Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 6, 1995 TAG: 9508290070
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: CHICAGO LENGTH: Medium
The Carolina Panthers looked the Chicago Bears square in the eye Friday night. But they had no idea what to do next.
The Bears watched Carolina's John Kasay kick five field goals to put the Panthers up 15-7, a lead that held until less than four minutes were left.
Chicago then stormed back to stun the Panthers 18-15 in Soldier Field, slapping down the expansion team with a late-game comeback that might haunt the Panthers all week.
``We'll learn from this,'' Carolina coach Dom Capers said. ``We've got to turn those field goals into touchdowns.''
Carolina will remember the way the game got away and, even more importantly, what it cost. Running back Tony Smith suffered a broken leg midway through the third quarter and could be lost for the season.
Smith's injury leaves the Panthers' already thin offense without a quality backup, a role Smith had won in the past week after an impressive camp performance in Cleveland.
Heading into next Saturday's game against Denver, the Panthers' running game now consists of an injury-prone Barry Foster and a number of unproven substitutes.
The Panthers had Chicago beaten with a few minutes to play.
Veteran quarterback Frank Reich was in the game with an eight-point lead. Chicago was counting on rookie Shane Matthews to carry them back from almost certain defeat.
Matthews directed two impressive scoring drives, one that resulted in a touchdown and tying two-point conversion with 3:49 to play. The final drive set up Kevin Butler's 51-yard field goal with 58 seconds to play.
In the meantime, Reich and the Panthers did nothing. After taking control of a game that was Carolina's for the taking, the Panthers gave it away in the end.
Kasay had given Carolina its eight-point lead, kicking five field goals that saved sputtering drives and seemed to give the Panthers enough to beat the mistake-prone Bears.
Kasay's fifth field goal came with 7:49 to play, set up by a Frank Stams fumble recovery.
Before that, Carolina played the Bears even. The Panthers led 3-0 with 6:02 left in the first quarter and answered a Chicago touchdown with four more scoring drives, some long, some short, that seemed to wear down the more experienced Bears and their fans. Throughout the game, both coaches and quarterbacks were booed.
The fans were standing at the end, however, having slain the expansion Panthers while running their preseason winning streak to five games over the past two years.
``This leaves an awful taste,'' linebacker Carlton Bailey said. ``But the positive thing is we know it doesn't count.''
The first-half struggle between the starters was something of a defensive struggle. Both teams managed one long drive apiece but spent the rest of the half running conservative plays at the other. Carolina played Foster longer than expected, but eventually tried to attack the Bears with Jack Trudeau, the strong-armed quarterback who is in a battle for the starting job with Reich.
Trudeau threw 22 times in the first half, but most of the passes were short and to backs and tight ends who kept dropping them. He completed only nine.
The second half belonged to the rookies. Kerry Collins took Carolina on a short field-goal drive on his first series, and Matthews, from Florida, took Chicago on a wild ride in the fourth quarter.
Keywords:
FOOTBALL
by CNB