Bears Blitz

Published by Timothy Hockemeyer on June 16, 2011
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

Lance Briggs is confident in the Chicago Bears chances in 2011.

Following in Brian Urlacher’s footsteps, who last month said that the Bears are the “best team in our conference,” Briggs has been reported widely to have said that the Chicago Bears are “champion-like, world champion-like.”

Now, technically, Briggs has been quoted out of context.  While what he has said has been quoted correctly, the question posed has not.  The question asked by the Chicago Tribune writer that set up the statement was actually, “If that (the NFL lockout) wasn’t looming right now, how do you guys look right now?”

Briggs was responding to a hypothetical.  He responded with his thoughts on that hypothetical.  In other words, he wasn’t responding based on the actual current state of the team, but rather where he feels the team would be in a hypothetical situation.

This brings me to two thoughts:

First, many outside of Chicago fandom have criticized Briggs as delusional or roundly dismissed him altogether.  But should a team really want a player who doesn’t believe?  This sort of confidence is a hallmark of superior athletes and a large part of what gets them to this level.

Second, Is Briggs belief in his team unfounded?

The Bears played three games against the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers during the 2010 season.  Those games tell us a lot about the Bears.

Chicago won the first meeting.  Green Bay won the second meeting in a game that held no meaning for the Bears (who were already locked in as the second seed in the NFC) but that the Packers had to win to make the playoffs.  The third game, the NFC championship game, was won by the Packers by merely a defensive touchdown against a Bears team that played the second half of the game with their second and third-string quarterbacks.

None of that is to diminish what the Packers achieved.  The Packers earned every ounce of the Halas and Lombardi trophies.  But it should be remembered, considering what the Bears accomplished in winning their division and putting up a valiant effort against the Packers in the NFC championship game, that the Chicago Bears belonged there, as well.

When analysts are dismissing the Bears and their prowess last season as luck, they are ignoring an awful lot to get there.

Here are a few examples of all that they are ignoring:

2010 was the first year for Jay Cutler and the Bears in Mike Martz’s complex offensive system.  It was also the third system Cutler had to learn in three years.

The Matadors of the Midway were the undisputed worst offensive line in the NFL last season and probably for the last couple of decades.

The Bears had a talented group of young receivers but no true impact receiver the caliber of Calvin Johnson, Andre Johnson or even Braylon Edwards.

The Bears defense dominated opponents consistently.  A resurgent Brian Urlacher and the addition of Julius Peppers, as well as the play of men like Lance Briggs, Chris Harris, Anthony Adams, Israel Idonije and Charles Tillman, propelled the Bears defense back into the “elite” category.

To return to the Bears three-game series with Green Bay, the Bears defense did some extraordinary things in 2010.  Nothing illustrates that better than their games against the Packers.

Check out these facts and statistics relating to the Bears/Packers games in 2010.

• The Packers averaged just under 14 points per game against the Bears, while averaging 26 points per game against the rest of the league, including the playoffs.  In three games against the Bears, Aaron Rodgers and the Pack managed only 41 offensive points total.

• Again including the playoffs, Aaron Rodgers’ quarterback rating was 107.6 with 35 TDs and only nine INTs against the rest of the NFL.  He had only an 80.1 QB rating with two TDs and 4 INTS when facing the Bears. 

• Focusing just on the postseason, Aaron Rodgers put up an amazing 71.5 completion percentage, nine touchdowns, no interceptions and a 126.7 quarterback rating against Atlanta, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.  But against the Bears, he threw for a 56.7 completion percentage, no TDs, two INTs and put up a 55.4 quarterback rating.

So why shouldn’t Lance Briggs be confident in his team?  

He can only expect the offense to get better with another year in Martz’s system and the addition of first-round draft pick Gabe Carimi to the offensive line.  And the defense is poised to repeat their dominant performance from last season.  Especially since all of the important defensive players are returning while adding second-round pick Stephen Paea to the defensive tackle rotation.

The Packers won the Super Bowl, but the Bears won the NFC North last season.  However, the Bears did win the division title over those same Green Bay Packers.  Contrary to popular opinion, the road to the Super Bowl went through Chicago last year.  Anyone trying to win a championship next season should expect that road to travel through the Windy City once again. 

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