National Football League

Hasselbeck gives 'em the slip

Published Oct. 18, 2010 10:15 p.m. ET

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Bears defensive tackle Matt Toeaina had Matt Hasselbeck all wrapped up. All he had to do was take him down for his first NFL sack.

But before Toeaina could finish the job, the veteran Seahawks quarterback back-handed a shovel pass in the direction of somebody and avoided the sack.

''He never gave up,'' Toeaina said. ''All it took was a flick of the wrist and let that ball go -- and no sack for me.''

It was that kind of day for the Bears as the 35-year-old Hasselbeck dinked, dunked, dodged and improvised his way to victory Sunday at Soldier Field.

Without dominating stuff, Hasselbeck relied on guile more than anything else. He confounded the Bears with a well-conceived game plan. And most of all he avoided disaster. Hasselbeck was 25-for-40 for 242 yards and a 22-yard touchdown pass to Deon Butler -- with no interceptions and no sacks.

It was only the third time in his 12-year career (129 starts) that he has thrown more than 36 passes without being sacked. And it's the first time he has thrown that many passes with no interceptions and no sacks. He usually has at least one bad play, but the Bears couldn't get it out of him.

''Every time we got really close to him, he had a little dump-off or he'd fling it somewhere and throw it away,'' Bears defensive end Henry Melton said. ''It felt like we were a step behind every time. We had him and somehow the ball would come out.''

Hasselbeck used a fast-paced offense and mismatches created by 6-5 wide receiver Mike Williams (10 receptions, 123 yards) to prevent the Bears from getting a foothold. Linebacker Brian Urlacher had six tackles but was shut out on big plays for the first time this season. Defensive end Israel Idonije, who had three sacks against the Carolina Panthers last week, had two tackles Sunday.

''They had us on our heels and we couldn't take advantage of anything,'' linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa said. ''We tried to get them to be one-dimensional -- stop the run and then we know the pass is coming. But we couldn't quite get there with Matt today. He did a great job.''

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