CHICAGO — At long last, Vance Joseph’s defense showed up in the Second City and made a statement.
This Chicago team is bad. Its offense has been bad. But it was rolling along just fine against the Broncos defense as it scored four touchdowns in five possessions after an opening punt.
Then the script flipped.
The Broncos reeled off the game’s final 24 points thanks to Russell Wilson and the offense, sure, but also thanks to Joseph’s defense. A scoop-and-score fumble return for Jonathon Cooper tied the game. A fourth-down stop with 2 minutes, 52 seconds to go prevented the Bears from running the clock down and kicking a go-ahead field goal — although they could have opted for that on fourth-and-1.