In the fourth quarter of the Bears’ NFC semifinal against Philadelphia, I wrote in my notebook, “Which will prevail, the Eagles’ intensity or the Bears’ composure?” Composure was the signature of this year’s Bears, enabling them to pull off come-from-behind overtime victories over the San Francisco 49ers and the Cleveland Browns. But in the end it brought them nothing more than a little dignity in defeat.
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The NFL’s parity is a fixed game. It’s based on rigged schedules–with the best teams of one season assigned to knock each other off the next, while bad teams that show moderate improvement, like the Bears, can go from 5-11 to 13-3 by beating up on patzers–and on an overabundance of free agents shifting teams between seasons. The NFL’s salary cap, like the NBA’s, ensures a shuffling of middle-range talent from year to year. Suck-up sportswriters trying to appeal to owners are always insisting that baseball needs a cap, but give me the continuity of baseball’s arbitration and more restrictive free-agent system over the owner-enforced musical chairs of the NFL and the NBA anytime. The 1984 Bears knew they would come back a better, stronger, more experienced, and more determined team in 1985. This season’s Bears don’t have that certainty, and uncertainty can undermine anyone’s composure.
What’s amazing in hindsight is how the Bears managed to hang so long with the Eagles, even as they were being beaten up. From the opening kickoff the Eagles–who had played the week before, beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a first-round playoff game, and who had reached the playoffs the previous season–took the action to the Bears. Offensive tackle Jon Runyan and defensive end Hugh Douglas were the ringleaders. The Bears stayed in the game by taking advantage of Eagles mistakes, such as persistent unnecessary-roughness penalties for late hits. Immediately after a second-quarter roughing-the-passer call bumped the Bears forward 15 yards into Philadelphia territory, fleet-footed backup receiver Ahmad Merritt ran an end around 47 yards for a touchdown, finishing with an elegant dive into the end zone over a downfield block by tight end Fred Baxter. The Eagles had moved the ball twice for field goals–the second one largely the product of a long pass produced by scrambling quarterback Donovan McNabb–but Merritt’s touchdown gave the Bears a 7-6 lead.
Yet the punishment continued. Brian Mitchell ran the kickoff back 30 yards, into Chicago territory, finishing with a head-on-head collision that sent Mike Brown to the sideline with a concussion. The Bears defense stiffened, keeping the Eagles out of field-goal range, but a Philadelphia punt pinned Chicago deep, and when Maynard–who had kicked the Bears out of many a jam during the season–produced a boot of only 15 yards, the Eagles took over at the Bears’ 37-yard line. The Bears’ immobile quarterbacks, Miller and his replacement Shane Matthews, were sitting ducks for the Eagles’ rush, but the Bears could never get a good hit on McNabb, the sturdy and elusive former Mount Carmel star. Even when they sacked him on this drive, he got up and completed his next pass, marching Philadelphia to the ten-yard line. There the Eagles tried a trick formation. Running back Duce Staley lined up as a wide receiver and nobody took him. McNabb, calling for the hike before the Bears noticed, hit Staley with a scoring pass to give the Eagles back the lead at 20-14. TV commentator Daryl Johnston pointed out that Brown, the Bears’ man on the ball all season, would no doubt have sniffed out the ploy, but he was on the bench clearing the cobwebs with smelling salts.
Much worse because it left them so little to build on. An NFL team can take great strides during the year and find the sand shifting beneath its feet during the off-season. This season might turn out to be a stepping-stone to the Super Bowl, but it’s more likely that next fall will find the Bears mired in a salary-cap muddle, as they slog through a home schedule played downstate at the University of Illinois because Soldier Field is being overhauled.
