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Bears-Dolphins: What we learned

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CHICAGO — The Miami Dolphins were coming off a disheartening, last-second loss to Green Bay. The Chicago Bears were coming off their best performance of the year, particularly on offense, in a victory at Atlanta.

Two teams that seemed to be going in opposite directions reversed course on Sunday at Soldier Field.

With Miami quarterback Ryan Tannehill completing his first 14 passes, and the Chicago offense stuck in neutral most of the day, the Dolphins upset the Bears, 27-14, in a game that truly was not nearly that close.

“It looked like we dominated them the whole game,” said defensive end Randy Starks of Miami.

The Dolphins penetrated the Bears’ 20-yard line six times, but only three of the opportunities resulted in touchdowns. Chicago, meanwhile, crossed midfield only four times in the entire game.

Joe Philbin, the Miami coach, said he sensed on Tuesday when his players returned to work after the Green Bay defeat, that they would bounce back.

“Even before I analyzed the (practice) film, I told the team it was the best practice of the year,” Philbin said. “I think all of us had a lot of confidence the team was going to play well.”

Miami had to bounce back again on Sunday. After dominating the first half, but leading only 14-0, the Dolphins permitted the Bears to get back in the game with a touchdown drive from the second half kickoff.

But Tannehill, whose passer rating of 123.6 was the highest of his three-year career, immediately told teammates, “We’re going to answer.”

It was quite an answer, too, an 83-yard, 13-play touchdown drive keyed by a 4th-and-1 read option, 30-yard run by Tannehill to the Chicago 9-yard line. Two plays later, running back Lamar Miller scored on a 2-yard run for a 21-7 lead.

“I really like the way our offense responded and took command of the game,” Philbin said.

With the victory, the Dolphins evened their record at 3-3. Chicago lost its third straight home game — the first time in 10 years the Bears started 0-3 at home — and fell to 3-4 with a remaining schedule that still includes trips to New England (next week) and Green Bay and home games against Dallas and New Orleans.

“Today was an unacceptable performance by our football team,” said Marc Trestman, the Bears’ coach, who said he had “a very sick locker room.”

What the Dolphins said:

“We got after the quarterback and stopped the run. I think the main thing was stopping the run because once you do that, you can make them one dimensional.” — Defensive end Randy Starks. The Bears were limited to 52 yards on 14 rushes.

–“The rhythm of their passing game never got untracked. That’s a testament to a lot of things — good coverage, good pass rush.” — Coach Joe Philbin.

What the Bears said:

“We shouldn’t be 3-4. Our offense has got to play better. It’s as simple as that.” — Wide receiver Brandon Marshall.

–“We’ve got to protect the ball. We’ve got to convert on third down. We’ve got to get a rhythm going. We’ve got to get Matt (Forte) going a little earlier in the game. I’ve just got to lead this group and try to find a way to make sure we play clean football for four quarters.” — Quarterback Jay Cutler.

What we learned about the Dolphins:

1. The quarterback read-option may become more than just a passing fancy in the Miami playbook. Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill rushed six times for 48 yards, maintaining a season-long average of more than six yards a carry.

2. Their offensive line is pretty good. Watching the Dolphins’ pulling linemen and their one-on-one blocks was almost a clinic on how to do it. Their 137 yards rushing and 4.2 a carry was no fluke and whenever they seemed to need a couple of yards on the ground, they got them.

–QB Ryan Tannehill’s 123.6 passer rating was the highest of his three-year NFL career. His previous high was 123.2 against Jacksonville as a rookie in 2012.

–DE Cameron Wake who now has 4.5 sacks in six games, made a terrific play early in the fourth quarter, chasing down Jay Cutler from behind, stripping the ball and recovering the fumble himself. It was part of a 3-0 edge in takeaways for Miami.

–PK Caleb Sturgis had made 9 of 10 field goal attempts in the season’s first five games. But he missed wide right from 50 yards and had a 37-yard attempt block. Surges did connect from 33 and 19 yards in the fourth quarter.

What we learned about the Bears:

1. You have to wonder if this team is on the verge of unraveling. A testy locker room in which many fingers were pointed by players — at teammates and fans, in particular — and the failure of Jay Cutler and his receivers to get into any kind of rhythm, not to mention the defense to allowing more than 37 minutes possession time — had to be disheartening.

2. They have more than one good passrusher, but the sacks and pressures do not seem to come at critical times. Going into the game, Willie Young led the NFL in sacks with seven. Against Miami, Jeremiah Ratliff made three and a half sacks, all the first half. But the Dolphins still led, 14-0, at halftime.

–QB Jay Cutler’s passer rating of 74.4 was his lowest of the season and his 190 yards passing was his second-lowest of the year. Cutler hadn’t had a lower rating since he turned in a 73.8 in a 54-11 blowout defeat at Philadelphia last year.

–The wide receivers get more attention but RB Matt Forte is quietly putting together a terrific season for Chicago. After just two rushing attempts in the first half, Forte rushed for 49 yards on 12 carries, caught six passes for 60 yards and scored both Bears’ touchdowns. QB Jay Cutler leads the Bears in both rushing and receiving yardage and has 884 scrimmage yards in seven games.

–CB Kyle Fuller, who shared the league lead with three interceptions before Sunday, left the game in the third quarter due to a hip injury and did not return.

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