CHICAGO -- Oh, heck no, not again.

That’s a polite way of paraphrasing what Dallas Cowboys cornerback Orlando Scandrick was thinking with 6:09 remaining in Thursday night’s game at Soldier Field, having seen the Chicago Bears slice a 28-point deficit down to 10 in less than nine minutes.

Orlando Scandrick made the interception that slammed the door on the Bears' comeback hopes. AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh

No wonder Scandrick seemed to lose his mind, sprinting to the sideline after Bears quarterback Jay Cutler scrambled for a 10-yard score, slamming his helmet to the ground and screaming at anyone and everyone who crossed his path.

“Man, I've been around here and I done been around some crazy, miraculous debacles,” Scandrick told ESPNDallas.com. “What was running through my mind is, as a person, I cannot let this happen. So when you see me have an outburst or freak out, it’s because it’s going through my mind to do everything possible to stop this from happening. Sacrifice yourself to stop this from happening.

“We couldn’t let it happen. Could not let it happen. There’s no way. There is no way. As a seven-year player on this defense, no way.”

Could you imagine if the Cowboys, fighting for a playoff spot, started December with an epic collapse to deny them from getting to nine wins for the first time in five years? The thought sickened Scandrick.

After all, Scandrick lived through Dallas blowing a 24-point lead at home to the Detroit Lions in 2011, one of three times those 8-8 Cowboys let fourth-quarter double-digit leads disintegrate in losses that season. Scandrick dealt with a similar disaster last December, when the Cowboys couldn’t keep Green Bay Packers backup quarterback Matt Flynn from leading a comeback win after trailing by 23 points.

How could those miserable memories not have crept into the Cowboys’ consciousness after the Bears marched down the field for touchdowns on three straight drives to start the fourth quarter? Especially after the third touchdown drive took all of 68 seconds, set up by the Bears recovering an onside kick.

“I pretty much just told everybody that we had to pull our heads out of our butts and check our egos and for four minutes go out there and play good football,” Scandrick said. “It was a 35-7 game going into the fourth quarter and you look up and it was 38-28. No, no, no.”

After a Dallas drive ended with a field goal to push the lead back to 13 points, Cutler & Co. went to work again, keeping their miraculous comeback hopes alive, marching down to the Cowboys’ 10-yard line.

Then Scandrick stepped up and sealed the win with an interception in the end zone, picking off a pass intended for receiver Josh Morgan.

“It was kind of a sweet thing, because I blew up,” Scandrick said. “When I blew up and freaked out, I had to go out there and step up and make a play.

“If you’re going to go out and call yourself a leader, leading is not just talking. It’s doing.”

It’s doing whatever is necessary to keep the Cowboys from being haunted by another crazy, miraculous debacle.