CHICAGO — For one brief moment, Brian Griese acknowledged a little extra satisfaction. He refused to take shots at his former team during the week, but landed a big one at the last moment on a day when he was off target.
“I can’t lie to you guys,” he said. “The game meant a lot to me, personally, coming back.”
Griese set up Matt Bryant’s winning 21-yard field goal in overtime with a 38-yard pass to Antonio Bryant, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers rallied to beat the Chicago Bears 27-24 on Sunday.
After blowing a 14-point lead in a 20-17 loss at Carolina last week, the Bears couldn’t protect a 24-14 advantage in the fourth quarter.
The Buccaneers got a 35-yard field goal from Matt Bryant with 3:11 left and Griese orchestrated a 79-yard touchdown drive in the final 1:49, hitting Jerramy Stevens with a 1-yard pass in the closing seconds of regulation.
Traded by the Bears in the offseason, Griese threw a franchise-record 67 passes, completing 38 for 407 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions.
“This is huge,” Bucs coach Jon Gruden said. “We lost a difficult game at the end of regulation in New Orleans, and we didn’t want to lose another in a similar fashion.”
