| There is the incredible, there is the
unbelievable, and then there is the unfathomable. It’s one thing to stage a
monumental comeback, but when the comeback happens after a team struggles for 59 minutes
of a football game, you have to start using words like "fate" and
"destiny" to describe what you’ve seen. The Chicago Bears’ stunning
rally to beat the Cleveland Browns in overtime was simply one of the most astounding games
I’ve ever witnessed. There is no logical reason why the Bears should be 6-1 right
now, especially when you consider that the team appeared to use up its annual allotment of
miracles last week vs. the 49ers.
Many fans at Soldier Field in Chicago got up and left just after the start of the
fourth quarter, and the exodus continued throughout the period. It was no surprise that
the Bears faithful were giving up. Chicago’s offense looked as stale as week-old
bread, QB Shane Matthews was stinking up the joint (more on him later) and there was
nothing for fans to do but boo lustily about what appeared to be the end of a special run
of wins.
Yet the Bears never gave up, and suddenly the team came to life. Chicago started moving
the ball, and the fans started to pay attention. When the Bears finally scored a touchdown
late in the game to cut their 21-7 deficit to just seven points, the empty seats suddenly
became noisemakers, and you had the feeling that if Chicago were to recover the ensuing
onside kick, something special just might happen.
And it did. The Bears recovered the kick, Matthews threw his second touchdown pass in
less than 30 seconds and the game was headed to overtime. The fact that Chicago won on a
touchdown return off an interception by Mike Brown for the second game in a row (how
spooky is that?) was just icing on what already had been an amazing cake.
I hate it when writers talk about miracles when it comes to sports because there are
much larger things that require miracles, but what happened at Soldier Field Sunday
evening was the stuff of legends. The Bears are picking up more confidence by the week,
and head coach Dick Jauron looks like he’s at the helm of a playoff-bound team.
One last thing about the Bears. Has there ever been a worse 30-of-50, 357-yard,
two-touchdown day than the one posted by Matthews? He had at least a half-dozen passes
batted down, he threw three picks and he didn’t get anything going until the very
last minutes of the game. Matthews isn’t getting much respect in the Windy City
despite leading the Bears to back-to-back comeback wins, and there is the feeling that
these games would have been much easier without Matthews at the helm. It’s amazing
that Chicago is pulling out the wins, but the Bears don’t have a true chance of doing
something special this season with Matthews running the show.
The good news for Bears fans is that regular starter Jim Miller should be back next
week. Matthews has done a decent job of giving his team a chance to win at the end of
games, and to his credit, he admits that he didn’t have a great game vs. Cleveland
despite the gaudy numbers. But Chicago is walking a tightrope that it is bound to fall off
if Matthews is forced to take too many snaps this season.
OK, it was only his first game, but I was impressed with the play of Drew Brees in San
Diego’s loss to Kansas City. When Brees dropped to the second round of last
spring’s draft after setting all kinds of passing records at Purdue and leading the
Boilermakers to the Rose Bowl last January, I felt that he was the victim of the NFL
Scouting Combine. Brees isn’t a great pure athlete. He doesn’t run fast, he
doesn’t have a cannon arm and he isn’t incredibly mobile. But Brees knows how to
run an offense, he’s a smart player and he knows how to lead a team.
Thrown into the mix when starter Doug Flutie went out in the first half with a
concussion, Brees stepped into the lineup and put together solid drives for the Chargers
and gave his team a chance to win late in the game. You can’t ask for anything more
than what Brees provided in his NFL debut, and I think he has the makings of a star
somewhere down the road.
What’s gotten into the Washington Redskins, who knocked off Seattle 27-14? For a
team that looked like it was ready for the scrap heap just a couple of weeks ago, the
Redskins have looked not only solid in reeling off three straight wins, but they look like
a ballclub that could get back into the mix for the playoffs. Sure, that’s saying a
lot for a team that features the erratic Tony Banks calling the signals, but Washington is
finally doing the things that makes teams successful.
First off, the Redskins are running the football. They rolled up 230 yards on the
ground and have Stephen Davis running with confidence again. They are stopping the run,
holding Seattle to just 60 yards on the ground. They are protecting Banks when he drops
back to pass, and their defense is playing with a lot of attitude.
So what has turned Washington around? It looks to me as though the team has found some
confidence that it was sorely lacking early in the season. Of course, a lot of that doubt
can be traced to former QB Jeff George, who looked lost on the field and wasn’t
willing to accept responsibility for a lot of his mistakes. Banks isn’t the most
dependable passer on the planet, but the team has bought into what he can do on the
football field, and when a team believes in its leader, great things can happen. When the
offense is playing well, the defense wants to hold up its end of the bargain, and suddenly
the entire ballclub is playing with a swagger. The Redskins have a long way to go to be
considered a contender, but they’ve taken steps in the right direction.
Tennessee RB Eddie George had a solid outing in helping his team to a 28-24 victory
over Jacksonville, rolling up 70 yards on 22 carries. He ran with a purpose and a lot of
strength for the first time all season after struggling with nagging injuries to his knee,
thigh and ankle, but I still wonder about the wisdom of playing him vs. the Jaguars. Sure,
he had a decent game, and the Titans really needed the win to build some momentum for the
second half of the season. But George probably could have used some time off to get his
aching bones ready for the rest of the 2001 campaign.
George is an amazing athlete whose strength and toughness shock a lot of NFL players,
but at some point head coach Jeff Fisher has to give his runner a break. A 100 percent
Eddie George is much more valuable to his team than an Eddie George who can only average
3.9 yards a carry and posts a long run of nine yards. It’s astounding that George has
been as productive as he has been with the injuries, but it might have been in the
Titans’ best interests for the future if he had sat this one out.
I don’t know about you, but I’m getting the feeling that Arizona QB Jake
Plummer simply isn’t going to turn the corner in his career. Plummer has been a big
disappointment to me in his career because I expected great things out of him when he came
to the Cardinals from Arizona State. Plummer hasn’t been a disaster by any means, but
he also hasn’t developed into the star I thought he would be.
He completes a high percentage of passes and he rolls up decent yardage totals, but
when it comes to throwing the ball into the endzone instead of an opponent’s hands,
he has struggled. Plummer only threw one pick Sunday, but he also led his team to just one
measly touchdown on the day vs. the Eagles. The Cardinals don’t have much of a
running game to speak of, and it was up to Plummer to make something happen vs. Philly. He
couldn’t do it, and the Cards fell 21-7.
I’ve wondered in the past if I simply expected too much out of Plummer, thinking
he could turn Arizona’s fortunes around, but I don’t think that is the case.
Maybe a change of scenery would do Plummer wonders. He certainly could stand to be
surrounded by a better corps of receivers. But a lot of Plummer’s — and in turn,
Arizona’s — struggles have been created by his poor decision making. He tries
too often to throw into coverage when he should know better, but Plummer tries a little
too hard in some situations.
There’s a fine line between making something happen and making decisions that end
up hurting your ballclub. Plummer has struggled throughout his career to make the
distinction between the two situations, and although he still has the potential to be a
star at the position, Plummer has a lot of work ahead of him to reach that status. |
