Bears take care of business vs. Rams, eye Vikes
November 24, 2008
BY MIKE MULLIGAN Staff Reporter
ST. LOUIS — Championships are ultimately determined by the ability to beat the best teams, but you can’t get to the postseason without loading up on markedly inferior competition, and that’s just what the Bears did with a 27-3 victory Sunday over hapless St. Louis.
It remains to be seen if the St. Louis solution will prove more than a a one-game fix, or if the success of this day can carry over to the final five games, starting with Sunday night’s showdown with the Vikings in Minnesota. It’s a rematch of a 48-41 Bears victory Oct. 19 at Soldier Field, in which a 5-1 turnover advantage allowed the Bears to overcome self-destructive defensive woes.
Coping with adversity is crucial and things couldn’t have seemed darker for the Bears after a blowout loss in Green Bay left them in a three-way tie for the NFC North lead with the Vikings and Packers. Minnesota won Sunday at Jacksonville to keep pace with the Bears heading into the Metrodome, while the Packers play at New Orleans tonight.
Coach Lovie Smith has said all along that the Bears need to worry about themselves rather than watching the scoreboard. Smith has called the final run a six-game season, hammering that idea all week and then beating it to death in his postgame comments,
‘‘We wanted to have a 1-0 record with a six-game season that we’re coming up on,’’ Smith said. ‘‘This is the best position we can be in.’’
When asked about the difference from last week, he again moved past the misery in Green Bay with the same theme.
‘‘We are going to define this season based on what we do from here on out; it’s a good start,’’ Smith said.
It’s an interesting psychological gambit that Smith is playing. Wouldn’t we all like to create a new start that wipes away the past and allows us a fresh opportunity for success? Never mind that half of the Bears’ wins have come against the awful Rams and winless Detroit Lions. Smith’s reboot allows the Bears to escape the famous Bill Parcells philosophy that you are what your record says you are.
The Bears could be someone new against the Rams, the perfect opponent against whom to test their newfound resolve. The Rams had been outscored 99-10 in the first halves of their previous three games and seemed to willingly fall behind 24-3 on this day. They never really put up a fight.
The Bears scored on their opening drive, knocked Rams quarterback Marc Bulger out of the game early and felt like they could do anything:
†They used the Wildcat offense for the first time, getting positive plays off a direct snap to Devin Hester (12 yards) and another to Matt Forte (four yards). Offensive coordinator Ron Turner said he used two different players to run the offense from two different formations and personnel groups, presumably to give the Vikings something to consider.
†They used Danieal Manning on kickoff returns, opening the game with a 50-yard return that gave the Bears the ball in the plus-area and keyed a four-play drive to a touchdown. Manning’s return was one-yard short of Hester’s season high.
†Adewale Ogunleye knocked out Bulger on the first of his two sacks (one of a season-high five for the team). The defense didn’t press the Rams receivers, but they did shorten the cushion they had been giving up and played more aggressively. The closer coverage allowed the pass rush to get going.
†Defensive coordinator Bob Babich moved from the sidelines back up to the coaching box to get a better perspective. Babich said the new six-game season was a good reason to change. Babich had moved from the coaching box to the sidelines after the bye week. He has been moving back-and-forth for two years; you would think by now the team would know where he belongs.
†Linebacker Brian Urlacher had his second interception in the last two games. Lance Briggs picked off two and Charles Tillman had another as the Bears tied their season-high with four.
†Matt Forte committed his first fumble, but the Bears not only went right back to him, they used him in the Wildcat formation. A play later he broke his longest touchdown run since the season opener.
‘‘We’ve kind of struggled the last couple weeks as a unit and just really wanted to get back,’’ quarterback Kyle Orton said of opening up the playbook. ‘‘We’re a good offense. We played good offensive football for really — minus two weeks — the entire season. So we just wanted to get back and dictate the flow to the defense and try to make some big plays.’’
The Bears may never recover the swagger they showed earlier in the season when they actually believed themselves invincible. Their recent form has robbed them of that. And the trouble with playing poorly and losing self-belief is that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that leads to more poor play and more losses. The Bears broke that cycle in St. Louis. They used the game to recapture the early-season feel-good.
It probably isn’t a long-term fix, but there is great solace in knowing the Bears aren’t the Rams.
