Bears' Tarik Cohen — 'Wee ’Rik' — stands tall with trick-play TD pass

Bears’ Tarik Cohen — ‘Wee ’Rik’ — stands tall with trick-play TD pass

By Patrick Finley

Bears running back Tarik Cohen runs Sunday. (AP)

BALTIMORE — Running back Tarik Cohen thought the ball hung in the air for 30 seconds.

When he took a toss right Sunday at the Ravens’ 21-yard line, he watched for safety Tony Jefferson. If Jefferson ran toward him, Cohen was supposed to throw a pass to Zach Miller in the right corner of the end zone.

Jefferson bit, and Cohen lofted a spiral. Miller looked over his right shoulder and talked to himself.

“Go get it, go get it, go get it,” Miller said. “And the closer it goes, the faster you talk.”

He caught it and slid to the ground for the Bears’ first touchdown in an eventual 27-24 overtime victory at M&T Bank Stadium.

“It was up there for a while,” Cohen said. “I backpedaled looking at it. It was like a movie scene.”

Cohen became the shortest player since the AFL-NFL merger to throw a touchdown pass. The shortest player to do it before the merger was another 5-6 player, the Giants’ Wee Willie Smith, in 1934.

“Shout-out to Wee Willie,” Cohen said. “I’m Wee ’Rik.”

The Bears had been practicing the play for weeks. Quarterback Mitch Trubisky wanted to use it last week.

“The minute we called it,” he said, “I knew it would go for a touchdown.”

Cohen had 14 carries for 32 yards, one catch for 14 and one fumble. In the last minute of the third quarter, he had the ball stripped by Ravens safety Eric Weddle, who tried, less successfully, to do the same on Jordan Howard’s 53-yard overtime run.

“I made a sudden move without having the ball first,” Cohen said.

The Bears have had four players throw their last four touchdown passes — Mike Glennon in Green Bay, punter Pat O’Donnell and Trubisky last week and Cohen.

“Good pass, good catch,” coach John Fox said.

McManis hurt

Cornerback Sherrick McManis, a special-teams captain, hurt his hamstring while covering the Bears’ first punt. He was later carted off the sideline.

Fox said his absence contributed to the late-game special-teams struggles. The Bears gave up a 96-yard kick-return touchdown in the third quarter and a 77-yard punt-return touchdown in the fourth.

“I get asked all the time about injuries, and we obviously missed him,” Fox said. “But our guys stepped up well enough for us to win. Obviously, when you lose a guy like him, it’s going to hurt, period.”

This and that

Center Cody Whitehair continued to struggle with his snaps. With the Bears pinned at their 13, Whitehair’s bad shotgun snap rolled on the ground. Trubisky had to throw it away deep right.

† Guard Kyle Long missed one snap for an odd reason — his cleat came apart at the seams. He was retaped and re-entered the game.

† Tight end Dion Sims entered the game with four catches for 56 yards and almost matched that total, grabbing two passes for 42 yards and a score.

† The Bears won their second overtime game of the season. The last time they accomplished the feat: Weeks 15 and 16 of 2008, when they beat the Saints and Packers.

Follow me on Twitter @patrickfinley.

Email: pfinley@suntimes.com