The Bears enter the 21st Century kicking and screaming. At least they hope for the kicking part. The screaming comes from somewhere deep inside their long and proud tradition of defense.
While the rest of the NFL heads full speed into the end zone, the Bears stubbornly hang onto a stop sign.
Already behind all four rivals in the NFC Central Division, the Bears are trying to tackle them instead of racing them. Either way, they hope they can catch up. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers traded for New York Jets receiver Keyshawn Johnson and signed All-Pro free-agent offensive linemen Randall McDaniel and Jeff Christy from the Minnesota Vikings. Then they made big Tennessee guard Cosey Coleman their first draft choice. The Green Bay Packers traded for speedy Seattle running back Ahman Green and drafted Miami’s Bubba Franks, the top tight end.
“It gives us another weapon,” said General Manager Ron Wolf.
“It will help us in the red zone,” said coach Mike Sherman.
The Packers scored 85 more points than the Bears did last season.
The Detroit Lions signed Jacksonville free agent running back James Stewart and drafted 350-pound Oklahoma tackle Stockar McDougle to block for him. They even added two old Bear quarterbacks in free agency, Mike Tomczak and Steve Stenstrom, to bolster their offensive firepower. Eat their dust, Chicago.
Only the Vikings joined the Bears’ quest for defensive help. But the Vikings already have the highest-scoring team in the division and the No. 3 offense in the league.
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The Bears plan to stop them all. They signed defensive free agents Phillip Daniels from Seattle, Thomas Smith from Buffalo, and Shawn Wooden from Miami, then drafted defensive players Brian Urlacher and Mike Jones 1-2.
They aren’t the only NFL team concentrating on defense. The San Francisco 49ers are starting over by rebuilding their defense first. That’s after two decades of dominance.
The Washington Redskins are revamping their defense, but they already have the league’s second-best offense. The Indianapolis Colts used their first two draft choices for defense, but they already have the league’s fourth-best defense.
Offense is where the NFL is headed, if it isn’t already there.
The No. 1 offense in the league and highest-scoring team is the Super Bowl champion St. Louis Cardinals. Who was their first-round draft choice? A speedy running back, Trung Canidate. They used three of their first four picks on offense.
The Jacksonville Jaguars have the league’s leading receiver, Jimmy Smith. Who was their first-round pick? Speedy receiver R. Jay Soward.
The Pittsburgh Steelers made big receiver Plaxico Burress their first pick, then added big receiver Danny Farmer. The Cincinnati Bengals made Peter Warrick the first receiver drafted, then added Florida State receiving mate Ron Dugans.
The Bears went into a draft deep with receivers and came out with one, Dez White, whom they admit “needs to be taught how to catch.” They needed a tight end so they drafted a linebacker to play there. Makes sense in Chicago. You don’t think Butkus could have played tight end?
The Bears finished eighth in the league in offensive yardage last season. Gary Crowton’s offense created its share of TV highlights. But not many of them were in the end zone. The Bears finished 25th in the league in scoring and added only one veteran receiver, Eddie Kennison of New Orleans, now with his third team in three years.
Before the draft, Crowton admitted he needed two more impact players on an offense that showed more style than substance. After the draft, it becomes more obvious than ever that those two impact players are already on the team–Curtis Enis and Cade McNown.
Or maybe the Bears are poised to start a new trend by putting a stop to the league’s latest swing toward offense. They do have tradition on their side. In Chicago, linebackers always have been more important, not to mention more famous, than quarterbacks.
Coach Dick Jauron, a former defensive back, liked the way the draft fell. “Fate,” he called it.
Let the rest of the league drive their fast Porsches and wear their flashy tuxedoes and do their fancy end-zone dances. The Bears prefer road blocks and brown shoes and they don’t have much of a scoreboard in Soldier Field anyway.