It is not a good sign when your kick returner is your biggest offensive weapon, when your coverage units are your best defense and when an injury to your punter threatens to make an 0-3 season much worse.
But that’s the impact the Bears’ special teams have had this year and the challenge that’s ahead without the services of punter Todd Sauerbrun, who will undergo reconstructive knee surgery next week.
After struggling through the last few seasons with one of the league’s lowest-ranked special teams units, the Bears are among the best this young season with much improved coverage, one of the league’s top returners in Glyn Milburn–who already has returned one punt and one kickoff for touchdowns–and the top punter in both gross and net average in Sauerbrun.
“The way the special teams have played, it’s been one of the better things we’ve done,” coach Dave Wannstedt said. “We have a really positive thing going right now. The killer of it has been . . . I would hate to see what the stats are for scoring on special teams and not winning the game. And now we have another challenge without having Todd in there.”
Against Minnesota the Bears may have bigger worries than whether Sauerbrun’s 39-year-old replacement, Mike Horan, can live up to his reputation as one of the better directional punters. Executing their own offense well enough to keep the Vikings–with their nearly 33 points-per-game average, the potency of running back Robert Smith and their three-receiver set–off the field, may well be the Bears’ best strategy.
“There’s a reason they’re scoring 30 points a game for the last seven games, including the preseason,” Wannstedt said. “They have a lot of weapons. But we’ve always played them well, we really have. We had a chance to win both games last year at the end.
“If we go out and get started fast, and playing at home, we have to get ourselves in position to win the thing in the fourth quarter.”
Simply getting into position in the final quarter has not done the trick thus far for the Bears, who blew critical fourth-quarter chances against Jacksonville and Pittsburgh and were outscored 27-0 in the second half against Tampa Bay last Sunday.
The Bears’ special-teamers, quickly developing a sense of confidence in themselves that has not been evident the last several years, think they can make a difference.
“With the type of pride that we’re taking in it, we know we can make a big play that’s only going to filter into the rest of our team,” said Milburn, the NFL’s top punt returner with a 20-yard average and one touchdown and among the top kickoff returners with a 25-yard average and one touchdown.
The question is the effect of Sauerbrun’s absence.
“Next to Glyn, he was our home-run hitter, no doubt about it,” said Jim Schwantz, the Bears’ leading special teams tackler. “You lose something there because we were doing a good job on field position so he was doing everything he was asked to do.”
Horan was working as a loan officer at a mortgage company after last season, when he appeared in the final 10 games for the St. Louis Rams, averaging 42.9 gross yards per punt and 36.3 net (Sauerbrun was at 49.4 gross and 42.1 net after three games this season). Horan also dropped 10 of his 53 punts inside the opponents’ 20-yard line.
The most obvious difference between Sauerbrun and Horan will be that Horan does not have ability to boom kicks 50 to 70 yards.
“Don’t expect any Todd Sauerbrun-type kicks out of me,” said the 15-year veteran of eight NFL teams. “You can expect good hang time, good distance and the ball outside the numbers. That’s just what I’ve done my whole career. I don’t want to outkick my coverage because then I’m asking to make a tackle, and I’d rather not do that.”
Sauerbrun was, in fact, considered a better-than-average tackler and was counted on in the Bears’ cover scheme.
“Because of (Horan’s) age and because he’s just not as athletic as Todd, you’re not going to get that with Mike,” Bears special teams coach Keith Armstrong said.
To compensate, Horan will try to angle every punt as close to the sideline as he can where “flyers” Fabien Bownes or Frankie Smith can cover, or out of bounds. In his tryout for the Bears last week, Horan was the only punter of five candidates who dropped all 14 of his attempts into a 15-foot wide box 40 yards downfield.
“If he can go 45 out of bounds every time,” kicking coach Randy Brown said, “I’ll be looking up to heaven saying, `Thank you, thank you, thank you.’ “
The wild cards are the Bears timing with Horan (anticipating a new punter’s release and knowing how long to hold blocks) and Jeff Jaeger’s kickoff efficiency.
“We’ll have to cover harder, no question about it; there will be no touchbacks,” Armstrong said of Jaeger kicking off.
Horan will hold on field goals and extra points for Jaeger, who had occasional problems with Sauerbrun holding this season, missing on one 29-yarder and an extra point.
