Caleb Hanie Chicago Bears. Related searches in google trends are hanie chicago bears, hanie, caleb hanie bears, todd collins, caleb haine. Caleb Hanie shines, but with too little and too late for Bears.
CHICAGO — The Chicago Bears had a real emergency Sunday against the Green Bay Packers, which is Caleb Hanie's job description. Otherwise, the undrafted 25-year-old quarterback out of Colorado State would have ended up a footnote, at best, in the lore comprising the NFL's greatest rivalry.
Instead, the Bears' third-stringer nearly pulled off a comeback for the ages, if not for two deadly fourth-quarter interceptions that doomed Chicago in Green Bay's 21-14 NFC championship game victory.
"You don't expect to come in and play on a day like this — especially the NFC Championship Game," Hanie said. "That's just how it goes sometimes."
The first interception was returned 18 yards for a touchdown by Green Bay nose tackle B.J. Raji with 6:04 left in the game, giving the Packers a 21-7 lead. The second, a pass intended for Bears receiver Johnny Knox, was pilfered by cornerback Sam Shields at the Packers 12 with 47 seconds remaining.
"People are telling me, 'Congratulations,' (but I) threw two picks," Hanie said. "That's the only time you're going to get a congratulations when they don't expect you to do anything."
The Packers prevailed at Soldier Field to advance to Super Bowl XLV in Dallas.
That just happens to be Hanie's hometown.
While Hanie coolly answered any and all questions, Bears No. 1 signal-caller Jay Cutler stayed in the locker room and did not formally address the news media. Interviewed by the Bears' sideline reporter, Cutler quickly departed the locker room. He went out in the third quarter with a knee injury suffered late in the first half, finishing with six completions for 80 yards and one interception.
Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher defended Cutler. "Jay was hurt. I don't question his toughness," Urlacher said. "He's one of the toughest players on our team."
Second-stringer Todd Collins took over and threw four incompletions, and coach Lovie Smith and offensive coordinator Mike Martz had seen enough.
Hanie entered the game with 57 seconds remaining in the third quarter and the Bears trailing 14-0. A 32-yard completion to Knox set up the Bears' first touchdown, a 1-yard run by Chester Taylor.
After Raji's interception, Hanie commandeered the Bears downfield, firing a 35-yard touchdown strike to Earl Bennett that cut the Packers' lead to 21-14.
"We had an opportunity to tie the game," Smith said. "That was done with Caleb leading us. Can't complain about his play at all."
It was quite the performance by Hanie, who had been demoted from the No. 2 slot earlier in the season. He completed 13 of 20 passes for 153 yards.
"I like to think I don't need that type of motivation, but when you get demoted, you always have a little extra fire in you to come back and show they made the wrong decision," he said.
