You knew it was a big game because of how long the day seemed to take on Sunday. Given the Bears lack of success in recent years, they don’t do prime time a lot, and it can really screw up your couch time on Sunday when you have to wait until three hours after sunset to finally get your fix.
The scene was familiar. It was cold. Soldier Field was full. The defense was hassling another famous quarterback. The offense was making those beeping noises you hear when the snowplow is shifted into reverse.
The Lovie Smith Bears know how to win games like this. They aren’t pretty, and often times they’re frustrating to watch. It’s the rare team whose defense gets the fans more excited about the possiblility of a touchdown than the offense.
So, at the half, the Bears had a 6-3 lead, thanks mostly to the defense clobbering anybody in a Falcons jersey and two big offensive “plays.” A reverse to Bernard Berrian and a pass interference call on D’Angelo Hall. Whoo! Everybody was fired up.
Then Suzy Kolber stopped Lovie on his way to the locker room for the perfunctory chat. The Bears were ahead, somehow, when their quarterback was 2-10 for 12 yards. The backup quarterback had spent most of the first quarter playing catch and looking wistfully at the field.
Did Suzy ask Lovie about the quarterback? Of course she did. She asked him about the other team’s quarterback. Lovie had a look on his face as he gave his coachspeak answer about shutting down Michael Vick, a look that made me wonder if he had something he really wanted to say.
Turns out, he did.
Had Suzy asked the Bears’ coach about the Bears’ players, she’d have actually served a useful purpose on the sidelines. She’d have broken the news that after 26 games in the deep freeze, Rex Grossman was about to be…well, thrown into a new deep freeze.
ESPN found out sometime during halftime because when it was time for the Bears’ offense to take the field, they found Grossman on the sidelines and gave the tease that Bears’ fans have longed to hear. Rex was coming in. There he was, helmet on, body parts in tact and ready to roll.
They came back from commercial and showed his jog to the huddle. We all looked for a sign of a limp, after all he’s had his knee and ankle sewn back together since his last regular season appearance. To me he looked a little wobbly. Turns out it wasn’t a limp.
It was a swagger.
First play: With the Falcons and the world figuring hand-off, Grossman faked to Thomas Jones, waited behind impossibly good blocking and fired a strike to Muhsin Muhammad for 22 yards and a first down. For the first time since…God knows when…the middle of the field was open for business.
Grossman found Justin Gage on a hot read slant for a first down, one of those Bears’ third down conversions that normally coincides with white smoke over the Vatican.
You could feel the energy in the old-new relic by the lake. 57,000 fans had braved the cold and the wind to see the Beloved, mainly to watch through spread fingers with hope that their feeble offense wouldn’t completely waste a once-in-a-generation defense. Suddenly, there was a realization.
“Damn, this guy can sling it!”
In one move the Bears offense was suddenly more aggressive, more diversified and most importantly, more legitimate.
Out went a linebacker and in came a nickelback and suddenly, 14 weeks into the season, the Bears were facing a seven man front. Grossman’s passes just looked “different.” They were thrown harder, more on a line and with more precision, but it was more than that. They were thrown with a purpose.
The Bears had gotten to 10-3 with a backup rookie leading the way. At times, Kyle Orton looked like, well–a backup rookie, other times he was much better than that. He did his job. He made just enough plays, he almost always avoided the huge screwup and the Bears won, and won, and won, and won and won, and won, and won. Eight in a row. Orton showed enough to give us all hope that there’s a really good quarterback in there. Someday. Down the line. But there’s a reason rookie quarterbacks don’t come in and cozy right up to the job.
Even if we didn’t want to admit it, the games since Orton’s excellent performance against Carolina had convinced us all that the future was not now for these Bears. Defensively, on special teams and in the running game they were championship caliber. But bad luck (injury wise) and inexperience had left the passing game with far too few bullets to carry them in the playoffs. The Bears seemed destined to have a good regular season, followed by a playoff flameout and hope that the offense could retool in the offseason and next year could be the time to take advantage of a ridiculously good defense.
Admit it, you kept tabs on the Vikings game yesterday hoping for a Minnesota loss to lessen the possibility that the Bears might tank the last three and end up on the wrong side of the playoff picture.
But one series (actually, it was technically two, given the Falcons interception-goalline fumble) into the second half and the outlook had changed.
The Bears’ defense, the single most feared unit in the NFL, had a companion. The 57,000 freezing their keister’s off and the hundreds of thousands more at home perched on the edge of their recliners with their hands up over their heads were screaming for a reason. If Rex is ready to hold up his end of the bargain on offense, there’s no telling how far these Bears can go.
(Actually, they could probably go to the Super Bowl and then get whacked by an AFC team, but you know what I mean.)
Suddenly, surviving the end of the year with an NFC North title and some playoff dignity in tact was replaced by a feeling that there’s no need to wait anymore.
Win the last two games. Make the Giants come to Chicago in January and then head out to Seattle for an NFC title game showdown with the Seahawks and their manatee head coach.
Sure it’s all absurd. How can a team switch quarterbacks to an injury prone dwarf who’s only made six NFL starts and really believe they’re good enough to do anything special?
Well, the Bears don’t need Rex Grossman to throw for 300 yards and five touchdowns to win a game. What they need is a quarterback who can squeeze 24 points out of an offense from time to time.
Because the reason the Bears have a shot is still on the other side of the ball.
The defense was embarrassed by their performance in Pissburgh last week. Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs never miss tackles and they spent three hours doing just that in the snow.
To say they arrived at Soldier Field last night with a chip on their shoulder is an understatement.
It took all of four plays to see things would be different on this night. One play after he’d turned on his jets and scooted past Urlacher for a first down run, Michael Vick found himself slipping out of the pocket again. He made a great move and was ready to scoot around a block and head back up the sidelines for another big gainer.
Only one problem. Where Urlacher had taken the wrong angle on the previous play, he wasn’t about to do it again. He slipped under the blocker and hammered Vick to the frozen turf. A replay showed the look on Vick’s face as he threw the ball at Urlacher in frustration. It was a look of “Where did he come from?” Vick would flash that same look several more times before his night was over.
In the second half, the three headed idiot that is the ESPN Sunday Night crew went on a long discussion about who the MVP of the NFL has been in 2005. They talked about Peyton Manning and LaDanian Tomlinson and Tiki Barber and a bunch of other guys. While they were talking, the camera never left Brian Urlacher. It was like the director was casting a silent vote right along with them.
The Bears defense is great because it has so many guys who can make so many plays. From Briggs to Nate Vasher to Walleye to Alex Brown to Tommie Harris and on and on and on. But even while surrounded by playmakers, one guy stands out every week.
A year ago he was hearing absurd talk that he’s overrated, this year, you don’t hear that. Truth is, the Falcons never had a chance against the Bears because the Bears have an answer for the guy nobody has an answer for. Everywhere Vick went, Brian went there, too. What a luxury it is to face a freakishly gifted quarterback and be able to assign one guy to stop him. Several times, ESPN used their underrated SkyCam to show Vick lined up either in shotgun or under center and there just off his left was big Brian. Everywhere he went, there was Brian.
Urlacher spent so much time on Vick that he’s probably got herpes today.
The Bears didn’t just stop Vick, they rendered him useless. He looked like a faster Jonathan Quinn. Vick’s not the most accurate passer around on his best day, and this was not his best day.
He looked colder every time you saw him. Colder, sorer and more frustrated.
When it wasn’t Urlacher it was part of Paul Maguire’s famed “Bermuda Triangle” of Walleye Ogunleye and Alex Brown (wait, don’t you need three of something to have a triangle?) who were chasing Vick around. Brown got to Vick in the first quarter and sat on him for a second, just long enough for Vick to get the impression that the only warmth he was going to get was going to come from some violent Bear hugs.
The most telling subtle moments of last night’s game had to do with the reaction to Rex Grossman. While the crowd went nuts at his entrance, that’s not what I mean. First, you saw the excitement in the huddle when he bounced in. It’s hard to overstate just how much his teammates wanted him back. All the way back to mini-camps in March, their hopes had been pinned to him. Then he got hurt, again, and they had to go on without him. But you could tell in recent weeks that they were getting impatient waiting for him to get back into the fray.
Is it a coincidence that Orton’s play began to suffer the week that Grossman first suited up? Or that Moose’s patience with Orton disappeared just about the same time Rex switched from the walking cast to the high top Reeboks?
So when Lovie made the call and sent Rex in, he not only fired up the crowd, but his entire team. In the postgame interviews every question asked a defensive player about the offense drew a huge grin.
As good as the defense is, they weren’t going anywhere with a lousy offense. This gives them a chance. And all they ever wanted was a chance.
The quote from Grossman that says it all: ”I was lucky. But I feel I deserve a little luck.”
Indeed, he did. I can’t wait to unwrap part two of the Favre Farewell Tour on Christmas. If the game at Soldier Field was any indication, it’ll be the best gift I get on Christmas Day.
The defense looked great – and I think that last night was a good reason for the NFL to consider frigid northern venues for Super Bowls all the same. If dome teams can survive the playoffs, it clearly works to their benefit to play indoors. Bring Indy to Chicago – see what happens!
I can’t wait for “Jacked Up” tonight to see Green’s hit – or any of Urlacher’s. Bear Down!
I loved Paul Maguire’s repeated yells of “Somebody’s gonna get killed out there!” every time a Bear defender would make a hard hit. It might be the first thing he has gotten right all year.
Brian Urlacher is a tad over rated, and don’t think the fact that he’s white has nothing to do with it.
Did someone say over-rated?
Uh…no.
Did you see how well Orton executed that play action and completed the pass in the flats for zero yards?! This kid is just getting better and better. He’s almost at Brett Favre level.
“He made just enough plays, he almost always avoided the huge screwup and the Bears won, and won, and won, and won and won, and won, and won. Eight in a row.”
That’s seven “wons” in a row. AH HA HA HA!!!! (Lightning cracks)
I know a lot of people slam on the ESPN NFL announcers, and for good reason, but they were not THAT BAD last night. Joe Theismann’s Bill Clinton-ish support-opposition-support routine on Grossman aside, that was one of the better calls we have gotten for an NFL game all season. It wasn’t great by any means, but the announcing didn’t have to be great for it to be an improvement.
Someone also said “a tad” as in: phenomenal player? yes; unstoppable force of nature? no. Oh yeah, you’re over-rated too. And by “you” I mean both the player whose name you are using, and the practice of assuming celebrity names to make attempts at being clever.
I am dellusional. I think my team played as physical a game as the Bears last night. I seriously think they dominated the game. I am as dumb as my dad. How long until I’m out of a job?
Walleye Ogunleye and Alex Brown are a Bermuda line segment.
No, I’m not a celebrity, but it would be nice if I died.
Urlacher versus a hurricane?
And the hurricane is named… Urlacher.
Who cares? Either Hurricane Me or Mini-Me would come along and stomp on the winner.
Urlacher made Vick quit…….end of story…period. Loved the shot of Vick on the heated seats with his offensive coordinator sitting next to him…..Vick staring off into space and nodding his head as if he was listening. The only thing Vick was thinking of was getting the hell out of Chicago.
A tad over rated because I’m white? Rush Limbaugh, is that you?
No, he said white, not black.
Pete King….yikes. What a a fat turd. He didn’t even watch the game…frigin cowheaded bag o turd.
I love that wurd…turd. I’m a frigin Islamic poet.
It’s true at the end of the first half, there was a sense of shit there goes a season of one playoff game and lets go home boys. But as the stadium announcer had said Sexy Rexy was hitting the field and wasn’t being carted off, it was as if the second coming of Christ hit the field. Sure Rex came in with a hunger to play, but he proved also why he should be the starter. No one is saying he is Joe Montana, but he definitely is no Kyle Orton. Kyle has done just enough to keep us winning games the defense has dominated, now we need Grossman to do what he can to move the chains and bring the defense in well rested to keep hurting people. Rex will open up the run game just by him being on the field. Why is that you ask? Quicker release, more accurate with the pass, confidence in throwing the pigskin and finally he will actually throw the ball to Moose! That means defenses will have to stop bringing 9 men in the box and start watching what Grossman will do. Then TJ will be able to run even more effective than he has this season without a passing threat. This team was great to watch last night, Vick just couldn’t wait to get on a plane where hopefully his airline attendant wasn’t named Urlacher. These Bears will only go as far as the offense can take them, even if the defense is so dominate opposing teams offense quit at the end of the 3rd quarter.
“Urlacher spent so much time on Vick that he’s probably got herpes today.”
There’s a pretty good chance that I already had herpes, but that’s still pretty damn funny.
If you have herpes, Brian, it’s not from me. I only gave you the clap.
Vick/Urlacher last night was like the first Matt Foley skit “we’re gonna be buddies, we’re gonna be pals. Everywhere you go, I’ll be there. There’s you, there’s me. There’s you, there’s…. ”
Now, if only #3 (Scoop Jackson) would stop posting… and if Vick would stop using those in-game photos the offensive coordinator was showing him for rolling doobies.
I obviously wrote my article before the sunday night game. Also, I am fat.
I’m the true leader of this ball club. I saw that Lovie didn’t
have the cajones to put us out of our misery and bench Orton,
so I instigated a “heated” arguement on the sidelines (for everyone
to see) between Orton and me. Mission acomplished.
“Urlacher spent so much time on Vick that he’s probably got herpes today.”
You rang #23?
You did, and you shouldn’t a did.
The Bears are the Monsters of the Midway. Why Midway? It’s a tough hood. One of the toughest. Full of brothas. You ain’t see that on the northside. You ever flow Southwest? They fly outta Midway. Midway is a blue collar airport. I fly Southwest, it ain’t easy. We ruff riders.
Not sayin’ ESPN’s cheap…
The Bears is the Bears. They ain’t called the Northwoods Turkeys.
For a reason.
Bears are big, brown and bad. Like Midway. Bears do it gruff, tall, and dark. They hunt in the night, not like no light skin turkey. Not like no hillbillies.
Or suburbanites.
The Sox was drummin, now the Bears be coming. Yeah, I like that.
Urlacher spent so much time on Ron Mexico that he probably has herpes.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that, so they say.
Oh, yeah, Andy, I disagree. Last night’s telecast set new all-time highs for ass-hattedness in my house. Could they flip-flop any more about the concept of subbing Grossman? I lost count at seven. Stoopid fucking twats.
I am a word. I don’t require a hyphen or need to be split into two words.
Rating Urlacher as a legitimate MVP candidate is overrating him. It would be a surprise if he won Defensive Player of the Year with 6 sacks and 0 turnovers.
If that’s going to be the criteria for Defensive Player of the Year, then the great Deltha O’Neal is going to win. Who would you rather have? Brian or Deltha?
Delta Burke….maybe
I know who you’d rather have, and you’re a racist! It’s gotta be O’Neal.
“No one is saying he is Joe Montana, but he definitely is no Kyle Orton. ”
Don’t underrate Grossman. I am not prone to drinking the kool-aid and I would have agreed with you before last night. Still essentially a rookie, right? This team could be unbeatable with him. Better than the Seahawks/Bengals level teams. With Grossman moving the offense, they are the Patriots.
A couple plays after Grossman comes into the game, he hits a receiver for 8 yards on first down. The guy two seats to my right yells “2d and 2? 2d and 2? I haven’t seen that in three years.” Not sarcastically – joyfully. The dam broke. It was like you took Joe Montana in his prime and put him down back there. It was Christmas in the freezing cold. I was at the fog bowl too. This game will be talked about more and there will be more lying sacks of shit saying they were there.
If he stays healthy.
Lovie’s the anti-Dusty.
And those of us that were bashing Urlacher last year were only doing so because we’re racist. At least according to Baker we would be.
BTW, Andy, Phil Rogers’ fact-checker wanted me to tell you that the Bears were 9-4 with Orton, not 10-3.
Good piece. Go Bears.
Actually, Mike, it is I who would be labelling you a racist for doggin’ Urlacher, ’cause that white dude play like a brutha.
Dusty only IMPLIES that ‘yall are racist when you boo the brotehrs. I basically SAY it, ’cause that shit sells.
Quoth #3/#9 –the one ever so humbly calling him- or herself “Common Sense”: “Oh yeah, you’re over-rated [sic] too. And by ‘you’ I mean both the player whose name you are using, and the practice of assuming celebrity names to make attempts at being clever.”
Hmphf. New around here, Mr. or Ms. Sense? First-timer, perhaps even? Do a little bit of scouting –you’ll learn the ropes (and –by the way, and since you seem a rather presumptuous prat, what with both that moniker and your evident predilection to lecturing peers– there’s no need, from the standpoint of proper punctuation, for that comma to be placed between “using” and “and”; any standard grammar and usage text or dictionary with a usage guide will back me up on that). Ignorance being bliss and all, I’m of little doubt that for now, most would prefer to be afflicted with me than you.
Now, then: well hit on all points, Andy. Not to pile on the lad or to gloat or anything –we’re all Bears fans here– but I’ll say again that I just don’t think that Kyle Orton has the tools required at this level, period. It’s no sin on the man; it’s just the way that I see it, based on years of watching the quarterback play at this level, and we’ll find out whether I’ve got it right or wrong in good time. In any case, he’s to be applauded for, eh, whatever exactly it was that he did to end up as the “winning quarterback” in nine of thirteen starts as an NFL rookie. Good on ‘im, aye?
If we go strictly by the numbers, Rex himself wasn’t any great shakes, but it’s for certain that I (and countless others) liked what I saw. Again, it’s about the tools, and Rex has got ’em –almost certainly not the JoeMontanaDanMarinoBretFarv-type tools, but enough to get the job done for many years in this overexpanded, capped-out league, given a sustained period of good health and an offensive line worthy of the name. In any event, I’d settle gladly for Trent Dilfer-type tools (circa 2000) at this point.
As for this “overrated” crap, look: any hyped individual commodity playing in a team sport can be made to appear overrated when surrounded by garbage teammates and forced at all turns to exceed one’s brief. It happened to Urlacher in 2002 and again last year, and it’ll happen again the next time the front four don’t earn their keep and half of the defense goes down for the year. Lookit BretFarv, f’r cryssake –sure, his skills have diminished before our eyes, but the funny thing is, that’s the chief tangible difference between the same ol’ BretFarv and the guy out there wearing #4 anymore; he doesn’t get away with it quite as he used to, but of more immediate importance are the facts that his line utterly blows and that his “skill position” guys have gone down in droves (and, for the record, I’m loving every last damned second of it). It ain’t hard to argue that this Packers team would be in much better shape in the wins and losses columns, if not necessarily in serious playoff contention, had things happened differently –and BretFarv likely would be worth three or four wins all by his very ancient and creaky lonesome.
In conclusion, think of one thing: verifiable statistics may refute the notion that “the team that’s playing hot in December, headed into January, is the one to beware in the playoffs,” but maybe not this time. Just stay tuned, and mark my words –this one is going to get one hell of a lot more interesting before it’s all over with. I’m living proof enough that it doesn’t take a genius.
re #15: Vick obviously has a disadvantage in cold weather.
I think Brett was crying on the sidelines right before they pulled him. He might have just made his decision to retire at that moment. God, I hope so.
I’m a “dwarf”? The Bears roster says I’m 6’1″, 218. Sure, those things lie, and I’m certainly no Big Huge Wall Of Quarterback like that seasick lap-dance junkie up in the Twin Cities. But I’m a big, strappin’ young boy. Achondroplasia is not in my genome.
Last night was obviously Douchebag Night at the comments.
Donnut boy agreed with me today.
should I be proud…or sick to my stomach?
Playoffs?………Playoffs?
I am coming to Wrigley to revive my career. I am going to show everyone that I can be a much better hitter than .250. Me and Corey P. should get along great, we both want to play an outfield position for this team, we both bat lefty and we both love to swing at balls that are down and away for a call strike 3. I am telling you Cub fans, if you thought you had enough of Corey wait until the end of July in 06′ when I have 150 SOs. But I will have a better OBP than him, I can take the occasional walk. Is #11 taken?