Vigilante Sports

As I write this, I can hardly believe it. The Bears have knocked off the New Orleans Saints to earn a trip to Miami to play in Super Bowl XLI. All week, and throughout the playoffs, the national media has been quick to jump on the New Orleans Saints’ bandwagon. And understandably so, they were a great story this year. They came out of nowhere to have the league’s best offense. They’re definitely a feel good story, but the Bears are obviously a better team.

The Bears defense was able to overwhelm Drew Brees and the Saints offense. Going into the game coach Lovie Smith said that the Saints would not be able to run the ball. That they would need to rely on the pass. That’s a pretty bold statement to make about the league’s best offensive attack. But that’s precisely what the Bears did to the Saints on Sunday. They took away the run and forced them to the passing game. They actually gave up a lot of yards through the air, but it only led to 14 points. Brees aired it out 49 times on Sunday, connecting on 27 of those for 354 yards, 2 TDs and one pick. So looking at those numbers your might think that Brees had a good game. Hardly. Brees fumbled twice, losing one to defensive end Adewale Ogunleye. He was sacked 3 times, and called for intentional grounding in the end zone, which resulted in a safety for the Bears.

I have to give credit to an unsung hero in Sunday’s game. Brad Maynard. It was his punt that secured the great field position that allowed the Bears to force Brees into the intentional grounding saefty. Great job by Maynard and the special Teams unit.

The Bears defense gave Brees all that he could handle today. The Saints offense had a great year, and with Reggie Bush, Marques Colston, Drew Brees and coach of the year Sean Payton, this team will be an offensive force for years to come. But they were just over-matched today.

Now onto the offense. While the definitely played well, I still have some bones to pick with them. Muhsin Muhammed, catch a ball, please. If you want to be, and think you are a leader on this team, and an elite wide receiver, you’re gonna have to start catching the routine throws. Rex Grossman needs his “best” wideout to make the plays that he’s supposed to. Bernard Berrian has out-performed Muhammed recently and throughout this entire season (save for the time Berrian was hurt).

Speaking of Berrian, he was Rex Grossman’s go to guy when they needed it most. Perhaps it was because he was going up against Fred Thomas (who is really, really bad), and perhaps it was because Berrian is the most dependable receiver th Bears have, I don’t know. But suffice it to say, when the Saints came within 4 points of the Bears, the Bears needed to take a stand on offense, move the ball, and score some points. For me, this was the ball game. On the drive, Grossman went 4 for 4 for 78 yards and a touchdown. That’s what I want from my quarterback. Consistency, and composure. On that drive, he was great. He didn’t need to be great the rest of the game, and he wasn’t. But he did throw the ball away when he needed to. Grossman’s stats weren’t gaudy. In fact, they’re downright average. But he didn’t turn the ball over. He managed the game.

Cedric Benson and Thomas Jones looked like they could run behind that big and mean offensive line against anyone. Sure, there were times when the Saints bottled them up, but the Bears gained 196 yards on the ground. If they do that in the Super Bowl (I can’t believe I just wrote that), they will win. Period.

As I look back to my keys to the game, the weather wasn’t a factor, but as I mentioned earlier, Rex Grossman certainly was. And turnovers turned out to really be the biggest key for the Bears. They had a turnover ratio of +4 in the NFC Championship game. That is getting it done.

Congratulations to Lovie Smith, and the entire Bears organization. Stay tuned to http://sports.vigilanteweb.com for your full Super Bowl coverage. I plan on breaking down all aspects of the game over the next 2 weeks preceding Super Bowl XLI in Miami.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 21st, 2007 at 6:57 pm and is filed under Chicago Bears, Football, NFL. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.