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CHARLOTTE -- Fire-breathing mad and demanding his team take immediate revenge, John Fox sank his teeth into the Chicago Bears and didn't let go.

A hit to the head of quarterback Jake Delhomme sparked a spitting tirade on the sideline as Fox ranted at officials, the Bears and his own team. Red-faced and as angry as anyone has ever seen him in his coaching career, Fox incited a sellout crowd and Carolina responded with 17 straight points to defeat the Bears 20-17 Sunday in another improbable win.

Trailing 17-3 and searching for something, anything, to get them started, the Panthers got it from Chicago's defense. With 6:19 left in the third quarter, safety Brandon McGowan and linebacker Lance Briggs tackled Delhomme, who was sliding down at the end of a 6-yard scramble. McGowan appeared to elbow Delhomme's head as he flew past the play.

No call.

Until then, the Panthers were mostly mad at themselves. A listless offensive performance had forced the defense to play inspired just to keep Carolina in the game. And a series of calls that went against the Panthers had the sidelines and the stands seething, looking for a reason to go off.

"We were inept on offense," Delhomme said.

A series of false starts and illegal formation penalties didn't help. Delhomme and Fox argued every single one of them, too. So when McGowan came flying into Delhomme's head on a play that appeared to be over, it was too much.

"I know my energy level went up," Fox said.

That was an understatement. As his quarterback rolled around on the ground, Fox went after the officials. He'd been in their faces all day for what he perceived as tacky calls on the illegal formation penalties. He'd yelled at his team at halftime, yelled at his defense to keep the Panthers in the game and yelled into his headset for help from upstairs.

Suddenly he was 30 yards out on the field, screaming at the officials, tearing into them as the crowd of more than 73,000 fans stood and roared in support of the tirade. It didn't end there. Fox came to the sideline with a crazed look on his face, walking straight into the defensive huddle, barely noticing John Kasay's 45-yard field goal behind him.

Chris Harris, the Carolina safety, had already convened the defense in a curse-filled lecture, swearing vengeance against the Bears. Fox walked into it yelling and gesturing, all but calling for the Bears' heads, then turning to the kickoff team as it ran onto the field.

The next thing we saw was Chicago return man Devin Hester being carted off the field. The comeback had begun.

"You don't wake up a sleeping giant," Harris said. "I was pretty upset. It became more than a game after that."

It became a cause.

"He hit me good," Delhomme said, though later he admitted he didn't know who it was who hit him. "I was a little shaken up. I got up a little too quick."

Delhomme also missed the field goal and subsequent kickoff. He missed the fumble by Chicago tight end Greg Olsen on the Bears' first play and was hustled onto the field by trainers and teammates and a still-slobbering mad Fox who yelled something unintelligible as the quarterback shook the cobwebs from his head and ran onto the field amid a howling mob.

Delhomme would lead two more scoring drives, both capped by touchdown runs from rookie Jonathan Stewart. The Bears would gain a total of 39 yards in 21 plays after the hit on Delhomme. Carolina would have only one more penalty called -- an unnecessary roughness penalty -- after having had nine before the hit.

The game had changed for good, and Chicago knew it.

"We had control of the football game, and then we lost it," Bears coach Lovie Smith said.

Carolina had no control over the football game and then took it. Inspired by a perceived dirty play and incited by the crowd and their coach, the Panthers took it to the Bears and won on a fourth-quarter comeback for the second straight week without their best player.

Steve Smith will return today after a suspension for fighting with a teammate back in training camp. He will join an undefeated team that is fighting mad and preparing for a trip to Minnesota with a 2-0 record, the division lead and a red-faced coach with a crazed look in his eyes.

Contact Ed Hardin at 373-7069 or ed.hardin@news-record.com