The bar has gotten into it, a little less like a bar on a random Monday night and a little more like a bar on Monday Night Football when the home team is playing. Unbearlievable, I can't really hear the commentary, the patrons are too loud. Run gets one, then flags fly on 2nd and 9. No foul (so why was a flag thrown?) and we'll play the down over. Whatever we do, we're going to be told to buy beer and cars, but not to use the two at the same time, before we get more football. Leinart finds Boldin over the middle and he holds on despite a vicious hit, first down at the Cards 40. Boldin is having a Steve Smith game. Mike Brown limping on the sidelines. Edge bowls over a few tacklers and gets the first down into Beras territory. Urlacher took out a blocker, but that doesn't count for much. Brown is carted off on the sidelines as James gets nothing, perhaps loses a yard. No gain it is as Briggs chases down Leinart as he throws it away. Illegal motion penalty is declined, 3rd and 10. Brown got bent backward on a pile up earlier in the drive. Israel Idonije hits Leinart as he throws (there's the penetration) and the Cardinals will punt. Hester fair catches at the 15, but there's a flag. Illegal formation added to the Bears' field position they'll have it at the 20.

Benson gets four off-tackle right. The Bears started at the 21, not the 20. Grossman throws it away under pressure. Moose can't hold on to a pass at the sticks as he's lit up by Eric Green (who?). Green fell back more than Muhammad, but he made the play. Maynard's punt is caught fairly at the 20. Time is running low here.

Edge loses a yard. Clock's at 10:35 and rolling. Three-step drop pass to the right pops up in the air, but no Bears can reach it. Leinart's 3rd-down offering gets stuffed by Urlacher. The punt goes to the 38 (Bears) and Hester returns it to about the 40 (Cards).

The ref signals false start but says offside. What he says, goes, and the Bears have 1st and 5. Grossman fires out of bounds to Berrian. Not sure what was going on there. Jones gets a big chunk of yards but it will all come back on this flag. Or not, offside, the Bears decline, 1st and 10 from the 27. Grossman can't find anyone and throws it away. Grossman throws it up into the end zone under pressure, again, not sure what's going on there, and it falls incomplete. Berrian was the victim of some serious illegal contact, no flag. Grossman sails Davis and it's 4th and 10 with 9:25 left. Bears go for it and the bar is into it. Pass deflected, intercepted and the refs are saying he wasn't down and he returns it for a touchdown. Lovie should throw the flag here. Antrel Rolle on the pick, and he was most certainly down. Lovie challenges. He was down. My bad, it was defensive lineman Darnell Dockett, not Antrel Rolle.

Edge gets a couple, then nothing. Clock rolls under 8:00 as Leinart passes to the left side and the Bears drive the receiver out of bounds. Hester from the 19 gets tripped up and only gets to the 29.

Grossman to Clark, the only receiver who has had a good day, and it gets nine yards. False start brings back five of those. Pass tipped at the line, 3rd and 6. Blitz comes, Grossman steps out of it and fires to Berrian on the left side, he gets out after a gain of about 10. First down incomplete, clock at 6:15. Cards show blitz and the Bears flinch. Grossman thought he had Berrian for the first down, but instead has Robert Griffith, who played for Denny Green in Minnesota as well as in Arizona, and the Cardinals have it at the Bears' 40. Adam says, "We're entering Mike Tomczak territory. Four picks and two fumbles? He's in love with Berrian!"

Edge gets nothing twice, loses the ball the second time, Tillman comes up with it and returns it for a touchdown. Urlacher ripped it out. The only way he is down is forward progress, and I don't think you can review that. Denny Green tries anyway. The refs shoot him down and gould will try a PAT. He nails it.

Cardinals 23, Bears 17, 5:00 left in the game

If the Bears win this game, it is highway robbery. Kick goes to the 3, returned to the 34 or so, Arrington spikes teh ball in celebration and gets nailed with 15 yards. Edge gets nothing. Neon shirt guy, whom you may remember from the Sox's run last year, is in the crowd. Adam suggests that he's worse than Jim Belushi in representing Chicago. Bears can't bring Edge down and he gets the first down and across the 30. He gets to the 34, to be exact, and from there loses a yard on first. The Bears call a timeout with 3:27 left. Leinart throws a timing route to Bryant Johnson, but neither he nor Tillman covering him realize it and the ball falls incomplete. The D-line flushes Leinart and his pass skips incomplete, and the Bears will get the ball back with 3:17 left in the game. Hester fields it at the 20, gets a block, splits a couple of tacklers, gets another block and do you believe it folks? He's scored. Chris King, who's in the office, just IM'ed me: "WHAT?!?!" Gould puts the Bears in the lead.

Bears 24, Cardinals 23, 2:58 left in the game

Our waitress just came up to me: "You should have seen it [in the other room. The manager's] going crazy, tables are falling, glasses are breaking, I'm like, 'Oh, no!' " The folks cleaning up this joint have a job ahead of them tonight, I would wager. Return gets out to the 38. This is Leinart's watershed moment. He hits Boldin to the 42, but there are no broken tackles this time. Check-down to Edge and he scoots across the sticks to midfield and the clock will run down to the warning. The most common word overheard in this joint is "Unbe-[unprintable]-lievable!" Let's hope the D can keep it that way. Denny Green is on the sideline looking dumbfounded. Leinart's pass is batted down at the line. Suddenly, the clock is the Bears' friend. Unreal how quickly this game changed. Leinart hits Troy Walters on an out route and he gets out of bounds after six yards. Leinart hits Brendon Ayanbadejo's brother Obafemi in the right flat and he gets a chunk of yards and out of bounds, 1:46 left and the Cards are in field goal range. Leinart hits Boldin on a slant and now the clock is the Bears' enemy. From the 24, Edge gets one and the Bears call timeout. One year and one day ago today was the USC-Notre Dame game. With :58 left on 3rd and 1, Edge gets stuffed and the Bears call timeout with :53 left. This is a 40-yard attempt. He pulled it wide left and you can't hear anything but a roar in this bar. He just barely pulled it. Like, we're talking a couple inches. Leinart has twice put the Cards in position for a game-winning field goal and Rackers has twice disappointed him.

Knees.

Final: Bears 24, Cardinals 23

Final thoughts: Yeah, if anyone, anywhere tells you they saw this coming, they're a bunch of lying liars from liartown. This was a win reminiscent of 2001. Drive home safely and join me in 13 days when the Bears host the 49ers. I need a drink. I have nothing more to say.