[CBFF] ESPN: Defense does it for Bears

[Steve Behrens]

Defense does it for Bears [image:
Forde]<http://x.go.com/cgi/x.pl?goto=http://search.espn.go.com/keyword/search?searchString=pat_forde&name=SEARCH_m_archive&srvc=sz>
By *Pat Forde*
*ESPN.com*
Archive<http://x.go.com/cgi/x.pl?goto=http://search.espn.go.com/keyword/search?searchString=pat_forde&name=SEARCH_m_archive&srvc=sz>
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   MINNEAPOLIS -- There's been some debate this September about who owns the
best defense in the National Football League. Baltimore has its supporters.
So does Jacksonville. San Diego earns some votes.

Forget 'em. With apologies to Ray
Lewis<http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=3542>,
Marcus Stroud <http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=5460>and
Shawne
Merriman <http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=7188>, the
debate is over.

Give the Slobberknocker Award for the most tenacious D to the Chicago
Bears<http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/clubhouse?team=chi>.
Lining up opposite these guys is like lining up opposite a firing squad.
Odds of survival are slim.

The Bears don't simply run to the football. They take the bullet train. Big
holes and expectant big plays evaporate. Even on a Sunday when Chicago
missed an unusual number of tackles, it still never suffered a serious
breakdown.

Understand this: last year people wondered aloud whether the 2005 Bears
defense was better than the legendary '85 Bears defense. But neither unit
began the season like this.

In '85, the Bears gave up 59 points in their first three games. In '05, the
Bears gave up 39 points. This year, after opening with two of three on the
road, the result is 23 points -- including just one offensive touchdown --
and less than 800 total yards.

But shutting out weak sister Green Bay and holding weaker sister Detroit to
seven points is one thing. Putting the clamps on newly toughened Minnesota
in a manic Metrodome with the NFC North lead on the line -- that's an
accomplishment.

Chicago's 19-16 escape of the Vikings was a throwback to the black-and-blue
division days (only indoors), and was primarily earned by the guys who do
the tackling. The Bears' surprisingly productive offense in weeks one and
two was replaced by the sputtering unit from last season, so this was D Day
for Chicago.


 Scott A. Miller/US PRESSWIRE
The Bears have given up just 23 points in three games.

On a day when quarterback Rex
Grossman<http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=6358>played
more like the shaky dude who spent all August looking over his
shoulder at Brian
Griese<http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=4322>than
the golden boy who was leading the NFL in pass efficiency, it was
Brian
Urlacher <http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=5038>, Mike
Brown <http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=5068>, Nathan
Vasher <http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=6869> & Co. to
the rescue.

Not only did Chicago's defense keep the Vikings' offense out of the end
zone, it took the game away from Minnesota when it absolutely had to. Credit
defensive tackle Tommie
Harris<http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=6773>'
powers of observation for that.

Harris was crouched in his stance, scrutinizing the offensive guard in front
of him for a clue about the upcoming play. It was third-and-eight for the
Vikings, and it was late. Minnesota was up 16-12 and trying to run out the
clock on a blunt-force upset of the Bears.

"It was win-or-lose time right there," Harris said. "Now or never."

Harris looked at the guard and saw him "sitting light" in his stance. That
told him that the snap was not going to result in a drive-blocking
collision. He suspected a pull-out and trap block, and he was right.

With more quickness than a 295-pound man should possess, Harris knifed
through the void left by the pulling guard and into the backfield. An
instant after quarterback Brad
Johnson<http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=2160>laid
the ball in the belly of running back Chester
Taylor <http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=6142>, Harris
lunged and poked it free.

There, suddenly, was the game, lying on the fake grass.

"I seen the ball, but I couldn't move," Harris said. "Somebody was lying on
top of me. I was just hoping somebody my color would fall on it."

Linemate Adewale
Ogunleye<http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=5768>was
the guy in the white shirt who fell on the football, reviving
Chicago's
fleeting hopes. The Bears had the ball at the Minnesota 37 with 3:25 left --
and if ever an offense needed a short field to work with, this was it.

Grossman, who spent much of the game throwing unwise passes off his back
foot, had his chance at redemption.

He threw two interceptions and should have had a couple more picked off. His
lollipop of a pass for Thomas
Jones<http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=5036>on
the first play of the fourth quarter was returned seven leisurely
yards
for a touchdown by Antoine
Winfield<http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=4672>,
and at that point it looked like the Vikings had the only touchdown they
needed to win this game.

"I felt really bad about putting the team in a bad position," Grossman said.
"The defense stuck with it."

Given a final chance to win the game, Grossman came through. After playing
brilliantly as a front-running quarterback and never facing a deficit the
first two weeks, it was time to see whether the 25-year-old had the poise to
win the hard way.

He did. Grossman's biggest play was sticking a third-and-eight throw into
the gut of Muhsin
Muhammad<http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=3511>for
an 11-yard gain and a first down, setting the stage for the
game-winner
two plays later.

That play was a relative gift, with Minnesota apparently never suspecting
third wideout Rashied
Davis<http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=7445>of
being the money man in that pressure situation. Davis ran a post out
of
the slot, slipping easily behind Ronyell
Whitaker<http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=6724>for
a wide-open touchdown with 1:53 left.

"Rex didn't have his best game," Urlacher said. "But he came through when he
had to."

Minnesota had a final chance to tie or win, but against the Bears D it
wasn't a very fair fight. The Vikings went four-and-out -- capped by an odd
call on fourth-and-two, with Johnson lofting a low-percentage deep
ball for Troy
Williamson <http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=7183> --
and the game was over.

It capped a day of strange sights in the Metrodome.

Like a feminine Viking mascot. And a he-man defense in purple.

Minnesota's resident tough-guy mascot, who stalks the sidelines in
animal-fur clothing and biker beard, got in touch with his girl-in-hotpants
side Sunday. During the break between the first and second quarters he shook
a pair of glittery gold pompons and gyrated like a girlie man, doing his
best I-feel-pretty routine. When he was done he blew kisses to the fans.

It was, to say the least, not the kind of maneuvering you're accustomed to
seeing from someone normally associated with pillaging and ransacking.

But perhaps the Viking dude was freed up from tough-guy duty because of the
startlingly studly defense that has returned as the calling card of Vikings
football.

This is a franchise that really hasn't been a defense-first operation since
the days of Bud Grant and Metropolitan Stadium. That didn't figure to change
when the Vikings hired Philadelphia offensive coordinator Brad Childress as
their new coach this past offseason.

But so far Minnesota is all about the D. Coordinator Mike Tomlin is four
years younger than starting quarterback Brad Johnson, but the version of
Monte Kiffin's Tampa 2 defense he brought with him from the Buccaneers is
working.

For the first time in 10 years, the Vikings have held their first three
opponents to fewer than 20 points. Of course, Minnesota has scored fewer
than 20 in all three games as well, but that isn't the death sentence it was
under the previous administration. With Mike Tice wearing the headset, the
Vikings were 0-21 when scoring fewer than 20.

Now, at 2-1, low-scoring games don't look so bad for Vikings fans.

But you'd better pitch a shutout if you're playing the best defense in the
National Football League. Because your offense isn't going to get anywhere
against the Bears.

*Pat Forde is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at
ESPN4D at aol.com.*