Christensen: Dignity in Defeat
FacebookBy Todd Christensen, The Mtn. Analyst
January 25, 2011
Late in the NFC Championship Game, Green Bay was leading 14-0 over Chicago. Jay Cutler, the Bears' starting quarterback, had injured his knee and would not return. Todd Collins, the journeyman backup, was ineffective in two three-and-out series, throwing four incompletions, two of which were dropped interceptions. With 57 seconds remaining in the third quarter, the Bears trotted out their third-string quarterback, Caleb Hanie.
If you were a Packer fan, you had to have liked your chances at this point. With an inept offense that not only couldn’t find the endzone and barely registered over 150 yards through three quarters, the thought of a neophyte signal caller who had thrown all of fourteen passes in his four year NFL career had to gladden the hearts of the green and gold faithful.
But Hanie, a Colorado State graduate, played the quarter of his professional life. Leading the Bears on their only two scoring drives and finishing with a fourth down interception in the redzone just before time ran out, the former Ram field general came oh so close to an improbable comeback. Cynics would point to the Packers' B.J. Raji's "pick-six" that ultimately became the margin of victory (21-14), but Hanie went 13 of 20 for 153 yards and a touchdown in essentially one quarter of work against one of the two or three best defenses in the NFL.
This game, of course, will be a footnote to most and quickly forgotten within the circus atmosphere of the coming Super Bowl week, but the Texas native, his family and the extended Fort Collins alumni have much to be proud of when it comes to #12 of the Chicago Bears.
Not only was his performance on the field stellar, but he’s a shining example of how to answer when opportunity knocks.
ALL TIMES MOUNTAIN
