“Know When To Hold ‘Em”; Urlacher forces Cards’ hand

By Paul Eide  |   Tuesday, October 17, 2006  |  Comments( 0 )

Chicago Bears
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"This was the most bizarre game I've ever seen in 31 years of football."

ESPN announcer Joe Theismann summed up the feel of the Bears' 24-23 victory over the Cardinals perfectly.

This game had a surreal quality to it and an undertone of anticipation throughout. From the beginning of ESPN's game introduction, with Mike Ditka smoking a cigar, rehashing memories of the '85 team, it was almost like the actual game was an afterthought and seemed to have no real significance; it was just this "occurrence" that separated the Bears from an inevitable 6-0 record, the Cardinals representing nothing more than a sacrificial lamb meant to pacify an overpowering Chicago team.

Even after two passing touchdowns from Matt Leinart and two Neil Rackers field goals to establish a 20-3 lead with just a few seconds left in the third quarter, there was this tangible feeling that at some point, the "real" Bears were going to show up and at some point, the Cardinals were going to revert to their history of losing. The performance of Brian Urlacher in the second half caused the tide to turn.

Urlacher molded the game to his will and turned in the single most dominating individual defensive performance since Ray Lewis in Super Bowl XXXV vs. the Giants. Eleven of Urlacher's 19 tackles came in the fourth quarter, but statistics don't illustrate how active he was during that time. Urlacher pressured Leinart into bad throws, played great in coverage, stuffed Edgerrin James numerous times and caused ESPN analyst Tony Kornheiser to remark, "It seems like there's two of him out there."

Urlacher orchestrated the comeback and the rest of the defensive players turned it on when they absolutely had to.

The defense gave up a season high 24 points, but it should have been much more, with four of the Bears' six turnovers giving the Cardinals possession inside the Chicago 40-yard line. Amazingly, the defense only allowed 13 points as a result of turnovers, ultimately rendering them equivalent to several bad punts.

Rex Grossman put his defense in some horrible spots on Monday night, but give Lovie Smith credit for not yanking him at any point during this game. There were at least six opportunities for Smith to do so, but if he does that at this point in the season, it creates a quarterback controversy from whence there is no return. It would've caused irreparable damage to Grossman's psyche and rendered him useless for the rest of the year. A lesser coach would've pushed the panic button, but Smith did not.

There's no reason to think Grossman's poor performance was anything but one bad game in a 16-game schedule. Of course, the cynic will say that the true Rex Grossman showed up on Monday night, the one that has frustrated fans and teammates alike for three seasons prior to this one. But his amazing success in the first five games cannot be swept under the rug so easily. Grossman's 10 passing touchdowns in 2006 is one short of the Bears' season total from 2005, and he has been as responsible for the team's offensive success as much as anyone.

So, let the talk of being a team of destiny begin; Lovie Smith already has.

"Sometimes when you're a team of destiny, things like that happen," said Smith after the game.

And after Monday night's result, it's hard to disagree.

Weekly Chicago Bears analysis, courtesy of RealFootball365.com
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