Team chemistry in football is different than in any other sport, especially since two-way players went the way of the leather helmet. The Bears are usually a team of split personalities: the “Monsters of the Midway” on defense and the shrinking violets of Grant Park on offense. That’s how Bears fans have come to prefer it–in a manner typical of Chicago they’re set in their ways and comfortable with the team’s deficiencies. And when coach Lovie Smith succeeded Dick Jauron his intent was to rebuild the defense first, then look to the offense. But there’s no denying the connection between offense and defense, or that the Bears’ one Super Bowl triumph, 21 seasons ago, followed the emergence of Jim McMahon as a quarterback skillful and cocksure enough to overrule the natural caution of coach Mike Ditka.
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One reason they never won it all again is that McMahon was never healthy enough to run a Super Bowl-worthy offense. Last year’s Bears ran true to form, with a dominating defense and an offense that was even more anemic than usual after hotshot but injury-prone quarterback Rex Grossman went down and was replaced by remedial rookie Kyle Orton. Playing conservatively to minimize his mistakes, Orton allowed the Bears to make the playoffs but they got no further, losing right away to the Carolina Panthers as Grossman returned as rusty as he was inexperienced.
Last Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills–coached by the departed Jauron–was even more impressive. Like earlier opponents, the Bills opened with eight men close to the line of scrimmage to discourage the run, and Grossman responded with a closely managed short-pass game. The Bears even threw on third down with a yard to go at midfield, as Grossman used the old naked-bootleg misdirection pass to tight end Desmond Clark that Ditka stole from Bill Walsh and the San Francisco 49ers 20 years ago. Two long Robbie Gould field goals gave the Bears a 6-0 lead, as the Bills seemed all too recognizably a Jauron team, with ill-timed penalties and dropped passes making it easy on the defense. Having softened the Bills up with the pass, the Bears pounded them with Jones on a long drive, and just when the Bears seemed ready to settle for another field goal Grossman went for the TD and hit Bernard Berrian on a crisp slant to make it 13-0. Then the pass rush forced an interception by linebacker Lance Briggs, who returned the ball to the Bills’ 32, and this time Cedric Benson did the pounding. His first NFL touchdown made it 20-0. The defense forced a punt, and Grossman went for the jugular with a bomb to Berrian on a stop-and-go fly pattern good for 62 yards. Grossman earned style points for the touchdown, winging a sidearm toss against a fierce pass rush to Rashied Davis between two defenders in the end zone. It was 27-0 at the half, and the game was over.
