Only World Wars and Super Bowls require Roman numerals.
”It`s not life or death,” said Bears` coach Mike Ditka. ”It`s not going to be World War III. But it will be interesting.”
World War III wouldn`t have the two-week hype of Super Bowl XX. Life and death doesn`t give so much warning.
The Bears leave Chicago Monday for New Orleans, where they will meet the New England Patriots next Sunday in a football game of considerably more interest than the one they played last Sept. 15.
Chicago and Boston will leave for New Orleans sometime during the week to seek Irish saloons on Bourbon Street, or bourbon on Irish Street, whichever they find first.
The Bears are as much as 10 1/2-point favorites to win, a ridiculous spread, they say. How are they going to win 10 1/2-0?
The Bears insist the match-up is closer, that the Patriots (14-5) have earned the right to face the Bears (17-1) after winning playoffs against the Jets, Raiders and Dolphins in New York, Los Angeles and Miami.
”Cinderella? What`s that?” asked Bears` defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan. ”They belong here. I guarantee you they belong.”
The words of Ditka and Ryan have been as clear as crystal balls lately. Ryan predicted a shutout against the Giants and three fumbles by Eric Dickerson of the Rams. Ditka predicted the Patriots would beat the Dolphins. The Bears ended up with two shutouts, two fumbles and the Patriots.
Another shutout would be a first for a Super Bowl, but the Bears are a rare team. Even their offense plays defense by controlling the ball more than any other team in football.
The result is awesome defense.
”I don`t know if we can play any better on defense,” Ditka said.
The question is whether anybody can, or ever did, or needs to. If the Bears get the right answers next Sunday, Ryan will either become a head coach or be declared illegal.
Defense was on the verge of extinction in the National Football League until the Bears reinvented it.
While the last dominant defenses of the Pittsburgh Steelers were winning four Super Bowls, owners were busy outlawing every advantage defenses had.
”I don`t know what more they can do, unless they`re going to handcuff the cornerbacks,” Ryan said. ”What else is there? They`ve legalized holding and you can`t hit receivers. It`s about as tough as you can get.”
Surely, owners will think of something. It`s bad for business if teams from New York and Los Angeles can`t even score a point in the playoffs after such hopeful seasons.
Nobody had ever shut out two teams in a row in the NFL playoffs before, not even before the rules changed.
”People love to see our defense play because we`re so exciting,” Ryan said.
People in New York and Los Angeles aren`t so sure. They want to see the Giants and the Rams score. New York and Los Angeles are big markets. Their teams have to have a chance. Advertisers won`t buy zeroes.
”Hopefully, they won`t take away the bump and run or we`ll really be in trouble,” said middle linebacker Mike Singletary. ”With what we`re doing now, there`s not a lot of other teams doing what we`re doing. So maybe they`ll stick with the rules for four or five more years.”
Or maybe they will prohibit defenses starting with the number ”46.”
Ryan told his players that the Patriots will score in the Super Bowl. Ryan thrives on coaxing his players to prove him wrong.
One of the keys to Ryan`s success is his unquestioned ability to get his players to understand, believe and execute his game plans. The players have such confidence in what Ryan tells them that they never blame him when something fails; they invariably blame themselves. If instilling loyalty is one of the qualifications of genius, Ryan deserves the tag.
His nickname for rookie William ”the Refrigerator” Perry is still
”Fatso,” even on television. Yet Perry said Ryan has been a great help to him.
Singletary said it took ”a year and a half” to get used to Ryan`s abrasive technique. Yet Singletary said: ”He`s more than a coach. He`s a leader, a father, a friend. It`s not a matter of just going out and wanting to play physical and wanting to win; it`s wanting to win for a guy that means a lot to you.”
Ryan said San Francisco coach Bill Walsh is ”the only genius I know. There`s not many Phi Beta Kappas playing or coaching this game.”
Maybe not, but the Bears have been playing like Einsteins lately.
In their not-so-close 20-7 first encounter with New England, the Bears allowed the Patriots into Bears` territory two times for a total of 21 seconds, including a 90-yard touchdown pass from Tony Eason to Craig James in the fourth quarter.
”They didn`t know how to pick up the `46` or do anything against it,”
Singletary said.
”They`re an improved team,” Ryan said. ”They better be if they want to make a game out of it.”
If Ryan didn`t have so many facts on his side, he could be accused of boasting.
Since that 90-yard play, the Bears have allowed only five plays longer than 38 yards. That`s only five plays longer than 38 yards in 16 games, including the playoffs.
There was that 57-yard touchdown pass from Minnesota`s Tommy Kramer to Anthony Carter on the Thursday night following the Patriots` game.
Then six games later, Green Bay`s Jessie Clark broke away after a short pass for a 55-yard touchdown run.
Then that Monday night in Miami, Mark Duper caught a 52-yard pass and Mark Clayton caught a 42-yard touchdown pass on a tipped ball.
The next week, the Colts` Wayne Capers caught a 61-yard touchdown pass from Mike Pagel with 5:57 left in the game.
That`s it. All were passes. The Bears` record against the run is even more impressive. The longest run of the season against them has been 37 yards by Washington`s Ken Jenkins in the last three minutes of the Bears` 45-10 blowout.
That was the same game in which John Riggins ran for the longest rushing touchdown scored against the Bears all season–seven yards.
The Bears have allowed only six rushing touchdowns and Riggins can now brag he is a breakaway threat.
One of the weaknesses of the ”46” used to be its vulnerability to big plays. The idea is to bunch the best pass rushers, including linebackers, at the line of scrimmage to force one-on-one blocking.
The result is either instant pressure on the quarterback or instant pressure on the Bears` defensive backs, who try to bump receivers at the line, run with them and hope the rush is working. The risk is obvious, but the Bears have almost eliminated worry.
”We`re playing a little smarter, not making mistakes,” Ryan said.
”When you have the best defensive coordinator and the best personnel, it`s kind of hard not to come up with the best defense,” Singletary said.
The ”46,” named after the number of former Bears` safety Doug Plank, was originally designed to pressure the passer. It evolved into such a good run defense that many teams are copying it. The Jets and the Raiders used versions of it against the Patriots, which allowed Ryan the advantage of seeing how the Patriots try to attack it. Then the Bears` defense will attack them, using variations of the ”46” and other defenses to short-circuit the Patriots.
”We`re not going to attack them the same way we attacked them the first time,” Singletary said of the Patriots.
The word attack is usually reserved for offensive players. Defenders usually talk about stopping the other teams.
Coaches traditionally are cautious on defense for fear of getting burned. Ryan is aggressive for fear of getting burned.
In 1977, owners outlawed the headslap, a technique used by defensive linemen to knock offensive linemen off balance. The same year, they started to tinker with offensive blocking and pass defense by making it easier to block and harder to cover.
In 1978, they permitted offensive linemen to extend their arms and open their hands. They permitted defenders to maintain contact on receivers in a five-yard zone past the line of scrimmage, but restricted contact beyond that point.
The idea was to allow quarterbacks more time to throw and receivers more room to get open. The result was more points, fewer shutouts and more opportunity for television highlight films to show long touchdown passes.
Most defenses dropped back in horror, threw up their hands and shrugged their shoulders.
Ryan`s defense put more people than ever at the line of scrimmage. They clenched their fists, lowered their shoulders and went after quarterbacks harder than ever.
Ryan said he learned from former Jets` coach Weeb Ewbank that the most important thing for an offense to do is protect the quarterback, regardless of how many blockers he needed to accomplish the task. Therefore, Ryan figured the most important thing for a defense to do was to get the quarterback, regardless of how many rushers he needed.
If an offense sends one receiver out and keeps nine blockers in to protect the quarterback, Ryan tries to cover the receiver with one man and send 10 rushers to get the quarterback. One can`t be blocked.
”You could get into philosophies that everybody likes to hear about, multiple fronts, multiple coverages and putting people in the right places, but what it boils down to is `Take the son of a gun away from them as fast as you can,` ” Ryan said.
The Bears lead the league in three-downs-and-you`re-out football. Ryan stresses third-down efficiency as much as anything else.
”It`s like a turnover,” Ryan said. ”If they convert a third down, they get three more chances.”
The Giants and the Rams combined converted only two third downs in 26 chances. Last Sept. 15, the Patriots converted three of 14 third downs.
Ditka was never totally convinced of Ryan`s method and probably wouldn`t keep it if Ryan left. But he is totally awed by the results.
”When you hold 13 of 18 teams to 10 points or below, you have to say:
`Wait a second. They must be doing something right,` ” Ditka said. ”I think Buddy always prepared a team well. But the level of concentration in preparing is getting even better.”
Ryan claims the defenses he helped coach on the 1968 Jets and the 1976 Vikings were better than this one. The Bears want to prove him wrong again.
