With first place in the NFC Central and bragging rights across the Illinois-Wisconsin state line at stake, the Bears are expecting to have quarterback Jim Miller back for Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers.
Miller threw lightly before Sunday’s win over the Cleveland Browns and was encouraged by the progress of his recuperation from a hip pointer sustained against San Francisco on Oct. 28.
“Obviously the pain has really gone down for me and it was good for me to rest this weekend,” Miller said. “Every day it’s been getting better and better, so hopefully that will work out.”
The injury normally takes 10 days to two weeks to heal sufficiently for a player to return. Miller has been using various treatments, including electrical stimulation on his left hip.
“I’m just going to have to play through it, just break down the scar tissue,” Miller said. “But it should be all right.”
If Miller is ready, he will return to the starting lineup in place of Shane Matthews, who was roughed up Sunday from five sacks and several other hits.
“I think that our quarterback situation should be better,” said coach Dick Jauron. “Jimmy should be pretty good by Sunday I would think. We’ll have to wait and see how that comes along on Wednesday and then where it goes the rest of the week.
“Shane got hit a lot [Sunday]. He’s a tough guy, so he’s sore but he should be OK, he should be fine and we’ll have more information on Danny (Wuerffel, pinched nerve) as this week progresses too.”
If Miller does start, the Bears might want to consider using Matthews in selected situations. Few Bears quarterbacks in recent years have run the two-minute hurry-up offense as well as Matthews, who has emerged as the Bears’ Earl of Urgent with four touchdown passes in the closing minutes the past two weeks.
The normally laid-back Matthews is not only comfortable calling his own plays–the norm for hurry-up situations–he prefers it.
The very urgency of the two-minute situations work to Matthews’ advantage. He has struggled at times with passes being deflected or batted down by defensive linemen, with two being intercepted Sunday. But that’s less likely to happen when defenses aren’t using four linemen.
In hurry-up situations, with the Bears trailing, both the 49ers and Browns used three- and sometimes two-man pass rushes. Matthews, with fewer linemen swatting passes and blocking his view, was able to get the offense in scoring position.
“[The Browns] ended up giving us an odd front at the end and were three-man rushing a lot,” said offensive coordinator John Shoop. “So there at the end Shane had some good passing lanes.”
The problem of batted balls has been less pronounced with Miller but is still something that Jauron said is increasingly prevalent in the NFL this year.
“Defenses know they’re not going to get [to the quarterback],” Jauron said. “If they’re not clean [coming at the quarterback], they stop and they jump and try to get in the flight path. I think they’re better at it now then I’ve ever seen them, but it’s not just a problem for our team.
“There were a number of balls batted by our defensive line and by [Cleveland’s] defensive line and quite frankly, I don’t know what you do about it.
“The quarterback certainly can’t spend all his time worrying that the hands are there. He’s got to find a lane and throw it.”
Rarity in rivalry: A meaningful game
While Bears-Packers games always stir the fans’ emotions, this year’s games have added significance with both teams in contention for the postseason. Even though the Packers have dominated the Bears in recent years, winning 14 of the last 17 meetings, the Bears hold the all-time series edge with 84 victories, 71 losses and 6 ties.
1920s
Bears: 6 wins
Packers: 6 wins
Ties: 3
The Bears win the 1921 title without facing the Packers.
1930s
Bears: 12 wins
Packers: 11 wins
Ties: 1
Coaches Ralph Jones and George Halas fight Curly Lambeau to a near draw, as Bears win 12 of 24 games.
1940s
Bears: 16 wins
Packers: 4 wins
Ties: 1
Best decade in Bears history. In 1941, they beat the Packers in the teams’ only playoff meeting.
1950s
Bears: 14 wins
Packers: 5 wins
Ties: 1
Bears dominate Packers, who hire Vince Lombardi in 1959. Neither team wins an NFL title.
1960s
Bears: 5 wins
Packers: 15 wins
Ties: 0
Bears interrupt the Packers’ five-championship decade with title of their own in 1963.
1970s
Bears: 11 wins
Packers: 9 wins
Ties: 0
They have a lot in common–they weren’t contenders in the 1970s.
1980s
Bears: 11 wins
Packers: 7 wins
Ties: 0
Bears hire Mike Ditka in 1982, win Super Bowl XX, beat Packers eight straight.
1990s
Bears: 7 wins
Packers: 13 wins
Ties: 0
Packers trade for Brett Favre in 1992, win Super Bowl XXXI, beat Bears 10 straight.
(2000)
(Bears:) 1 wins
(Packers:) 1 wins
(Ties:) 0
See microfilm for complete graphic.
