USA TODAY International Edition
the Bullish Bears on
Resurgent Chicago, winning the old- fashioned way, in the lead, in control, in NFC North
LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Entering the < nal week of August, the Chicago Bears’ season looked over before it began.
Quarterback Rex Grossman broke an ankle Aug. 12, backup Chad Hutchinson was cut after two dreadful preseason starts and running back Cedric Benson, the fourth pick overall in the draft, was still unsigned. Did someone say 5- 11 again?
But amid the White Sox’s stunning run to baseball’s World Series championship, coach Lovie Smith’s Bears quietly fashioned a revival to become one of the bigger surprises in the < rst half of the NFL season.
After a 1- 3 start, the Bears have won four consecutive games entering Sunday’s matchup against the San Francisco 49ers ( 2-6) at Soldier Field. With a
two-game lead in the NFC North
Division, and tiebreaker edges on
their closest competitors, the Bears are in excellent position to earn their < rst playoff berth since the 2001 season and just the third since Mike Ditka was < red following the 1992 season.
Chicago has managed only three winning seasons since “ Da Coach” was dismissed. As the city celebrates the 20th anniversary of the team’s Super Bowl XX year — a cottage industry in itself — the current team is winning the old- fashioned Bearsway.
“ It’s amazing how some things change and some things do not,” says former Bears great Mike Singletary, assistant head coach- linebackers of the 49ers. “ When I think of the Bears, I think of great defense and I think of an offense that’s tough and physical and gets after people. That’s what’s there ( now). That’s the culture of the Chicago Bears.”
The remnants of the NFL’s old “ black and blue” division might be just plain ugly this year — the Green Bay Packers are 1- 7 and the Minnesota Vikings 3- 5 off the cruise ship — but the Bears rate among the NFL’s best in defense and rushing.
Using the attacking system Smith brought from the St. Louis Rams last year, Chicago ranks third overall defensively and is tiedwith Indianapolis for fewest points allowed ( 98).
Rookie quarterback Kyle Orton is the second- lowest rated passer in the NFL, but he has drawn praise for avoiding many of
the A rst- year games.
Running back Thomas Jones, who was expected to yield his starting job to Benson, produced a Pro Bowl-caliber A rst half, rushing mistakes that
Orton steps into the breach
cost for 753 yards despite being slowed the past two weeks by a rib injury. Benson, who A nally agreed to terms Aug. 28, was impressive in relief the past two games and is expected to make his A rst start Sunday if Jones can’t play.
The Bears’ resilience from their midsummer’s nightmare can be traced to Smith’s steady hand, a system that relies on defense and running the ball and the experience of last year, when the team lost Grossman to a knee injury in the third week and had no suitable replacement.
“ We just knew where we were as a football team,” Smith says. “ We have a dominant defense, we have great special teams, and on the offensive side of the football, we want to be able to run the ball. . . .
“ I think we have a perfect A t for a team that lost their quarterback with what we ask the quarterback position to do.”
Orton, a fourth-round draft choice from Purdue, is connecting on 54.2% of his passes with seven touchdowns and nine interceptions. But A ve interceptions came in one game, against Cincinnati in Week 3.
“ I think most games I’ve done a pretty good job protecting the football and managing the game,” Orton says. “ I think I’ve gotten better week in and week out.”
Although he had a lackluster outing against New Orleans last week, Orton dropped in a perfectly thrown sideline pass to Muhsin Muhammad for a 22- yard gain that set up the winning A eld goal with six seconds remaining.
“ I don’t need one play to give me con A dence. I’ve got plenty of con A dence,” Orton says when asked if he would build on the big completion. “ I’m not going to lose con A dence if I throw a bad ball. I’m not going to really gain con A dence if it’s a good one.”
A strong Heisman Trophy candidate last year before he was slowed by a hip injury, Orton is in the running for NFL offensive rookie of the year. Tampa Bay’s Cadillac Williams, coming back from a foot injury after an all- pro caliber start, could be his principal competitor.
“ I just like his poise and the way he’s managing the game,” Bears offensive co-coordinator Ron Turner says of Orton.
Healthy Urlacher back on attack
Orton’s surprising poise and a running game that ranks sixth in the NFL are factors, but the defense is the reason the Bears are in A rst place. Chicago has given up 20 or more points only twice, and lost both games.
“ This system gives everyone on our defense a chance to make plays,” Pro Bowl linebacker Brian Urlacher says. “ It’s an aggressive scheme. We’re downhill . . . attacking the line of scrimmage, trying to get defensive linemen into the backA eld and linebackers running through the gaps to try to make plays in the backA eld.”
Urlacher is enjoying his best season since 2001, when he was consensus A rst team all- NFL and Football Digest’s
NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Injuries, a weakened defensive line and experiments with the schemes hampered the bigplay linebacker the past fewyears.
This season, he has six sacks, two shy of his career high, and double digits in tackles in six games based on A lm review by the coaches.
“I’m healthy, man, that’s the main thing for me,” says Urlacher, who missed seven games with leg injuries last year. “ Just being able to be on the A eld every snap, every game. . . . This defense is awesome. You see linebackers all around the league in this system being successful.”
Schedule does Bears no favors
Impressive as the Bears’ defense has been, it hasn’t been tested by the NFL’s best. Chicago has faced only two teamswith an offense or a quarterback currently ranked in the top 10 in its conference and lost both games ( to Washington and Cincinnati).
The second half of the schedule is more dif A cult with games against contenders and hotter quarterbacks, such as Pittsburgh and Ben Roethlisberger ( ranked No. 1 in the AFC), Carolina and Jake Delhomme ( No. 2 in the NFC) and two games against Bears-beater Brett Favre and Green Bay.
“ We have to step it up just in general,” Smith says. “ Indy, how many winning teams have they beaten? ( One team with a winning record at the halfway point.) It’s like that with all teams. You play the schedule that you have. . . .
“We’ve played good quarterbacks before, and our system has held up through a lot of good quarterbacks a lot of years.”
With a 3-0 record in the NFC North and a 4- 1mark in the conference, the Bears are in command in their division. They swept Detroit, effectively taking a three-game lead on the Lions, and beat Minnesota at home. They play the Vikings in Minnesota on Jan. 1.
Already the questions are turning to playoffs, as in how far a team can be expected to advance with a passing game that rates only 5.3 yards an attempt.
It’s another version of the Orton question, sure to be asked in many more variations as Grossman gets ready to return, if needed, in three or four weeks.
“ Our passing game has been under A re . . . but it’s been good enough to win A ve ballgames this year,” veteran receiver Muhammad says. “ You don’t have to be like the St. Louis Rams and go out and throwt he ball for 300 yards every game to win.
“ We had a lot of adversity to overcome to get to the point where we are. We went through a quarterback shuf G e. And whatwe came up with is a . . . fourth- round draft pick who took very ( few) snaps in the preseason and is learning on the run and is under tremendous A re and attack by everybody because they think he should be Kurt Warner. . . . He’s leading this team to victories.”
Considering where they were 11 weeks ago, Orton and Co. need offer no apologies.