CHICAGO -- David Bass' biography blurb in the Chicago Bears' press packet leading into Sunday's 22-13 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is an unremarkable read, to say the least.
- Inactive Weeks 1-2.
- Did not play Weeks 3 and 5.
- Waived 10/7
- Signed to the Bears practice squad 10/8.
- Signed to the active roster 11/3.
Yet Bass, a second-year veteran, made arguably the most significant play of Chicago's victory over the Buccaneers with his third-quarter strip-sack of Josh McCown, which led to the first of Matt Forte's two touchdown runs. With the Bears down 10-7 with 5:09 left in the third quarter, Bass dropped McCown for a 12-yard loss with Christian Jones recovering at the Tampa Bay 13.
Forte busted a 13-yard run on the next play to give Chicago the lead for the first time all afternoon.
"Josh does a great job of escaping the pocket," Bass said. "He's a fast and mobile quarterback, and we saw that last year. We studied the offensive line that we were going against and tried to find their weaknesses to maximize every opportunity we got."
Bass certainly did that against the Buccaneers, but it's clear he's capitalizing on his latest break. Lamarr Houston suffered a season-ending knee injury on Oct. 26 at New England, and veteran Trevor Scott has been inactive the last two weeks due to a knee injury. That opened the door to more playing time for Bass, who kicked it down Sunday with a strong showing.
"You know me, I'm just trying to maximize every opportunity I get," Bass said. "It's a blessing just to be here. Anytime I get a chance to go out onto the field, I just want to go out there and have fun."
Bass admitted to being disappointed with the team cutting him and later placing him on the practice squad.
"I like to control what I can control. Unfortunately, I didn't like the way that played out, but that's part of the game," Bass said. "I just kept telling myself God's got a plan and whatever's meant to be is going to happen. I just stayed patient."
