The eye of the television camera Sunday will focus on the eyes of Roger Craig and Mike Singletary, who claim they can see right through each other.
”A class act,” Craig said of Singletary.
”The most quality guy I`ve ever met off the field,” Singletary said of Craig.
The Offensive Player of the Year and the Defensive Player of the Year in the National Football Conference will keep their eyes on each other as if they were facing a mirror.
”When I look into his face mask, it`s like he`s hungry,” Craig said.
”He`s like a wolf, trying to get some raw meat. When I see his eyes expand and focusing like my eyes are, we kind of scare each other.”
”Whether I`m across the line of scrimmage or looking at him on film, he`s always going 100 miles an hour, and I see the enthusiasm in his motion,” Singletary said. ”It`s really something special, something you don`t see a lot of these days.”
49ers running back Craig and Bears middle linebacker Singletary are without peer, especially this year.
Craig tied the Colts` Eric Dickerson for league honors in combined rushing and receiving yardage. But Craig caught more than twice as many passes and is the most dangerous offensive weapon in the game.
Singletary led the league in intensity and his team in tackles when teammates around him were changing by the week.
”He`s the great linebacker,” San Francisco coach Bill Walsh said.
In their last meeting, a 10-9 Bears` victory on Oct. 24, Craig rushed only 10 times for 31 yards. The week before, he had gained 190 yards against the Rams, forcing Singletary`s eyes wider. Singletary was credited with only three tackles against the 49ers, but Craig swears the guy was everywhere, plugging holes before Craig could exploit them.
”He`s the best defensive player in the game. He`s playing like the Dick Butkus era,” Craig said. ”He`s got so much force, and his energy level is outstanding. When you play against Singletary, you better be ready to go to work. It`s all business.
”He plays hard, helps you up, tells you you made a nice run. I have deep respect for the man. He`s the heart of their defense.”
Craig could have been talking about himself, substituting Gale Sayers for Butkus.
”They say I run with my eyes open wide,” he said. ”It`s a natural thing, I guess. I`m looking for open holes to run, and he`s looking for the ball. That`s where I got the nickname, the Catfish.”
Craig was showing off the purple streaks on his helmet after Sunday`s playoff victory over Minnesota. Funny thing. Singletary became famous for routinely breaking his helmet.
How Craig got purple on his helmet against the Vikings is a mystery, since the Vikings rarely ran into him. When he broke an 80-yard touchdown run at the end of the game, at the end of the season, he actually pulled away from the defensive backs in the last 30 yards in an impressive display of his condition.
”In practice, he runs 50, 60 yards when he gets the ball,” 49ers receiver Jerry Rice said. ”We do sprints after practice. We dig deep. When he ran his 80-yarder, he relaxed and got his knees up.”
Craig never runs with his knees down. An unsuspecting tackler will find a tap dance performed on his chin if Craig hits him first. He said he developed the distinctive style when he ran the hurdles at Nebraska.
Craig calls his relationship with Singletary ”like brothers.” The two see each other only ”at Pro Bowls and awards banquets,” which in their case is often.
”It`s not like we`re enemies and can`t talk to each other,” Craig said. ”On the field, I expect him to be at his best. I wouldn`t want to be on the field if I knew he was brother-in-lawing with me. And he knows I`m going to bring it. It`s not bad. Makes you play at your best.”
Singletary said Craig introduced himself at a Pro Bowl game.
”I didn`t imagine a guy of his stature would be as nice as he was,”
Singletary said. ”He came up to me and said: `Hi, I`m Roger Craig. You`re Mike Singletary, right?`
”In this game, it`s a very difficult thing to find someone to look up to and be impressed with.”
The two sound as if they are building each other up to knock each other down.
The Bears` strategy as the No. 1 defense against the run is to clog the middle with Singletary and tackles Dan Hampton and Steve McMichael and force runners outside. Last time, outside linebackers Ron Rivera and Mickey Pruitt made 13 tackles between them.
”We didn`t miss a whole lot of tackles, and hopefully we`ll do that this time,” Singletary said.
”I think we were lucky,” coach Mike Ditka said. ”I don`t think we`ll be able to shut Craig down again like that. He`s a tremendous football player. He came into our game on an incredible pace, and we played one of the better defensive games we`ve ever played since I`ve been here.”