The exhibition season now little more than a cryptic 2-2 road map leading nowhere in particular, the Bears are four days away from figuring out where exactly they’re going and as little as four weeks away from knowing if they’ll ever arrive.
Bears coach Dick Jauron likes to divide every season into small bites–four quarters of four games each–making it that much easier, he believes, to digest the entire 16 games.
This season, however, that first chunk–with road games against Central Division rivals Minnesota and Tampa Bay, then home against the NFC East New York Giants and Detroit Lions in another NFC Central matchup–could be enough to choke a young team.
“I can understand if people are nervous,” said veteran tackle Jim Flanigan, referring to the last two exhibition losses, which exposed a vulnerable Bears defense.
Still, said Flanigan, whose seven years with the Bears certainly qualifies him to speak on the team’s constantly evolving self-image, there is more than a subtle difference in attitude this season.
“We’re not out to prove to everybody that we’re not as bad as they think we are,” he said. “We’re out to go to the playoffs. That’s been our mindset and we feel confident that we’re talented enough to make it. It’s up to us to prepare and execute in that fashion and I’m not really concerned what other people are thinking about us right now.”
What they think about the Bears four games from now, however, will tell a lot about a team trying to establish itself. The 1999 Super Bowl champion St. Louis Rams jumped out to a 6-0 start last season after finishing 4-12 in ’98. The year before that, the Super Bowl runner-up Atlanta Falcons were 5-1 a year after going 7-9.
Last year’s Bears lost two of their first three games and five of their first eight. The last two years the Bears went to the playoffs, they started 4-2 in ’94 and 9-2 in ’91.
The lone exception to the rule over the last decade are the Detroit Lions, who seemed to make a habit of getting off to slow starts under former coach Wayne Fontes only to rally at the end. But that routine always backfired.
Bears tackle Mike Wells was on the ’95 Lions club that began the season 2-5. “We had to win [seven] straight to get into the playoffs and we did,” he recalled. “Then we got in the playoffs and lost [to Philadelphia]. You can’t afford to have a letdown like that. You expend too much energy and it’s too hard trying to come back.”
These Bears can’t help but break the age-old credo of not looking ahead. Of eight players interviewed, every one brought up the fact that they must play the Vikings and Bucs on the road, the Lions at home in week four and then the Packers in Green Bay in week five. No apologies offered.
“It’s a huge beginning for us and we have no choice but to come out on top,” said guard Chris Villarrial. “After this start, you’ll find out what we’re made of and what we have to offer. And we’re going to find out real fast where we stand come Minnesota because they’re a great team and an explosive team.”
Catching the Vikings and Bucs early, may not be a bad thing for the Bears considering both teams are operating under new offensive coordinators. The Vikings also have a newly built offensive line and a young quarterback in Daunte Culpepper starting his first NFL game after seeing only enough action last season to carry the ball three times for six yards.
“We’d like to confuse him, but he didn’t look too confused in the preseason,” Bears coach Dick Jauron said of Culpepper, who completed 58 percent of his passes for 751 yards and five touchdowns (with three interceptions) in exhibition games.
Jauron is also not thrilled about playing in Tampa in September, when the humidity is always unbearable. “I just think when they do that,” he said of the schedule-makers, “they should make Tampa come up here late in the season and play us in the cold.” (The Bucs come to Chicago Nov. 19.)
The last time the Bears played division opponents in their first two games was in ’97, when they lost at Green Bay and at home to Minnesota and ended up 4-12. In ’95, the Bears split with Minnesota and Green Bay at home to start the season and ended up 9-7.
Defensive end Bryan Robinson said he loves the idea of facing two of the tougher teams in the division right away. “Coming out of the gate running, I’m loving that we’re going to play division opponents early,” said Robinson. “We’re fresh, we’re hungry, a lot of people are going to be playing on a lot of emotion. Getting these division games early should benefit us.”
Another important distinction to this year’s schedule is that in addition to the fact that four of the Bears’ first five opponents are in the NFC Central, their first eight games are all against NFC opponents. So a slow start, even if followed by a strong finish, could still keep the Bears out of the playoffs because they will be behind in tiebreakers.
Still, Jauron said making too much of the first couple of games is a mistake. “If you win the first two, it’s a great start to a young season,” he said. “If you lose the first two, it’s a poor start but still a young season. You’ve got to play the whole thing.”
As evidence, look no further than last year’s 6-10 season. The Bears managed to defeat a good Kansas City team in the opener as well as both Minnesota and Green Bay on the road. But they followed the win over the Chiefs with a one-point loss to playoff-bound Seattle in Week 2; followed a dramatic Vikings’ win with a loss at home to a bad Philadelphia team; and came home from Green Bay only to lose by three points at home to Minnesota.
“We snuck up on and surprised a lot of people last year, including us,” said Robinson. “But now teams know what to expect and so do we. We know we can win a lot of games this season. Last year, we were uncertain.”
Along with a growing confidence, however, is still the ever-familiar chip on the shoulder of at least one veteran.
“It’s still us against the world,” said James Williams. “It will always be us against the world. No one is going to take up for us but us. That’s just the way it goes. We start out the season 8-0 and it’s `Whew, the Bears are the best thing since sliced bread.’ We start out 4-4 and it’s, `The Bears are doing better than last year.’ We start out 0-8 and `It’s well, we knew it was going to happen.
“We’re the only people who have confidence in us.”
And even they can’t know how it’s going to play out.
“We’re a much better team but it’s all on paper,” said Jauron. “Now we find out who we are, how we’re going to play and how we’re going to develop on both sides of the ball.
“We have a lot of confidence in our team but we’re going to have to come through if we’re going to be the team we want to be.”
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