Panthers Defeat Bears, 29-21

CHICAGO — On the second play from scrimmage, only 55 seconds into the game, Carolina Panther receiver Steve Smith left speed burn marks on the soggy turf of Soldier Field as he sprinted uncovered, converting a pass from Jake Delhomme into a 58-yard touchdown.

And there was the play where the 5-foot-9 Smith out-jumped 6-foot-1 cornerback Charles Tillman and 6-foot safety Chris Harris to snare what seemed to be a certain interception and make it a 46-yard gain to the Bear two-yard-line. Two plays later John Kasay kicked a 20-yard field goal.

In the third quarter Smith smiled as he whizzed by bewildered third-string cornerback Chris Thompson and had a good 15 yards on any defender when he caught a 39-yard touchdown pass.

The Panthers became only the third fifth-seeded team since 1990 to advance to the NFC championship game with a 29-21 win over the NFC North champion Bears Sunday. Carolina will travel to Seattle to face the Seahawks on Sunday with hopes of advancing to the Super Bowl for the second time in three years.

Smith, 26, who played at University High in Los Angeles and Santa Monica College, caught 12 passes for 218 yards and two touchdowns on an afternoon when no Bear figured out how to cover him.

“Mostly,” said Delhomme, “I just threw it up and Steve did the rest.”

A year ago Smith missed all but one game of the season after breaking his leg against Green Bay.

The rehab was painful and exhausting and Carolina’s season was a relentless procession of mediocre results and no playoffs just a year after the Panthers had nearly beaten New England in Super Bowl XXXVIII.

“We missed Steve,” said Panther receiver Keary Colbert, a former USC star. “It took us a while last year to get over his loss and then it was too late.”

In November, the Panthers had come to Chicago feeling good about this season and the upcoming playoffs, but they were left stymied with a 13-3 loss, a result Bear players had crowed about all last week.

“They did some talking,” cornerback Ken Lucas said. “We just kept our mouths shut.”

Carolina Coach John Fox said one focus this time was to get ahead early and take the fans out of the equation.

“You don’t want to start behind,” Fox said.

Said Delhomme: “We took a little chance early. And with Steve you never know what will happen.”

Fox’s plan worked perfectly. Carolina had a 13-0 lead on Smith’s early touchdown catch and two Kasay field goals while the Bears were mostly stumbling around in their own end of the field. It was three and out twice for Chicago before the Bears recorded a first down.

The Bears’ first score came with 1:57 left in the second quarter on a nine-play drive highlighted by two Rex Grossman passes to Bernard Berrian for a combined 30 yards and a strike to former Panther star Muhsin Muhammad for a 24-yard gain. The Bears passed up a certain field goal when it was fourth and goal at the Carolina one. Backup tailback Adrian Peterson broke the goal line by a fingertip. But the Panthers responded with a 51-yard drive and another Kasay field goal just before the half.

“That was big,” Delhomme said. “It kind of established that every time they would get close, we would answer.”

The Panthers practiced that carrot-stick approach during the second half.

The Bears scored first in the third quarter when Grossman connected with tight end Desmond Clark for a one-yard touchdown on the Bears’ opening drive. The crowd roared during the 68-yard drive in which running back Thomas Jones punished the Panthers. But the Panthers responded with a 56-yard drive, capped by Smith’s 39-yard touchdown catch.

And Chicago scored first in the fourth quarter, pulling within 23-21, but the Panthers countered with a clock-sapping, 4-minute 19-second drive for another touchdown.

A Bear defense that had been the toughest in the league to score on now couldn’t make one big stop.

“What happened?” asked Brian Urlacher, the Bears’ All-Pro middle linebacker. “Steve Smith. That’s what happened to us. He just kept making plays. When they needed a play, he made it and we did not. He is the best offensive player in the league. He is a great player.”

Smith’s big game helped make up for the loss of tailback DeShaun Foster, who broke his right ankle after he had carried for a four-yard gain on Carolina’s first third-quarter drive.

The Panthers already lost back Stephen Davis to injury this season, but none of that bothers Smith.

“Not at all,” he said. “We’ll miss DeShaun but we’ll figure things out. I have a one-track mind. Like on that first touchdown? It was a hitch and go. I was not taking the hitch. I wanted to go for the goal. One-track mind.”