Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Packer Plus
One well-coordinated hex
Editor’s note: This story was published Dec. 2, 1996.
Green Bay — Start over. Hire someone with a fresh idea. Junk what you got here.
Whatever Chicago Bears coach Dave Wannstedt holds near and dear as his defensive philosophy, and he learned much of it from his mentor, Jimmy Johnson, should be placed in mothballs the next time he coaches against Mike Holmgren.
Another chapter in Holmgren’s mastery of Wannstedt was written on a gray Sunday at Lambeau Field as the Green Bay Packers frustrated the Bears one more time, 28-17.
The victory was the Packers’ sixth in a row over the Bears, the first time that has happened in the ancient rivalry since the Packers won seven straight from 1928-’30. Holmgren is 7-1 overall against Wannstedt and, once again, it was the offense coordinated by Holmgren that carried the day against the defense coordinated by Wannstedt.
“I can’t put my finger on it,” Packers quarterback Brett Favre said. “I think Wannstedt is a great coach. I think injuries have had a big part in it. It’s kind of weird right now.”
Granted, the Bears were without injured linebacker Bryan Cox, “kind of the soul of that defense,” according to Holmgren.
But the Bears (5-8) had Cox eight weeks ago and still were destroyed by the Packers, 37-6.
For five consecutive games the Bears hadn’t allowed more than 17 points. Then their offense, so limited with Dave Krieg having to play quarterback rather than Erik Kramer, succeeded in hogging the ball for 21 of the first 28 minutes with an impressive short-pass, inside-run formula.
They led, 7-0, and, in the words of Tony Wise, their assistant head coach / offensive line coach, “We had them reeling a little bit.”
Only 1 minute 24 seconds remained in the first half, and the crowd of 59,682 was on edge. Not only were the Bears
controlling both lines of scrimmage, but Wannstedt was operating in devil-maycare fashion, twice disdaining field goals to go for it on fourth down and even lining up wide receiver Curtis Conway for one play at quarterback.
Even as a 10-point underdog against an adversary that had won 23 of its previous 24 regular-season and playoff games at home, the Bears could look toward the second half with confidence.
Holmgren and his on-field conductor, Favre, saw 84 seconds to tie. And in four plays they did, shredding the Bears’ secondary for 60 yards on three rapid-fire completions.
For 29 minutes the emotionally charged Bears had kept Favre under wraps and halted the Packers’ running game dead in its tracks. In fact, Holmgren didn’t even try to run, passing 12 times compared with six rushes for 13 yards.
Holmgren came out firing some more, passing five times in a row to open the third quarter. But then, using his array of personnel groupings and motion to keep the Bears off balance, he returned to a staple of previous victories over Chicago — draw plays against nickel defenses — to spring Dorsey Levens for gains of 16 and 15 yards.
When the fourth quarter dawned, the conventional ground game finally was there for Green Bay (10-3) as Levens hammered 24 yards behind William Henderson’s lead block out of an I-formation to the Bears’ 17.
On the next play, with the Packers clinging to a lead of just 14-10 thanks to Desmond Howard’s 75-yard punt return, Wannstedt retaliated by running up safeties Marty Carter and Anthony Marshall on either side of center Frank
Winters in an obvious blitz look.
The problem was that there still were 12 seconds left on the play clock. Favre, displaying the poise instilled in him by Holmgren, calmly stood up, called an audible and then flicked a 7-yard slant pass to Don Beebe when the Bears went ahead and blitzed anyway.
On the next play, Wannstedt went back to another all-out, seven-man pass rush, but the call from Holmgren was an off-tackle run. The Bears were outflanked, leaving Levens an easy 10-yard gap for a touchdown and an insurmountable 21-10 lead.
“They’re dogging, and Dorsey takes it in for a touchdown . . . . Unbelievable game he played there with their defense,” Packers general manager Ron Wolf said about Holmgren. “The great thing about him is his ability to play chess. Plus, he’s got the thing that those really good gamblers have. Like Maverick on TV . . . at the right moment.”
The Packers ended up rushing 14 times for 76 yards in the fourth quarter, giving them 126 in all.
When Wannstedt said, “We weren’t concerned about that (the late first-half touchdown) beating us. If they had driven the ball up and down the field on us, then there would have been concern,” he seemed to be missing the point.
Holmgren’s offense is built around big plays, not grinding meat. Any defense that doesn’t realize that fact, barring an enormous manpower advantage, is doomed to failure.
“Very rarely today did we get caught by surprise by their blitzes,” Favre said. “We were ready for it. We just never had the ball early.”
With Antonio Freeman catching five of his 10 passes against rookie cornerback Walt Harris for 75 yards, the Packers gained a modest 342 yards. But their average per play of 6.2 yards was their best since opening day.
“It’s like the wheels came off at our place when we lost two games in a row,” Wolf said. “It’s due to the fact that we didn’t have our players. You can see now what we have when you put Freeman and (Andre) Rison and Beebe and (Keith) Jackson. I think we’re definitely back to where we were.
“And, there’s another piece of the puzzle here. (Howard) is a devastating return man. Devastating.”
The Bears’ coaches insisted that coverage dictated why Krieg threw short on some of the long passes they had called. Nonetheless, on a windy day, it was obvious that the Bears couldn’t push the ball deep with the weak-armed Krieg.
So they patiently went about their grunt work, sending determined Raymont Harris into the line 24 times for 79 yards and having Krieg complete 12 passes to his backs.
When Packers defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur adjusted against the run in the second half by stunting his linemen, the Bears were helpless trying to come from behind.
“We’re all a little (expletive) that we can’t take the thing another step,” Wise said. “We had them reeling, and then their ability takes over and they rise to the occasion. We should have, too. That’s the disappointing thing.”
Until Wannstedt does something radically different on defense, it’s likely Holmgren and Favre will keep on beating him.