Considine takes blame for winning TD

Sean Considine was all over Bears receiver Muhsin Muhammad. But the Eagles strong safety knew he was in trouble because he had his back to quarterback Brian Griese, and he had no idea where the ball was.

In a blink, Considine realized the ball was in the last place he wanted it to be - Muhammad's hands.

The 15-yard Griese-to-Muhammad touchdown pass came with nine seconds remaining and left the Eagles with a stunning 19-16 loss tonight that may have been the first death knell to a season that's gone terribly wrong.

And just as he should have been facing Griese, Considine faced the media and shouldered the blame for the defeat.

"It came down to one play, and I had the opportunity to make the play," he said. "And I put that on me. That's what I'm here for - to break that pass up, and I didn't get it done.

"It's hard to take in right now. You go from feeling so good and having an opportunity to win, then basically blowing it there at the end. You know, I put pressure on myself to step up. It's my third year, and I like to think I can make that play."

It was a 97-yard drive that no one saw coming. Up to then, the Eagles had reduced the Bears' offense to a field-goal exhibition by Robbie Gould. When the Bears began the drive with 1 minute, 52 seconds remaining, they had only 289 yards of total offense and the look of a team that could have played all night and not crossed the goal line.

But suddenly, Griese caught fire and left Considine beating himself up afterward.

"To be able to play the ball in the red zone, you really want to try to stay square so you can see the pass," Considine said. "At that distance, that amount of space, it gets a little bit tough. Where I kind of got myself in trouble was having to turn my back to the quarterback. I was right on [Muhammad]. It was one of those deals where I didn't see the ball coming.

"Give the Bears credit. Brian Griese did a good job of taking them down the field."

Early in the fourth quarter, it appeared that Considine would end up one of the happiest guys in the postgame locker room rather than one of the most disappointed.

On first down with the score tied, 9-9, the ball went sailing through Griese's legs on a snap. Considine, who was blitzing, scooped up the ball and took off with a clear path to the end zone. But the play was whistled dead, and a false-start penalty was ruled against the Bears.

For a fleeting moment, Considine thought he was about to score a touchdown.

"But then they started blowing the whistle right away, so I was kind of running, thinking, this is a waste of time," he said. "They were blowing the whistle constantly, and I knew it wasn't going to be good. Strange rule. Usually when the offense makes a mistake, it . . . costs them. But that one didn't. That's football."

Instead, it was Considine who made the mistake, and it couldn't have come at a worse time.

"I had my back to the quarterback," he said. "And when you do that, you put yourself at a disadvantage because you don't know where the ball's at. The ball was there. Game over."