Adewale Ogunleye was a rookie with the Miami Dolphins the year after Dan Marino retired, but the lesson he learned from the Hall of Fame quarterback resonates through every locker room in the NFL.
“After that first Super Bowl [his second season], I’m sure Marino thought he would be back many, many times, and he never was able to do that,” Ogunleye said. “You look at that example and the example of many players–Barry Sanders, Jim Kelly, Junior Seau–who have never won. I’ve played with Zach Thomas and Jason Taylor, who never won a ring, and it’s tough.”
The proverbial window of opportunity often reveals but a glimmer of light in professional sports before it slams shut. Now the Bears, despite missing key veterans in the injured Tommie Harris and Mike Brown, seem to be peering through it.
“The window is so short,” said Brendon Ayanbadejo, one of seven Pro Bowlers on the Bears, looking around the locker room. “For a lot of guys, this will be their last chance. This exact group of guys will never be together here again. You have to live in the moment.”
Among Bears starters and part-time starters, Lance Briggs, Ruben Brown, Ian Scott, Alfonso Boone and Todd Johnson will be free agents after the season. Realistically, the Bears will be able to sign only Charles Tillman or Nathan Vasher to a long-term deal at cornerback.
There are also age issues on the offensive line: Brown is 34, Fred Miller is 33 and receiver Muhsin Muhammad also is 33. Impact players like Brian Urlacher, Thomas Jones and Mike Brown have taken a pounding in their seven seasons.
In addition, with winning comes more competition for free agents, tougher schedules and lower draft picks. There also could be changes on the coaching staff, with coordinators Ron Rivera and Ron Turner interviewing for head-coaching positions.
The Bears’ dominating start to this season, coupled with their position atop a generally weak division and conference, fueled especially high expectations of Super Bowl glory.
“You never know when you’re going to be in this position again,” said Jones, whose contract runs out after next season and who has been the subject of trade speculation. “Every year it’s a new team that ends up being a favorite or wins the division or wins the conference.
“Some guys may have an injury; they may not play again. There are so many different things that make you want to take advantage of being in the playoffs, having home-field advantage, being on a great team like we have.”
Bears coach Lovie Smith said that does not necessarily equate to a greater sense of urgency to reach the Super Bowl and win it.
“It can’t be any [greater] than just us wanting to win,” he said. “All those things are there, and that’s reality, but we want to win because we want to win. . . . That’s enough in itself to keep us motivated in everything we do from here on out.”
With New England’s three Super Bowl victories in four years as the obvious exception, a two-year window to win is a common NFL time frame.
Bears defensive end Alex Brown disagrees with that theory–sort of.
“Every year you try to put the best team on the field that you can,” he said. “I know there’s free agency and I know contracts run out, and things like that happen. Because you’re good one year doesn’t guarantee you’re going to be good the next year, but you could be.
“Going 11-5 last year, and we brought everybody back, didn’t mean we were going to . . . go 13-3. We still had to go out and play and make plays and beat good teams. . . . We’re lucky enough to be in this situation, fortunate enough, so we have to make the best of this year now.”
Ogunleye, though, firmly believes in the window theory.
“I’ve seen it,” he said. “While I was in Miami, we had a brief window where we had a good nucleus of Pro Bowl players with young players, and now you see where they’re still struggling to get back to that level.
“I think you have a couple years if you’re lucky where you’re on top of your game and you’re winning games until it catches up to you. Everybody is going to have their chance.
“Teams are not going to be doormats forever, and everybody’s not going to be on top forever. So when you have the opportunity, you have to strike. I think when you’re young, you don’t realize that.”
Tillman, however, said he has always realized it.
“I don’t think it will take me until like my 10th year to actually appreciate winning in the postseason,” he said. “I can appreciate it now. What I know now about the postseason is just you have to play at your best. It’s not like you can have one bad game and you’re guaranteed another game. Right now, nothing’s guaranteed.
“These are stories I’ve heard from other players on other teams. They say, `We’ll make it back next year,’ and lo and behold, that was the closest they ever came to a Super Bowl. I don’t want to be one of those players. . . . Now is the time to seize the moment.”
Of course, the Bears could extend their window because of the hoped-for recoveries of Harris and Mike Brown, the long-term contracts of core players such as Ogunleye, Harris, Brian Urlacher and Olin Kreutz, and the fact that they are a relatively young team. Heading into the 2006 season last May, the average age on the roster was 25. They have only eight players 30 or older.
“I guess you don’t really know for sure about that window of opportunity until it closes,” Scott said. “The point is, nothing’s ever promised. [So] you want to make the most of [every opportunity]. I think that’s our approach. The Patriots have done that every year. We didn’t do it last year so we want to make sure we don’t make the same mistake again.”
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misaacson@tribune.com
