YOUNGMISUK

DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Mark Bradley heads for the end zone

on his game-breaking touchdown in

the fourth quarter yesterday. Below,

he celebrates with Cedric Benson.

The Jets had managed to get to Tom Brady the week before. So they figured by blitzing again, they should be able to rattle Rex Grossman into making at least one costly mistake yesterday.

Instead, it was the Jets' defense that made one major miscue and the Bears took advantage, turning it into the lone touchdown of the game. Drew Coleman slipped and missed a tackle in the open field, allowing Chicago wide receiver Mark Bradley to take a short pass and turn it into a 57-yard fourth-quarter score that secured Chicago's 10-0 victory.

As for Grossman, he weathered the blitzes and conservatively managed the Bears' offense without throwing an interception.

"It is disappointing because we knew it would come down to somebody making a play," linebacker Jonathan Vilma said. "They were the ones to make the play, unfortunately."

"It was a good game plan," Vilma added. "We executed. It was just one play we didn't execute well. Rex did a good job. We thought he would turn the ball over. He didn't do that, which is a sign of professionalism on his part and a good quarterback."

When Grossman struggles, so do the Bears. In a 24-23, turnover- and special-teams-fueled victory over Arizona, Grossman threw four interceptions and fumbled twice. And in the Bears' 31-13 loss to the Dolphins, he was picked off three times while fumbling once. Even last week against the Giants, Grossman threw an interception when the Giants' blitz got to him in the first half.

After pressuring Brady in last week's win over New England, the Jets figured they could unsettle Grossman. But Grossman made sure not to throw any balls up for grabs. Grossman took care of the ball as Thomas Jones rushed for 121 yards and Cedric Benson racked up 51 yards on the ground. Grossman completed 11 of 22 passes for 119 yards.

"We stayed real conservative," Grossman said of countering the Jets' blitz. "That might have thrown me off a little bit - I never felt like we got into a rhythm. But we didn't let them score. Several times they had an all-out blitz and didn't have any safety help, kind of putting the corners out there on an island."

That was the case when Grossman took a three-step drop before hitting Bradley for his touchdown with 14:50 left.

"I tried to get outside to tackle him," Coleman said. "He made a good move and I slipped. It was the turning point of the game."

Otherwise, the Jets played a solid defensive game. They had difficulty stopping the run but the defense certainly did its part in keeping the Jets in the game. The other three points the defense surrendered came after the Jets tried and failed on a surprise onside kick at the start of the second half, giving the Bears the ball at the Jets' 44.

The Jets figured Grossman was the Bears' weak link. They thought he would be good for a turnover or two. Grossman did not oblige.

"I've had some great games this year and some so-so to bad games," Grossman said. "I'm trying my best and I think that hopefully people come into games thinking I am the weakness and I can prove them wrong."

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/story/473133p-398105c.html

Jets Bear down in loss

The Jets weren't manhandled yesterday by the Bears, as some predicted. Some players refused to even acknowledge they had been outplayed in the 10-0 loss. When that notion was suggested to Laveranues Coles, he glared at the questioner.

"I don't know what game you were watching," Coles said. "They always tell us to give the other team credit, and I'll give them credit for winning the game, but it's nothing they did to us. We beat ourselves. ... We let a very good opportunity slip away from us."

The loss may have provided a dose of reality after last week's emotional win over the Patriots. Or maybe not.

"These games are measuring-stick games," LB Matt Chatham said, "but to say it was a slap in the face, I wouldn't say that."

KICKING, NOT STICKING: Trailing by two scores with 6:11 left in the game, Eric Mangini eschewed a 50-yard field goal and elected to punt. Huh? He explained that he was confident the defense could get a three-and-out and that, with three timeouts and the two-minute warning, there was enough time for two scores.

HOUSTON BACK: The Jets' plan was to attack on the ground. Made sense, considering the Bears had allowed a 100-yard rusher in each of the previous three games. But how the Jets did it came as a surprise. Mangini removed Cedric Houston from mothballs, making him and Leon Washington the featured backs. By doing so, Kevan Barlow, coming off his best game, was an afterthought. "Cedric has had some real good weeks of practice and we had all three running backs (active) because we were committed to running the ball," Mangini said. "The different plays determined the different amounts of carries."

Washington ran 13 times for 22 yards, getting tackled five times behind the line of scrimmage. Houston (11-for-50), who hadn't played since hyperextending a knee in Week 4, was their most effective back. Barlow (four carries, two yards) also struggled, getting dropped twice behind the line.

"That's how Coach likes it, and that's how it's going to be," said Barlow, who rushed for a season-high 75 yards last week. "If it's working, there's no reason to complain."

OPEN SEASON: Coles refused to reveal what he told Chad Pennington after the second-quarter interception in the end zone, a throw to TE Chris Baker, but he confirmed he was wide open. "I was fortunate to get left uncovered," said Coles, adding that it doesn't happen too often. "It was a great play for me."

It was the second red-zone interception of Pennington's career, both this season. ... CB Andre Dyson left in the third quarter with an undisclosed neck injury. His head snapped backward in a collision with teammate Eric Smith. He was replaced by Justin Miller. ... The first half was scoreless, only the second time that's happened this season in the league.

Rich Cimini