The axiom that you can learn more from a loss than from a victory may be true, but the Bears prefer to show the St. Louis Rams on Friday night what they learned from Monday night’s exhibition win over Miami.
As significant perhaps as any specific aspect of the 27-24 victory was the reaction to it.
In the last two seasons, the Bears scored only 27 points in a game three times, and then they typically needed defensive help to do so.
Against the Dolphins the defense managed no takeaways or scores. The offense took care of business. No. 1 tailback Thomas Jones averaged 4.7 yards on his 10 carries.
It wasn’t clear whether or not quarterback Rex Grossman could stand up under hits and pressure because the offensive line that gave up 66 sacks last year simply did not let him, Chad Hutchinson or Kyle Orton get touched very often.
The attitude afterward was a version of “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”
“We started to run the ball pretty well and moved the ball pretty decently,” Grossman said. “We had some plays we could have made for a bigger first quarter, but we’re still working. It’s still early.”
The victory did leave the Bears feeling good about themselves. But they neither beat an elite team nor played entirely like one. Thus they go to St. Louis with issues to address.
While the offenses were amassing 478 yards, more than three-quarters of it on passes, the first-string defense yielded only three points in five possessions. But few in the Bears’ core unit were close to satisfied. Injuries last season revealed the significance of quality depth and Monday’s play was not entirely encouraging.
“Some of the guys we counted on stepping up or needing to step up really didn’t show up, and that was disappointing,” defensive coordinator Ron Rivera said. “We can’t have that kind of drop-off between the first group and second group.”
The Bears are missing recuperating cornerback Jerry Azumah, which moves Nathan Vasher into the starting lineup and had put rookie Rashied Davis in the nickel role. Neither played especially well. Vasher was called twice for pass interference, and Davis struggled to the point where Jerrell Pippens has moved ahead of him.
The Bears put some pressure on quarterback A.J. Feely, but Miami was 29th in overall yardage last year. The Rams were sixth and because so much of their offense consists of Marc Bulger passing to Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt, “the thing is the pass rush,” Rivera said.
“We want to see that continue to improve. We had a couple opportunities for plays that we just didn’t make as far as the pass rush was concerned.”
Linebacker Brian Urlacher collected a sack with help from the back-side pressure of defensive end Alex Brown. But linebacker Lance Briggs whiffed on a sack in the Miami end zone that would have produced at least a safety.
It was exactly the kind of play championship teams make and Briggs had talked with teammates about precisely that before the game.
“Last week I was talking about wanting to finish big plays,” Briggs said. “Those are the big plays that I’m talking about. Those are the things I have to tune up. It’s a good sign when you see linebackers around the quarterback. But I have to finish that play.”
Part of what has inspired the defense all through training camp has been the seemingly dramatic upgrade in the offense under coordinator Ron Turner. Against Miami the average gain per pass attempt, one of the most revealing of all statistics, was 9.2 yards. The collective mark for all Bears quarterbacks in 2004 was 5.61 yards.
“I was pleased overall with the execution,” Turner said. “We have things to clean up [but] I thought all that was pretty good.”
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jmullin@tribune.com
