Running the football in the NFL is difficult. For Thomas Jones, however, there were times when it was even harder just to keep believing in himself.
Jones, the seventh pick overall in the 2000 NFL draft, two picks ahead of the Bears’ Brian Urlacher, landed with the perpetually losing Arizona Cardinals for three seasons. Then he played a year with the then-losing Tampa Bay Buccaneers before he came to the Bears for a 5-11 season in 2004.
Jones never was on a team that won more than seven games in his first five NFL seasons. There were times he wondered if he would ever be at the point he is now, one game from a Super Bowl.
“It’s hard to be very optimistic about that kind of situation,” Jones said. “But I’ve been blessed . . . here in Chicago where we have a lot of guys who are very hungry. That’s the goal of this team, to win the Super Bowl.”
Some Bears have wearied of talk about the ’85 Bears and the city’s endless longing for a reprise of what that team was. Don’t count Jones among them.
“That’s a lot of motivation, a lot of incentive to live up to what they have done,” Jones said. “We know how this city loves football, and the main thing is winning football games for ourselves, but also for the fans. I don’t think there’s another city in the country that loves its football team more than Chicago.”
Been here before
Though he never has been to a Super Bowl or an NFC championship game, Bernard Berrian has dreamed of this situation a thousand times.
“All the time,” Berrian laughed. “Ten catches, 200 yards, two touchdowns. Always. Super Bowl MVP was always a dream, going out there against the best defender in the world and beating him on something. But we can’t think about the prize yet because we still have another goal in front of us, and that’s to win this game.”
Memories
Defensive coordinator Ron Rivera was a linebacker for the Bears the last time they played in the NFC championship game in the 1988 season. He would like Sunday’s title game to end quite a bit differently.
The Bears were annihilated 28-3 by San Francisco despite a weather advantage over a California team.
“I remember it was cold; I remember it was disappointing,” Rivera recalled, adding simply, “Joe Montana (three touchdown passes, 288 yards). It was a heck of an experience, though. The support we got after the loss was tremendous. That’s why, for me, it’d be special to give something back to the fans for so many years supporting us.”
D-termined
Three of the four head coaches remaining in the playoffs–Bill Belichick, Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith–are from backgrounds in defense. Only Sean Payton, a former Eastern Illinois quarterback and NFL offensive coordinator, comes from that side of the ball. Four of the last five Super Bowl winners (Belichick three times) were from the defense.
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jmullin@tribune.com
