| J.T. Magee. 26th October, 2006 - 11:56 pm
 After their 24-23 win over Arizona, I was flabbergasted. I went from an emotional low (the entire game) to an emotional high (Hester’s punt return). I had no idea whether to cry for joy because my Bears won or to cry because my Bears were exposed like they were against the Carolina Panthers last year? After pondering my thoughts, I found the Bears are and will only be Super Bowl contenders because of the NFL’s MVP, Brian Urlacher.
19 tackles?! 11 solo?! And a forced fumble?! I love what Rex Grossman has been doing for the quarterback position until that gaffe on Monday Night Football. I am not surprised at how bad he looked. A young and frazzled Brett Favre will look like that. But the composure of Urlacher is what an MVP has. It’s what is needed if a team wants to win it all. Until someone shuts down Urlacher, we may be looking at the next NFL MVP.
Defensive players tend to get overlooked. Yes, Urlacher was the DPOY last year in leading the Bears to an 11-5 record. But shouldn’t he have been in contention for the MVP voting? He led the team. Statistically or not, the Bears go when he goes. He cannot be contained. He has maintained the speed he had when he was a safety at New Mexico. He has maintained the smarts to know where the play is going to be. But he has maintained the killer instinct necessary from an MVP. That’s why the Bears are 6-0.
I was in Portland last year when Chicago lost to Carolina. I was watching the game with my cousins and one of their hot friends. All three were uninterested. Each wondered why the Bears sucked. Well, they can’t guard the middle of the field because they are determined to stop the quarterback. Yeah, they said, but they still suck. OK, their quarterback is only playing in his third game of the season. Yeah, but they still suck.
Then Urlacher had that interception in the end zone. All three jumped out of their seat. Who is that guy? Brian Urlacher. Wow, he’s good. Is he good-looking? (I chose not to answer that question. Not because I’m not uncomfortable with my manhood, but they showed him on the sideline after they asked that.) Why can’t the Bears put him on offense?
That’s when it hit me. When three women who rarely watch football ask if the middle linebacker should be on offense, you know you have your MVP. Through six games this year, he has 54 tackles, tied for second most in the NFL. The other two players are Keith Bullock (also with 54) of the Tennessee Titans and Zach Thomas of the Miami Dolphins, who leads the league with 60. He already has 4 deflected passes and the forced fumble on Edggerin James. But an MVP comes to play when it matters most.
It was only the second time in Bears history that they won when down by 20 points. Chicago looked bad in every sense of the word. They mistackled. Their stunts on rushing the passer weren’t successful. A rookie quarterback became the first quarterback in NFL history by throwing two touchdowns in the first quarter of his first two NFL games. These Bears were supposed to be nasty and tear apart the Cardinals. Thanks to Urlacher, they at least looked like they can play in the fourth quarter.
Coming into the bye week, they must adjust the way the Cardinals picked them apart. Most teams have no Anquan Boldin to tear apart the secondary. But teams can throw the screen pass time and time again. Chicago may be quick to the ball, but they will give up anywhere from four to seven yards on the screen passes Arizona was throwing. They are quick to the ball, but spreading out the defense is something that can easily plague them. Without Mike Brown, it will be that much harder to make sure they won’t expand like Stretch Armstrong.
Remedy: force the offense to one side of the field. By taking away either side of the ball, it will force the offense to do three things: go left, go deep and run. The bears can stop the run. And the Bears have had succession protecting any big plays from happening. But they must make sure that the plays that stretched them out don’t happen again. If they do, guys like Nathan Vasher must recognize this immediately to make sure big yards aren’t gained on the play. By forcing them to one side of the field, it takes away the opportunity to run reverses, trick plays, etc. But most of all, it takes away what Arizona was completing with ease.
As much as the defense must adjust, which is very little, they must get Rex Grossman back to being the Rex Grossman he was during the regular season. It helped Grossman that he has played some terrible passing defenses. Seattle, Detroit, Green Bay and Arizona all rank in the bottom half of the NFL in passing D. He faces some decent defenses coming up, but he has to make sure the 3-second clock in his head goes off. After three, he must lock on a target. Whether it’s the check-down receiver, most likely Desmond Clark, or a possession receiver, like Mushin Muhammad, he must find that target. He was making some the worst reads I’ve ever seen him make. A sack must hurt, but throwing into double coverage three times, with two of those for picks? He should know better. The D can carry them into the playoffs, but Grossman must find a way to make better decisions under the gun.
It’s not his entire fault, though. Thomas Jones had eleven carries in the game. For a “running” offense, it’s essential the running game gets going before the passing game. The first play of the game was an indication of everything that went wrong. Chicago had big heads and felt they could go deep on the first play of the game. Yeah, it was one yard too long from Bernard Berrian. But it meant 2nd-and-10, which means a passing down. That play made the defense’s job easier. But if the Bears start with a run, no matter where it goes, will have options. A little out to Desmond Clark for a first down; a 14 yard pass to Muhammad on the sideline; Berrian going deep; A screen pass to Thomas Jones. All of these palys can be made, but the run has to be established first.
Because of that pass, the entire offense was predicated and the defense only had one mission from there: make sure Grossman will never have that much time again. End result: two forced fumbles, four interceptions. Besides earning me negative points on my fantasy team, Grossman earned a chance to see where the offensive line was protecting. They protect well, they get some good plays to guys like Berrian and Rashied Davis. But because the offense was predictable, the O-line could only pass protect Grossman, which means blitz, blitz, and blitz. The O-line couldn’t protect him against guys like Adrien Wilson (most underrated safety in the NFL), which means strips of the football in the pocket.
Remedy: run, run, run. Run the damn ball. It’s how Kyle Orton was protected last year and it was how Grossman can be protected this year. By running the ball, you wear down the D-line and give your O-line a chance to regroup and recognize more blitzes. Jones and Cedric Benson can run and wear down a defense. That will give Grossman more efficient opportunities to pass. But the play-calling must change if Grossman is going to become, statistically, one of the best Bears’ QBs of all-time.
By playing football the right way, Chicago has a chance to earn their first Super Bowl title since Da Bears back in 1986. Stop the run and run the ball will give the Bears victory. Going by this remedy will help Grossman and give him time to read the defense. But it will also showcase who the MVP of the NFL has been so far. If the Bears follow this simple game-plan against anyone and everyone, Brian Urlacher will be raising more than one trophy this season. |
