No huddle, no touchdowns, no victory.
The Bears’ huff-and-puff offense recorded even fewer style points than actual points on the scoreboard Sunday.
While time of possession generally translates into victories in the NFL, the Bears’ 34 minutes 42 seconds of possession reaped a mere two field goals as the defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens (25:18) were more enterprising in a 17-6 opening-day decision at PSINet Stadium.
The Bears tinkered with a no-huddle offense, but quarterback Shane Matthews’ 24-of-39 pass-completion efficiency netted only 138 yards and failed to produce a touchdown.
“We had our chances; we just didn’t put it in the end zone when we should have” said Matthews, whose longest pass went for 20 yards to Dez White, who had three catches for 44 yards.
Marty Booker led the Bears with nine receptions for 49 yards, but his longest was for only 12 yards, even though the Ravens played without injured starting cornerback Duane Starks.
“We’ve been working on [the no-huddle] for a while,” said Matthews. “It’s something I enjoy doing, calling all the plays. We thought it might work a little better than it did. We tired them out and we did move the ball.
“When you play a team like them–especially a good defensive team like them–you’ve got to put the ball in the end zone. You can’t settle for field goals.”
The Bears’ best chance came on the opening possession when a 14-play, 74-yard drive stalled at the 2-yard line. Matthews completed six straight passes on the march, but running back James Allen was stuffed on a third-down dive into the line. Paul Edinger was summoned to boot a 20-yard field goal.
“We definitely wanted to run it in,” said coach Dick Jauron of the disappointing conclusion to the drive.
Allen wound up with 43 yards in 21 attempts.
Jauron indicated the Bears tried to limit their risks on offense against the premier defensive unit in the league last year.
“We all know this defense,” said Jauron. “We did not want to get in a third-and-10, we did not want to get into third-and-15. We got ourselves in this [situation] a couple of times.
“If we ended up in third down, we wanted it to be third-and-5, third-and-6, with an opportunity to convert and move the ball downfield like we did in the first half.”
Matthews and offensive coordinator John Shoop said they tried to go deep down the field on a few passes.
“We did and I made a poor throw to Marcus [Robinson],” said Matthews.
Matthews was intercepted twice, once by linebacker Ray Lewis after a tipped pass and again by cornerback James Trapp.
But for the most part, the Bears’ pass offense was restricted to safe swing passes in the backfield and quick outs to the wide receivers.
“The way [Baltimore] plays defensively, they play a real deep `cover two,’ and they drop Ray Lewis,” said Matthews. “It’s almost like a prevent defense.”
Matthews sustained an ankle injury in the fourth quarter on what he called “a cheap shot” from end Michael McCrary after throwing a pass.
“It’s just really hard to think anything is very good when you lose 17-6,” said Jauron. “We had a good plan.
“We know this is a tremendous defense, but it’s just disappointing.”
