OK, so it’s halftime. You get up off the sofa, stretch your legs, refill your glass and lay in a new supply of chips. The scene is a bit different in the Bears’ locker room. In those 12 minutes, Lovie Smith and his staff must orchestrate their best coaching of the week as they make crucial halftime adjustments. But typically, it’s not about screaming and berating. It’s much more businesslike. Changes might be made in reacting to the opponent’s attack. Blocking schemes might be tweaked. But at least with the Bears, the emphasis is on remaining calm, being logical and staying prepared.
Halftimes well spent
The Bears excel at using tweaks at intermission to become even more formidable late in games
One look at the halftime scoreboard gave the Bears every reason to panic as they walked off the University of Phoenix Stadium field last month: Cardinals 20, Bears 0.
They had been exposed by a lesser opponent and embarrassed on national television. If ever there was an invitation for a halftime tirade, the type that forms reputations and fills book chapters, this one was hand-delivered to one of the best teams in the NFL by one of the worst.
Lovie Smith and his staff politely declined.
“Arizona was the calmest halftime we ever had, and we were getting our butts kicked,” linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo recalled.
In the 12 minutes between their two most opposite halves of the season, the Bears tapped into a reservoir of resolve and poise and confidence deep enough to last them the next 12 weeks. Since the NFL shortened halftimes to accommodate its tightly packed TV schedule more than anything, the break leaves little time for more than a few deep breaths, a couple of conversations on X’s and O’s and a whole lot of soul-searching.
Nobody in the league gets more credit than Patriots coach Bill Belichick and his staff for turning the halftime locker-room session into a mini-course on “How To Outsmart Opponents in the Second Half,” which could make the third quarter of Sunday’s Bears-Patriots game the most telling. In the case of Smith and Bears this season, sometimes the biggest halftime adjustments have involved attitude. Looking in the mirror has made as big of a difference as standing at the chalkboard.
Even after Smith gathered the team before it went back on the field for its astonishing 24-23 comeback victory over the Cardinals, center Olin Kreutz had the last word. And it wasn’t much more than a word.
“Lovie had just told us to go out and execute better when Olin got up and said, `Let’s go, they’re not beating us, we’re beating ourselves,”‘ fullback Jason McKie said. “That was it. He’s the leader, so when he says something. . . . That was the only game where we’ve had anything like a pep talk at halftime. Usually, it’s all business.”
Stay cool, collected
The business begins with players hydrating themselves with water, a sports drink or fruit in front of their lockers. If they need to get retaped or have a piece of equipment fixed or adjusted, they better do it in the first couple of minutes of halftime before position group meetings begin.
“It seems like after you do all that you only have about five minutes left,” Ayanbadejo said. “I always go to the bathroom last, I know that.”
Players begin talking among themselves about certain trends of the first half and then either their position coach or coordinator commands their full attention. Against the Jets, for example, defensive players started trying to figure out the best way to react to various formations and a no-huddle attack that kept the Bears from getting lined up before the snap. Then defensive coordinator Ron Rivera spoke up.
“We were rattled with the whole `muddle-huddle’ thing,” cornerback Charles Tillman said. “Then [Rivera] came in and said, `Relax, you have time, look at the play clock, you don’t have to panic. Keep your poise, we’ll be fine.”‘
Afterward, several Bears cited that reminder as the biggest key in limiting the Jets to 17 rushing yards in the second half compared with 91 in the first. Schematically, Rivera will tweak things at halftime if necessary–as he did against Arizona when the Bears played man-to-man in the second half so they could blitz more. But most of the subtle changes in coverages or pass-rushes come during hasty sideline sessions after reviewing still photographs between series.
Rivera spends much of his time in front of the entire defense stressing effort, playing physical and creating turnovers. As linebacker Brian Urlacher put it: “We don’t really do a whole lot of adjusting at halftime. Coach [Rivera] tells us what we need to do better, and we either go out and do it or we don’t.”
Because Bears defenses have held 17 opponents to three or fewer points in the second half in his 42 games as defensive coordinator, Rivera has been praised for his ability to push the right buttons at halftime. Actually, he and his defensive coaching staff start pushing them after the first series.
“I think the biggest thing for us is that we are trying to make adjustments on the sideline,” Rivera said. “We don’t want to wait until halftime. I think our coaches do a great job of getting information from the players when they come off the field. I think our players do a great job of communicating with us in terms of what’s going on out there.”
Using time wisely
Offensively, coordinator Ron Turner reinforces the same general principles, but guard Ruben Brown considers the 12-minute breather some of the most valuable time he will spend all Sunday. A 12-year veteran who’s looking forward to his ninth experience blocking against Belichick’s version of the New England defense, Brown realizes that time could be even more precious Sunday given what he knows is going on in the home locker room.
“Halftime adjustments are probably the biggest part of the game because it gives you a time to rest and look at your plays rather than in the game,” Brown said. “Like in the first quarter, you’re trying to make an adjustment and you start to, and then the defense gets the ball back, and you have to go on the field so you don’t really get to finish your thought.”
Upon entering the locker room, the starting offensive linemen soon gather for a couple of minutes to finish those thoughts. Kreutz typically gives a summary of what that specific defensive front has shown that it had not shown previously because every week a team develops something new in efforts to confuse quarterback Rex Grossman.
The Giants mixed in a few high-risk blitzes that caused a turnover and required a halftime shift to pass protection. The Jets showed new looks before the snap that made blocking assignments vague.
“All those questions that came up during the first half we can address and answer them fully,” Brown said.
The offensive line typically then moves over to share its findings with the running backs. An adjustment, as it was against the Jets, might be as simple as McKie picking up a strong-side linebacker instead of the middle linebacker on a certain running play. It was not a coincidence to the linemen that the opening scoring drive of the third quarter featured seven straight inside runs.
“That’s just one example, but we always have to be ready because defenses are going to come out and give us something we haven’t seen,” McKie said.
Before the offensive linemen and backs confer with Grossman, the quarterback chats with coach Wade Wilson and backups Brian Griese and Kyle Orton about any coverage tendencies revealed by the sideline photos. Those conversations help confirm alterations already tried during the first half.
“The adjustments are made gradually, not all at once at halftime,” Grossman said.
Together as an offense, Turner finally takes the last few minutes before Smith sends the Bears back on the field to discuss any specific plays that the offensive brain trust thinks will work in the second half against the defenses shown.
Against Belichick, Turner realizes the defenses the Bears see in the first half might not be used in the second.
“You always try to have some wrinkles,” Turner said. “The last couple of weeks we started off slow offensively, did make some adjustments and ended up playing well in the second half.”
Indeed, Grossman’s 9-for-11 performance in the second half against the Giants made the difference in that victory and his efficient understanding of the Jets after halftime helped preserve that victory. Halftime has been good for Grossman. He has completed 53 of 88 passes (60 percent) for 627 yards in the third quarters of games with four touchdowns and only one interception. The latter stat is very impressive, considering he has more attempts in the third than in any other quarter.
The Bears are 13th overall in total offense but rank fifth when comparing yardage totals in the third quarter, according to Stats LLC. They have outscored opponents 63-24 in third quarters, a bigger margin than Sunday’s cerebral opponent New England at 52-38.
Man-to-man approach
Some of the best halftime stories involve anecdotes involving emotion. No Bears fan will ever forget the tale of Mike Ditka threatening to take defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan outside to settle a dispute during halftime of the loss to the Dolphins in 1985. Ditka suggested Ryan insert a defensive back in place of linebacker Wilber Marshall to cover receiver Nat Moore, and the assistant coach defied his boss.
A couple of years later, in 1987, a standard for stupidity was set in San Francisco when then-defensive coordinator George Seifert kicked a chalkboard against a concrete wall hard enough to break his toe.
Almost since George Halas moved his football team from Decatur to Chicago, halftime tirades have been an NFL tradition. On the team Halas founded, the Bears are challenging the notion that a coach needs to raise his voice to raise the team’s intensity.
“I’ve been on teams where coaches have tried the rah-rah stuff, but those days are gone,” Brown said. “We’re so cerebral with the whole process that there’s no need to yell anymore. It’s like if you’re out of position, oh, OK, move in an inch here. Or if a guy beats you up the field, all right, we’ll change the snap count.”
Brown grew up in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills and coach Marv Levy.
“Almost the last thing you need at halftime is some contrived pep talk,” Levy once said.
It happens less than people think, probably because the manic method lacks a proven track record.
“You stay calm and talk about the facts,” Brown said. “You don’t want to get mad at a guy. Figure out why he’s having a tough day and . . . fix it.”
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dhaugh@tribune.com
