There’s a new king of the hill in the NFC. The Bears are the last undefeated team after knocking off the previously unbeaten and defending NFC champion Seattle Seahawks, last year’s news.
Suddenly, all the talk about going to a Super Bowl changes from nonsense to perfect sense.
That’s the way it works in the NFL. Quickly and unexpectedly. The Bears entered Sunday night’s game with little doubt in their own minds and left no doubt in the minds of anyone watching, coast to coast. They didn’t just beat the Seahawks; they embarrassed them.
You say the Seahawks were limited by the injury to MVP running back Shaun Alexander? That’s the way it works in the NFL. There are no footnotes. Besides, if you think Alexander was the difference, you were watching something else.
Bears fans thought they were watching something else too. This is going to take some time to digest. It’s one thing for any decent Bears team to play defense and create turnovers. But what is this passing game? Who are these big receivers they call tight ends?
It’s one thing for a defensive tackle like Tommie Harris to disrupt just about everything that happens inside the hashmarks. It’s one thing to see a defensive back like Ricky Manning Jr. making interceptions. That’s what Lovie Smith promised and all anybody had the nerve to believe in.
It’s quite another thing to see a quarterback like Rex Grossman standing in a pocket, getting time to pass, and firing darts to somebody other than Muhsin Muhammad.
On the Bears’ first touchdown drive, Grossman hit tight end Desmond Clark for 17 yards. Then on third down, he hit Clark again for 14 yards. On the second touchdown drive, he found tight end Gabe Reid for 19 yards to the 3-yard line.
On a field-goal drive, he found tight end John Gilmore, who was hit hard by Seattle safety Michael Boulware and the ball was jarred loose. But it was Boulware, not Gilmore, who suffered a concussion on the play and had to leave for the night.
What’s this? Three tight ends? The Bears must have been stashing them in time capsules over the years, saving them to spring on unsuspecting defensive coordinators in 2006.
Even the tight ends can’t believe it. Clark was so shocked to see a perfectly thrown ball from Grossman hit his hands over a defender in the end zone he let it slip through.
It’s one thing to have a reliable possession receiver in Muhammad. It’s quite another to have a legitimate deep threat in Bernard Berrian and a quarterback who can put it on the hands from 40 and 50 yards.
Grossman has done everything anyone could ask of a quarterback, beginning with making his fourth start for the first time in his four-year career. Just think when he gets more experience. He has now started a total of 12 NFL games, three quarters of one season.
Smith counts on turnovers and got them Sunday against the best quarterback in the NFC. Last year. Matt Hasselbeck threw only nine interceptions all last season in leading the Seahawks to a Super Bowl. When Manning got his second in the first half Sunday night, it ran Hasselbeck’s total in four games to seven.
Hasselbeck doesn’t make bad decisions. He was forced into them, mainly by Harris, with help from tackles Tank Johnson and Ian Scott and ends Alex Brown and Adewale Ogunleye and Mark Anderson. They didn’t even need a whole lot of help from a loud crowd, which mainly sat in awe.
Harris is the man. With the Seahawks trailing 7-3 and starting a drive in great field position at their 44 in the first quarter, Harris dumped Hasselbeck for a 10-yard sack on first down to blow up the possession.
When Smith and defensive coordinator Ron Rivera can get pressure with a minimum of blitzing, even the highest-scoring offense in the league–last year–has no chance.
Both of Manning’s interceptions came against spread offenses–four wide and five wide. Hasselbeck was forced to throw too fast to double-check the coverage.
“They can pass-rush with four guys, which really helps them,” Seattle coach Mike Holmgren said.
“They were a load tonight. They got us pretty good. They played a heck of a game. I’m not going to go back and reinvent the wheel. If we get another crack at them, I hope we play better.”
When a fast, athletic defense geared to prevent big plays has a big lead, it makes for poor prime-time drama. Football fans were able to find out the Bears are for real and get a good night’s sleep too.
You say you’re worried about the running game? Are you kidding? After years, decades, of searching for a passing game, a running game should be the least of anyone’s worries.
So now what? The Bears play Buffalo next. After that, it’s Arizona, then San Francisco, then Miami, then the New York Giants. Those four last teams combined have matched the Bears’ total of four wins.
The NFC East plays the NFC South, so those two deep divisions are likely to knock each other off. On Sunday night, the Seahawks looked like the last five Super Bowl losers who have failed to make the playoffs the following season.
That’s not likely for the Seahawks this year because they play in the weak NFC West. It’s quite likely the Bears will see the Seahawks again, and the game is more than likely to be at Soldier Field.
But wait. Didn’t that happen last season when the Bears pounded the Carolina Panthers, only to lose to the Panthers at Soldier Field in the playoffs?
That’s what’s next. As much as the Bears proved Sunday night, they have only raised expectations. It looks like it will be fun and games until January, when they’ll have to start proving themselves again.
That’s the way it works in the NFL.
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dpierson@tribune.com
