It was not the score, the most points ever allowed by a Bears team and the second-biggest margin of defeat in coach Dave Wannstedt’s tenure.
It was not the defeat itself, which assures the Bears of at least a tie for second-most losses in a season.
It was how the defeat unfolded for a team that, in the three games since its embarrassing no-show against the Washington Redskins, had shown itself to have something of a solid core.
That core was shattered Thursday, and in a way that left questions of the heart. When the Bears broke, they knew it was happening, yet could do nothing to retake a game that at one point clearly belonged to them.
The Bears led the Lions 17-3, then 20-10 with 1:26 remaining in the first half. They proceeded to be outscored 45-0 by a team that also ran off 32 unanswered points in their first meeting this year.
Barry Sanders, who finished with 167 yards in his NFL-record 11th consecutive 100-yard game, ran 40 yards to score on a draw play that the Bears knew was coming but still could not stop. But instead of answering, they collapsed, slowly at first, then in a gathering rush.
“I think the turning point was that big run just before the half,” linebacker Barry Minter said. “We were kind of riding high and that broke a hole in our bubble. They just kept putting more and more helium in theirs and we were never able to stick that pin in it.”
Sanders’ runs–he scored twice more to push a 27-20 Detroit lead to a 41-20 rout–created more than a deficit on the scoreboard. The Bears were leading 20-17 at halftime, but in fact appeared to be thinking like a team that was behind.
“We talked coming out of the locker room (after halftime) that we’ve got to get the kickoff coverage thing squared away,” said Wannstedt, referring to Detroit’s average starting field positions of the Chicago 49 their last four possessions of the first half. “We’ve got to pin them down in there and not give them a short field.
“Then they open up the second half and they run the ball back to midfield. Now we’re back on our heels, Barry makes a 25-yard run, now they’re at the 15-yard line and we’re back on our heels the entire game and playing catchup.”
Only the Bears weren’t playing catchup. They just seemed to be. In their minds, they were very much back on their heels in a game they were very much in.
The Bears were a 2-10 team with nothing to lose. But Sanders, with 80 rushing yards, 40 on one play, had snapped something inside them. Now they were playing not to lose, not to let Sanders loose, when they had in fact been controlling him reasonably well.
“Once he hit that long run, I think guys just got a little passive and thought we needed to sit back, not be as aggressive, not wanting to miss, and you just can’t do that against Barry,” defensive end Mark Thomas said.
“We started to get passive and that opened up their passing game, and that’s tough enough as it is. Because of their scheme and their three-step drops, we as linemen stop and try to get our hands up (to block passes), and then he pulls the ball back down and drops some more, and once you’ve stopped your rush, you’re done.”
The Bears were done because they let Sanders break them down. Maybe it was the fallout from a season of breakdowns, where one play inevitably happens to undo the best of game plans and frames of mind.
“He really kind of broke our back, mentally,” defensive tackle Carl Simpson said. “Nobody’ll probably say it, because I’m sure they’re going to give him his props (respect). But he started running and it opened everything else up for them. That was basically it.”
How much did Sanders rattle the Bears? Safety Marlon Forbes tackled Sanders along the sideline in the first half, then took an extra long time letting the Detroit running back up off the ground.
The reason: “I was watching some of his runs and saw what he was doing to people,” Forbes said, only half in jest, “so when I got him down, I said, `Damn, it is possible.’ I just wanted to make sure it was him.”
Sanders was not the only running back who was a problem for the Bears. The only sure defense against Sanders is a sideline, with him standing behind it, helmet off, watching the other team’s offense. While the Bears’ defense was wobbled by Sanders, their offense was unable to keep Raymont Harris on the field controlling the clock.
Harris managed 34 yards in the first half, with a 2.4-yard average gain, and finished with only 49. When the game got out of hand, the Bears could not spend time running the ball. But it was in part their inability to run the ball that let matters get out of hand.
“We made a few yards running the ball but we didn’t run the ball like we need to,” Wannstedt said. “If we can’t pound the ball for more than two yards a carry, we’re going to have a tough time.
“We did not do a good enough job of controlling the line of scrimmage.”
In the end, it was they who were controlled.
