Clutch comeback passing by Super Bowl quarterbacks Troy Aikman and Brett Favre highlighted a dramatic opening day in the NFL, but only one other team matched what Bears quarterbacks Shane Matthews and Cade McNown did in a vital area of offense–third down.
By converting 10 of 18 third-down plays, the Bears excelled in a category that almost always correlates to winning.
The 56 percent success ratio was better than the 53 percent the Minnesota Vikings and Dallas Cowboys produced under quarterbacks Randall Cunningham and Aikman.
It beat Green Bay’s 50 percent with Favre. Only Pittsburgh’s 70 percent in a 43-0 dismantling of Cleveland surpassed the Bears’ numbers.
The league average for third-down conversions in 1998 was 37.4 percent. The Bears were below average at 34.9 percent.
On the way to setting scoring records, the Vikings led the league at 51.4 percent. The Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos converted 43.5 percent.
The Bears converted seven of their 13 third-down passes and three of five third-down runs.
The last failed third-down run attempt was the game-ending kneel-down, a failure coach Dick Jauron heartily condoned.
Replay review: On the first day of instant replay since 1991, there were 10 reviews, nine of coaches and one by the replay official. Four of the 10 resulted in overturned calls.
The one with the most impact was a catch by Packers tight end Tyrone Davis during Green Bay’s comeback against Oakland. Officials on the field ruled it incomplete.
The average delay from the time of the challenge until the next snap was 2 minutes, 35 seconds. The average time referees spent at the sideline television monitor was 58 seconds.
NFC sequel: The Atlanta Falcons don’t care how doubters view Sunday’s 17-14 loss to Minnesota.
“I’m tired of proving ourselves,” Atlanta running back Jamal Anderson said. “If you believe in us, fine. If not, forget you. I’m tired of this, `Are you worth it?’ “
The Vikings, for one, are believers.
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“They are one of the best-coached teams in the league, if not the best-coached team, with all due respect to all the other coaches in the league,” Vikings linebacker Dwayne Rudd said of Dan Reeves’ Falcons.
QBs of the West: More than half of the starting quarterbacks in the AFC West come from Michigan, never known until now as Quarterback U.
Denver’s Brian Griese, San Diego’s Jim Harbaugh and Kansas City’s Elvis Grbac each starred at Michigan. Backups Todd Collins of Kansas City and Scott Dreisbach of Oakland also played for the Wolverines.
Edge to James: Saints coach Mike Ditka said he won’t know until Friday whether running back Ricky Williams can play against the 49ers this week because of an ankle sprain that has bothered him since his first preseason game. The Saints say he now has two different injuries.
Meanwhile, Colts rookie Edgerrin James led all rushers on opening day with 112 yards against Buffalo.
Seattle defensive end Michael Sinclair was impressed with James after the last preseason tuneup.
“I could swear that Marshall Faulk is still here,” Sinclair said. “(James) makes some nice cuts. He’s very patient as a runner.
That’s one of the things I noticed, that he’s waiting for his blocks to set up and then he makes his cuts off them. A lot of rookies will just run into the pile.”
What rivalry? Everybody made a big deal of the renewal of the Cleveland-Pittsburgh tradition except the players.
“To me, the rivalry has been Jacksonville,” Pittsburgh cornerback Chad Scott said, “And we usually play Kansas City on Monday night and that’s kind of a rivalry.”
Scott, a rookie in 1997, belongs to the 80 percent majority of Steelers who had never experienced a Steelers-Browns game until Sunday night.
Only 11 players on the 53-man roster had played against the Browns when they were Steelers. Even Jerome Bettis had never played against the Browns as a Steeler and Kordell Stewart was a rookie wide receiver when he played against the last of the old Browns in 1995.
“I don’t really know about the Cleveland tradition,” said linebacker Earl Holmes, whose first year was 1996.
After Pittsburgh’s 43-0 rout, the idea of a rivalry is no more apparent.