Pompei: Bears defense stout when it counts

[Xee]

Bears defense stout when it counts
On night Buddy Ryan is honored, Bears don't dominate but get job done

Dan Pompei
12:33 AM CST, November 8, 2011


PHILADELPHIA — The Eagles honored Buddy Ryan at halftime Monday.

Many of his former Eagles players came out to pay tribute to their former coach, now 80 years old. Fans chanted his name. He took a bow, figuratively and literally.

The way the Bears played defense Monday didn't remind anyone of the way they played back when Ryan was running the show. But the Bears did enough to win and continue on a path to the postseason.

The defense stepped up with 3 minutes, 51 seconds left in the game, preventing the Eagles from scoring and saving the win. The Bears stuffed LeSean McCoy for no gain on first down and then forced two incompletions and stopped Jeremy Maclin short on his fourth-down catch.

"With the game on the line, guys were able to get in there and make some plays. We stopped them short on fourth down," Bears defensive end Israel Idonije said.

The Bears held Michael Vick to 213 passing yards and a passer rating of 60.5. They held running back LeSean McCoy to 71 rushing yards.

They didn't come up with many big plays, other than Major Wright's second-quarter interception that was deflected by Lance Briggs. But they got the job done.

"We didn't give up any really big plays," Idonije said. "We made them grind it out. What they got, they had to work for. … Vick, he's a great player. Anytime you can manage a weapon like that, it's good."

It wasn't all good for the Bears defense. It gave up 14 points in the third quarter.

On fourth-and-1, the Bears couldn't stop McCoy from gaining 4 yards. The Eagles doubled Julius Peppers and blocked Stephen Paea out of his gap, paving the way for McCoy. The play preceded a 4-yard Ronnie Brown touchdown run that tied the score at 17.

Coach Lovie Smith and defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli were not satisfied with the status quo coming into the game.

Smith made defensive tackle Anthony Adams inactive, opting instead to play Paea and Matt Toeaina, who was returning from an injury layoff.

He also issued a challenge last week to defensive tackle Henry Melton, publicly expressing his displeasure with Melton's lack of production. Melton had a tackle for a loss in the third quarter but didn't make any more plays than usual.

Smith tried a young safety combination of Chris Conte and Wright. They weren't perfect. Conte took a bad angle and missed an open-field tackle attempt on McCoy on an 18-yard run. Wright missed McCoy on an 8-yard gain that helped set up a touchdown.

The Bears, who cut Chris Harris after their last game, subsequently worked Brandon Meriweather back into the mix at safety.

Smith and Marinelli also opted to have their cornerbacks flip depending on where Eagles wide receivers lined up. Charles Tillman lined up across from Jeremy Maclin, and Tim Jennings lined up across from DeSean Jackson.

The move put size on size and quickness on quickness, and it also prevented the Eagles from capitalizing on a potential mismatch.

Jackson was held to two catches for 16 yards. "I could have made a couple more plays on the ball," Jennings said. "But it went pretty well. We matched up for our strengths. We got Peanut (Tillman) as a tall, physical corner. I think I'm a quick, fast guy, so we wanted to match up. Coaches had a good game plan and put us in position to make plays and we made some."

Middle linebacker Brian Urlacher had another fine game, making plays against the run and in coverage. He was credited with 11 tackles.

Urlacher would have fit right in on Ryan's Bears defenses in the early '80s, or on Ryan's Eagles defenses in the late '80s.

Ryan would have loved Peppers too. In fact, Peppers might be the closest thing in the NFL today to Reggie White, whom Ryan said was the best player he coached.

Peppers appeared to reinjure his knee in the second quarter, but he came back and played valiantly. He had the team's only sack.

The Bears defense might not be terrorizing opposing offenses the way Ryan's defense did. But it is doing what it needs to do.

"We're playing better and better each week," Briggs said. "Our signature game is still ahead of us, but we're progressing."

It wasn't an effort Ryan would have been proud of. But for these Bears, it will do.

dpompei@tribune.com