There’s no doubt the Bears wanted the Colts–the old Bears, at least.
Despite the seven-point underdog status, members of the 1985 Bears believe this Super Bowl matchup against the Colts is preferable to the other three AFC semifinalists–the Chargers, Patriots or Ravens.
“As long as you don’t compare the quarterbacks,” 1985 center Jay Hilgenberg said. “But, hey, what’s Rex’s passer rating during the playoffs?”
Rex Grossman’s is 75.4, better than Peyton Manning’s 66.8.
As Bears defensive end Alex Brown said, “Peyton has done some stuff in the playoffs if Rex had done they would have run him out of Chicago.”
Hilgenberg said: “So Rex is the hotter quarterback going in. What I said on the radio (WBBM-AM 780) is it’s not `Good Rex, Bad Rex,’ I’m tired of hearing that. The reality of it is `Focused Rex’ or `Unfocused Rex.’
“No question, he’s going to have the best focus of his lifetime for this game. He has the ability to throw up a 100 rating in a Super Bowl.
“The team I was most worried about was San Diego.”
Agreed 1985 safety Gary Fencik: “I’d rather play the Colts. I don’t think they would have beaten San Diego. New England, it’s a head case. Baltimore would have been tough too. I like this matchup. It seems one team peaks in either the AFC or NFC championship. I don’t think the Bears have, but I can see the Colts thinking, `We accomplished so much. We beat those Patriots.’ It took a lot out of them.”
Indeed, Manning graces the covers of Sports Illustrated and the Sporting News this week, one announcing “Peyton Manning takes the Colts to the Super Bowl at last,” the other asking, “Do the Bears have a prayer?”
Said 1985 defensive end Dan Hampton: “The Colts had to win the AFC championship game. In essence that was their defining moment, their Super Bowl if you will, because they always had failed. Motivation-wise, they already have half their plate full.”
Richard Dent, 1985 defensive end, played for both the Bears and Colts, getting 6 1/2 sacks for the 1996 Colts toward the end of his career.
“I always remember my first girlfriend, so I’ll always remember my first team,” Dent said before adding a note of caution about Manning.
“I’m scared when you look at an offense like these guys. They kick five field goals and win one game (Baltimore). Another game they got an offensive lineman and a defensive lineman scoring points for them, which is amazing. Sooner or later, they’re going to get hot, you know?
“I think it’s very important the Bears make Manning move out of that pocket. We have to move him out of there some kind of way and we don’t have long doing so. Don’t give up the big ball and the offense has to have some serious ball control.
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“And special teams, this is their day. We have them on the special teams. It depends. Are they going to kick the ball to us? Rex is going to have to make some plays for us.”
Don’t miss kickoff
If you’re only going to watch part of the Super Bowl, make sure it’s the first part.
Although the Colts set a championship-game record by overcoming an 18-point deficit to beat New England last week, the largest deficit overcome in a Super Bowl is only 10 points, according to STATS.
The Redskins allowed 10 first-quarter points to the Broncos in Super Bowl XXII, then bounced back to score five touchdowns in the second quarter of their 42-10 victory.
No team has trailed by more than seven points after three quarters and come back to win a Super Bowl. Two clubs have bounced back from seven-point deficits going into the final quarter. The Baltimore Colts claimed Super Bowl V over the Cowboys 16-13 after trailing 13-6 with 15 minutes to play. The 49ers won Super Bowl XXIII over the Bengals 20-16 after trailing 13-6.
The team that leads at halftime has won the Super Bowl 81.6 percent of the time. Two Super Bowls have been tied at the half, but 31 of the 38 teams in front at the break have been victorious. The percentage is 87.2 (34 of 39) for teams leading after three quarters.
Although there hasn’t been a huge comeback, and the halftime leader usually wins, getting behind isn’t necessarily fatal. Twenty-one of the 40 Super Bowl winners trailed at some point.
Getting behind Tony Dungy’s Colts is hardly ever a good idea. He owns an 84-8 record in games in which his team gets a 10-point lead or more. He’s 62-1 when his team is up by 14 or more.
Like Dungy’s Colts, Lovie Smith’s Bears are built to play with a lead.
The Bears have won 22 straight games when leading at halftime. Smith’s only loss after leading at halftime was against Detroit in the 2004 season opener, his debut.
The Bears have come back from a deficit in 16 of Smith’s 29 career victories, including two of four games in which the team trailed after three quarters this season. But they have come back from deficits of 10 points or more only twice, while losing 14 times.
Cowboys on parade
The Cowboys hired Jason Garrett as offensive coordinator and interviewed defensive coordinators Wade Phillips of the Chargers and Gary Gibbs of the Saints and offensive coordinator Norv Turner of the 49ers for the head-coaching job.
But owner Jerry Jones hasn’t ruled out promoting Garrett to head coach, presuming he does a good job as offensive coordinator for the next few hours.
Garrett is a former Cowboys backup quarterback who has coached for only two years with the Dolphins and Turner is a former Cowboys offensive coordinator who served as Troy Aikman’s presenter at Hall of Fame inductions last summer.
Garrett and Turner could do wonders for quarterback Tony Romo.
But what’s going on here? Why would Jones hire an offensive coordinator before the head coach? It worked for George Halas in 1982 when he retained defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan before hiring Cowboys assistant Mike Ditka, but it’s not the ideal sequence.
If the Cowboys eventually plan to elevate Garrett to head coach, why would anyone agree to serve as an interim? ESPN reported the 49ers are bidding to keep Turner so he can tutor young quarterback Alex Smith.
Dallas speculation included Mike Singletary, another 49ers assistant and native Texan with twice as much NFL coaching experience now (four years) than Garrett.
Or maybe Jones is waiting for Ron Rivera. When it comes to Jones and head coaches, you have to remember after he fired Jimmy Johnson he said there were 500 coaches in America who could take over his Cowboys. He appears intent on hiring all of them, or at least interviewing them. Best bet: Phillips.
Fate of Tait
Dave Wannstedt’s Dolphins targeted offensive tackle John Tait as their top free-agent priority entering the 2004 off-season and matched the Bears’ $14 million signing bonus.
But Tait chose the Bears even though he would have made more money because of no state income tax in Florida.
“No matter what people say, the biggest deciding factor was coming in on the ground floor with Lovie Smith,” Tait told Miami reporters.
“He was entering his first season and Wannstedt, I just had the feeling that maybe if he had another bad season he would be gone. And that’s what happened.”
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