Tuesday’s two-minute drill … There was a time when cornerback Charles Tillman’s return to practice in time for a Bears playoff game might not have been marked with anything more than a sigh in Chicago.
His well-documented failures covering wide receiver Steve Smith in the Bears’ season-ending loss to the Panthers last year didn’t exactly earn Tillman the title of “Mr. January.”
But a healthy Tillman back in the secondary Monday for the first time since mid-December due to back spasms restored a measure of confidence to a pass defense that became porous in his absence.
The way Tillman gets physical with receivers will allow the Bears’ young safeties to play more aggressively against the Seahawks’ West Coast offense. His presence also allows Ricky Manning Jr., another vital playmaker, to slide inside to the nickelback spot, where he can be a more effective blitzer.
The defense has struggled to create takeaways without Tillman around to make everybody in the secondary a half-step quicker, mainly because of the ineffectiveness of the blitz and a lack of impact plays from the safety position.
Football is funny that way. Last year’s postseason goat for the Bears’ defense could be this year’s key.
“My back feels good, I’m healthy and I’m ready to go,” Tillman said.
That helps. But as ready as Tillman may be, the Bears will still face the Seahawks without two difference-makers who played in the Oct. 1 game–tackle Tommie Harris and safety Mike Brown. Even coach Lovie Smith, on the day Harris was lost for the season in December, acknowledged that injury made the Bears just like everyone else.
Meanwhile, the Seahawks’ offense had improved since losing 37-6 to the Bears. Can the Bears’ defense say it has improved too? Of course not, as one player’s brief pause when answering that question Monday implied.
Even so, Tillman insisted the defense could be stingy enough against the Seahawks without Harris or Brown.
“I can just feel it,” Tillman said.
The real answer will not come until about 3 p.m. Sunday, but a more palpable feeling permeated the Bears’ locker room Monday that was impossible to ignore. It’s called professionalism, and its presence on the first day of serious playoff game-planning struck a significant contrast to a season earlier, when the Bears started the week by boldly talking their way out of contention.
“I don’t even want to talk about that,” said Adewale Ogunleye, the brashest Bear before the Panthers loss. “Ask me another question. I still have certain feelings on some things but want to move on.”
Ogunleye moved on to discuss focusing on the postseason since April 10, when he says the Bears’ season really started after a defeat “that really hurt.”
Instead of providing the Seahawks any pregame fodder the way he and his teammates did for the Panthers, the Bears defensive end stood in front of his locker and praised Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and “Seattle-type football.”
“They’re the reigning NFC champions–and will be until someone beats them–and deserve respect,” Ogunleye said.
It’s only rhetoric, but before the coaching staff even finalized Sunday’s scouting report, the Bears seemed more prepared and focused than they ever were to face the Panthers one year earlier.
Tillman’s return makes them healthier on the field, and the still-painful memories of getting humbled at home make them sounder in their approach.
“The first time you go through it, you don’t know,” Lovie Smith said of playoff experience. “You have an idea, but you never really know until you’re in that situation. But everything we’re doing this year, we know.”
We also know that bringing up the Panthers, which more than a couple of Bears did before their coach addressed the media, still makes Smith a little touchy.
“Carolina has very little to do with what we’re doing–not very little, zero to do with what we’re doing,” Smith said.
Relax, coach. Bears players offered some pretty convincing evidence to the contrary–a fact that should be to Smith’s credit and not to his chagrin. …
Just asking, but if the Falcons are willing to pay new hire Bobby Petrino an average of $4.5 million per year with no NFL head-coaching experience, what will Smith’s renegotiated contract that has yet to be finalized be worth after two straight NFC North titles? In that outrageous marketplace, how could anybody argue that a salary of $5 million per season would be an unrealistic starting point for Smith? …
In the Oct. 1 game against the Seahawks, Harris dominated against left guard Chris Spencer, who was making his second NFL start in place of free-agent defector Steve Hutchinson. Since that point, Spencer has moved to center and rookie Rob Sims has moved in at left guard, allowing both players to play their natural positions. That stability should make blocking against a Bears defensive interior playing without Harris much less of a mismatch this time around at Soldier Field. …
The Seahawks are coming off a Super Bowl appearance, but they have not won a road playoff game since Dec. 31, 1983, when they beat the Dolphins 27-20 to advance to the AFC championship game. Since that game, the Seahawks have lost their next six road playoff games. … By the way, the Seahawks have given up five more points than they have scored this season. … Historians will take solace in this bit of Bears trivia: In the 12 times since 1933 when the Bears have played an opponent in the postseason whom they previously played during the regular season, they are 7-5, according to STATS.
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dhaugh@tribune.com
