Chris Conte extended his arms wide as he sprinted toward the goal line with Jay Cutler’s pass in the first quarter Sunday. The fireworks inside him were exploding.
Conte, the former Bears safety, still carries with him the hate spewed his way on social media by countless Bears fans during his four years with the team from 2011-14. He still resents the daggers fired at him in newsprint and on sports talk radio in Chicago.
So after his 20-yard interception return for a touchdown propelled the Buccaneers to a 36-10 romp of the hapless Bears, he had a message for the Bears fan base.
“I hate to make it personal, but for me it is personal,” he said. “It feels great. I don’t want to say, ‘(Expletive) you, Chicago.’ But, I want to say, ‘(Expletive) you, Chicago.'”
Conte had the football from his first career touchdown tucked into a bag inside his locker. To say he was satisfied that he added to the Bears’ misery would be a major understatement. And his pick-six was only part of the Bears’ disastrous performance coming off their open date.
Cutler turned the ball over four times — two interceptions and two lost fumbles — against the NFL’s 28th-ranked defense. For as good as he was against the Vikings on Halloween returning from a six-game absence, he was at least that bad against the Buccaneers.
Cutler’s passer rating of 55.1 was his worst in the last 57 games he has finished. And that rating was inflated by a 50-yard Hail Mary touchdown to Cameron Meredith as the first half expired.
Cutler was pressured consistently, but he misfired on several passes for which the pocket was clean and he had time.
Both of Cutler’s fumbles occurred on sacks on which he was chased down from behind. Buccaneers defensive ends Noah Spence and Robert Ayers each made him pay for holding the ball too long and not recognizing the threat behind him.
Ayers’ strip-sack in the third quarter was at the Bears’ goal line, and the ball rolled out of the end zone for a safety.
As for Cutler’s interceptions, the first resulted from a miscommunication with Alshon Jeffery. On third-and-2, Cutler expected Jeffery to break his route in, but Jeffery kept running.
“I told Jay that was my fault,” Jeffery said.
The second pick — well, Conte will spend the rest of his days replaying that in his mind.
The Bears faked a handoff with run action to the right before Cutler tried to roll back to the left. However, Ayers remained disciplined on the back side and forced Cutler to stop.
Tight end Logan Paulsen had opted not to cut-block Ayers and slipped into the left flat. Under duress, Cutler was falling backward when he lobbed the ill-advised pass to Paulsen.
Conte read the whole thing and undercut the throw.
“That was a gift,” he said. “I don’t think he really saw me. He had pressure in his face.”
As Conte described the play, he sensed a connection with Cutler, his teammate for four seasons.
“I have a ton of respect for Jay Cutler,” Conte said. “I think he’s a great quarterback, and I think he gets a bad rap in Chicago, like a lot of people do, including me.”
Those were residual emotions in the tank that Conte steadily emptied after scoring. He fell to the ground as part of his celebration, which is an automatic unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty.
Then he head-butted coach Dirk Koetter on the sideline as they went to hug. After the game, Koetter wore a bandage above his eye covering a gash.
“Man, Chris Conte acts like he’s never scored a touchdown before,” Koetter cracked.
He has now, and he served it to Bears fans cold.
Twitter @Rich_Campbell
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