Byline: David Haugh
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. _ Rex Grossman carefully hung his helmet on a hook after the Bears' 10-0 victory over the Jets like a businessman putting away his briefcase. It was a good day's work.
Grossman had spent most of the season until Sunday expanding the role of Bears quarterback to include enough downfield passing and big plays to make him worthy of Pro Bowl consideration. But never has Grossman fit the team's original job description more than he did against the Jets. The modest requirements: Complete at least 50 percent of your passes. Don't turn the ball over. Hand off.
He did all those things effectively against a defense that only one week earlier, on the road, confused Tom Brady and beat the Patriots. Watching that New England tape helped Grossman remember to settle for short gains instead of foolishly forcing balls into coverage.
"Sometimes that will happen, so you just minimize the damage and move on," he said.
Those are words Grossman has struggled to live by this season, his reputation spreading fast enough that he woke up Sunday morning to a New York tabloid headline calling him "Wrecks Grossman."
He safely completed only 11 of 22 passes for 119 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions and several timely, intelligent check-downs from primary receivers. At halftime Grossman had completed five passes for 7 yards, and cynics were wondering who let John Shoop into the coaching booth.
There were lines at the concession stand longer than some of Grossman's passes. Even the game-saving 57-yard touchdown pass to Mark Bradley was more like 10 yards pass and 47 yards run.
"We stayed real conservative to try to get into the flow of what they were trying to do to us," Grossman said. "That might have thrown me off a little bit."
On Monday, some will reduce what Grossman did to managing the game. By February, if he continues such efficiency, they also might call the method leading a team to the Super Bowl.
Odd how a team can produce one-third of its average point total and still take such a major step in its growth.
For the first time in 10 games, the offense stayed true to what coach Lovie Smith always has professed it to be_a power-running team. The Bears had a 60-40 run-to-pass play distribution for the first time all season, with 35 runs and 22 passes. Thomas Jones gained 121 yards and once carried eight straight plays. Cedric Benson added 51 yards. Both averaged more than 5 yards a carry.
"This is how you picture it," Smith said.
It wasn't a pretty picture. But Bears football isn't supposed to be pretty, according to Smith's ideal. At times it forces fans to cover their eyes. At other times Sunday, it caused the Jets to protect their faces.
This is the smash-mouth style that had been missing, and the one the Bears will need to further legitimize their playoff longevity.
"They couldn't stop us at times running the ball," Grossman said.
Funny, in the Jets' locker room, they were saying the same thing. For the fourth straight week, an opponent gained 100 rushing yards against a Bears defense in one of the least convincing shutouts in memory.
"Didn't feel like a shutout to me," defensive tackle Tommie Harris said.
Added defensive end Adewale Ogunleye: "I don't think we dominated early."
Thank goodness for the Bears that safety Todd Johnson, whom Harris and Ogunleye indirectly criticized last week by blaming the bad run defense on the absence of Mike Brown, saved a big run or two with 11 tackles.
Interceptions by Brian Urlacher 3 yards deep in the end zone and Nathan Vasher at the Bears' 25 also squelched two scoring drives that easily could have resulted in 10 points.
In that way, the defense went according to design too. The Bears will sacrifice yards in the running game to field faster players with a knack for finding the ball and creating turnovers.
"They gassed us early, but that always happens at the beginning of the game," Urlacher said. "We stayed patient and made some plays."
The Bears did many things wrong. They did not adjust well to the Jets' no-huddle offense. They committed too many penalties (10). They forgot that the best way to take advantage of their running success is by going deep after a play-action fake. They relied too often on punter Brad Maynard's right leg to help them win the field-position battle. They were lucky Jets coach Eric Mangini disqualified himself from further NFL Mensa consideration with an ill-advised onside kick to start the second half.
They still came within one more victory, coupled with losses by Green Bay and Minnesota, of clinching the NFC North next Sunday in Foxboro.
But most importantly, the Bears did so in a manner that was truer to their chosen identity than in any of eight previous victories.
___
(c) 2006, Chicago Tribune.
Visit the Chicago Tribune on the Internet at http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
_____
PHOTOS (from MCT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): bears
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
No comments:
Post a Comment