It has come down to this, way down. The Bears were embarrassed by the New Orleans Saints, blown out by a franchise so steeped in futility its own fans wear bags over their heads and call themselves the Aints.
It was like losing an ugly contest, or winning one.
“We don’t think we’re as bad as you guys do,” said Ricky Williams, Mike Ditka’s last laugh.
Jim Haslett, the first-year coach, a guy whose biggest football thrill was winning a World League title as defensive coordinator of the Sacramento Surge, stood in the cubbyhole used as the press room for visiting teams under the “new” north stands at Soldier Field, eyed the crumbling, falling, water-stained ceiling tiles and muttered, “This is classy.”
The Saints had scored five touchdowns in four previous games. Against the Bears, they scored four.
They even scored the Bears’ only touchdown, spotting them seven on a gift-wrapped interception from quarterback Jeff Blake.
The Bears turned into a bump in the road for a 2-3 team.
“The thing we’ve got to make sure is this doesn’t stop here,” said defensive tackle La’Roi Glover, not at all impressed by his three sacks of inept Cade McNown.
From the Saints’ perspective, McNown’s best play was stopping himself from striking defensive end Joe Johnson after an interception.
“He thought about it,” Johnson said. “He pulled it back. Good for him. He would have got a penalty and it was his throwing hand.”
The last thing the Saints wanted to see was McNown hurting his throwing hand.
“Anybody in that situation would be frustrated when you get pressure all day, get hit almost every play, can’t mount a steady drive,” Johnson said. “Hopefully, he’ll learn by it and it will make him a better quarterback.”
Johnson almost sounded like a concerned father, feeling sympathetic as he watched his kid stagger through the growing pains.
As if they needed it, the Saints said they benefited from a week off to prepare for the Bears’ unconventional offensive scheme that was greatly inhibited by injury.
But in the end, the strategy was simple.
“Our goal was to make them one-dimensional,” said cornerback Fred Weary.
Since the Bears like to pass so much anyway, placing an enormous burden on their young thrower, the Saints were able to hang them with their own rope. When Weary knocked tight end John Allred out of the game with a low tackle on the second play of the second half, erstwhile Bears fullback Curtis Enis jawed at Weary from the sideline.
“He was trying to say, `Fred, that was cheap,'” Weary said. “But if I hit him high, I might have got a penalty for a head shot. I’m not a dirty player. Allred didn’t say anything.”
Enis was on the sidelines in street clothes, inactive with a shoulder injury, watching what running backs taken with the fifth pick in drafts are supposed to be doing. Williams ran 30 times for 128 yards and caught four passes for 57 more, and didn’t fumble once.
Last Oct. 3, in Williams’ fourth game as a pro, he came to Soldier Field with a sore elbow and ankle and unfair expectations. Ditka, who had spent his 1998 draft plus his 1999 No. 1 to land Williams, took the kid aside and told him about Walter Payton.
But Williams decided against his own better judgment to play the game. He gained 84 yards in 21 carries in a 14-10 Bears win, but wasn’t the same player he was Sunday.
“It seems like yesterday,” Williams said. “Back on the same field. I was confident the way I played last year.
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“I was kind of banged up, but I went out and played hard and we competed for three quarters. But it was great to come back and get a win this time.
“I felt 100 percent better. Just being healthy is a big difference.”
Coming into Chicago, the Saints had only one play of more than 22 yards all season. Against the Bears, Blake had touchdown throws of 47 and 29 yards. Against the Bears, Blake looked a whole lot better than he is. He’s the 26th-rated passer in the league, but the Bears have now lost to the 20th (Tampa Bay’s Shaun King), the 23rd (Detroit’s Charlie Batch) and the 28th (New York Giants’ Kerry Collins) passers in the league.
Blake killed the Bears early with rollouts.
“We had two weeks to watch film and we saw that on play fakes, they turned and ran,” Blake said. “I think they were more afraid of Ricky than of me.”
Haslett was asked whether he ran more than usual.
“That’s what we do,” he said. “That’s how we’re going to win games.”
Said Williams: “We know how good we are. We weren’t surprised by this.”
Said receiver Joe Horn: “Some critics may look at us and question our competition. But the bottom line is we came out with a `W.'”
With wins against only the Chargers and Bears, the Saints know they can’t burn those bags just yet.