All season long, in sickness and in health, the Bears defied the odds en route to winning their fifth straight National Football Conference Central Division title.
Now the odds are stacked in their favor.
In the 20-year history of the Super Bowl playoff system, the home-field advantage is more than mere sportscasters` rhetoric. It`s supported by this fact: The home team has won 69 percent of its playoff games since the NFL and American Football League merger in 1969. The home team has won 92 games and the road team 42.
The home team won five of the eight playoff games leading up to the Super Bowl last year.
The Bears have lost their first playoff game at home the past two seasons, both times to the Washington Redskins.
With the best record in the NFC this year, the Bears have earned home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. They will host either the Los Angeles Rams or Philadelphia Eagles next weekend, depending on the outcome of Monday`s NFC wild-card game between the Rams and Minnesota Vikings.
If the Vikings win at the Metrodome, the Bears will host the Eagles at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday. If the Rams win, the Bears have an 11:30 a.m. Sunday rematch with Los Angeles, which beat them 23-3 on Dec. 5 in Anaheim, Calif.
Many think the home-field advantage in the playoffs can be more significant if a warm-weather team is forced to play on a cold day in a cold- weather city in late December or early January.
”We played Washington last year, you know; it doesn`t matter,” Bears coach Mike Ditka said. ”For one game and 3 1/2 hours, do you think guys are going to worry about the cold? It might have an effect. The wind might have an effect. There are a lot of things that might have an effect.”
A Bears victory next weekend would put them in the NFC championship game on Jan. 8, when they could face another warm-weather team, San Francisco, at Soldier Field.
”I don`t think it will be that big a deal with either one of them coming in,” Ditka said. ”The 49ers have been in, and the Rams have been in before. They know about the cold.
”It wouldn`t be ideal for either of them, but they have got to play in it. We`ve got to play in it, too. If it is unbearably cold, then it is no advantage to anybody.
”If we can get a day like last year against the Redskins-it wasn`t bad at all, if I remember correctly. As a matter of fact, it seemed hot, especially after the game (a 21-17 loss).”
The Bears, who lost three of their four games on the road this season, travel to Suwanee, Ga., Sunday night to begin a week of practices in more suitable weather. They, too, would have to adapt to possible frigid temperatures next weekend. Ditka gave his team three days off before the flight to Suwanee.
”My Christmas will come later,” Ditka said. ”The rewards we get in football are based on what we accomplish, and if we reach our goals. Our goal is the Super Bowl. But first you have to take care of business a week and a day at a time, and then the NFC championship. I think the players feel the same way.”
”My Christmas gift is going to come around Jan. 22,” said wide receiver Ron Morris. ”I have a lot of clothes already and everything. When Jan. 22 gets here, and we`re in Miami for the Super Bowl, that would be the best Christmas present I ever had.”
The Bears dropped their first season finale in six years when they lost 28-27 to Minnesota Monday night. But the Vikings nearly blew a 21-0 first-half lead, leaving the Bears with a feeling of accomplishment entering the playoffs.
The Bears` 12-4 regular-season record tied the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals of the AFC for the best record in the NFL. The Bears` 52-11 regular-season mark for the last four years is the best in the NFL over that span. Buffalo lost 24-3 to the Bears during the regular season.
A 52-yard third-quarter punt return for a touchdown by the Redskins`
Darrell Green beat the Bears 21-17 last season. Special teams play again could spell the difference in the playoffs.
Dennis McKinnon was the only player in the NFL to break two punt returns for touchdowns last year, including one for a club-record 94 yards. This season, his longest return was for 23 yards. Dennis Gentry had a 51-yard kickoff return. But neither McKinnon nor Gentry has been able to break a TD return.
”I really feel we`re due,” said special teams coach Steve Kazor.
If the Bears are going to have any true home-field advantage, they must play well as a team and set aside any personal disagreements, such as the one between quarterback Jim McMahon and defensive tackle Dan Hampton.
”I don`t know exactly what happened, but just from hearing the other players talk about it, I think there is something between Hampton and McMahon, but there is nothing affecting the other players,” Morris said. ”For most of the other players, the whole thing kind of went in one ear and out the other. At least it did mine. And I think everybody else pretty much approached it that way.
”I`ve heard that the same thing happened a couple of years ago and I just think it`s a personal thing between them. I think they`ve got it worked out now.”
