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Double threat Eagles prove multi-dimensional beats single-prongPosted: Saturday January 19, 2002 10:47 PM
CHICAGO -- As the stakes climb higher in the NFL playoffs, the games actually get simpler. More basic. More fundamental. The pressure and intensity rises, but the mystery quotient drops noticeably. It's elementary, really. Teams proven to be too one-dimensional go home. Teams that can beat you any number of ways move on. The lesson of playoff football got reinforced once again Saturday at the soon-to-be renovated Soldier Field. The hometown Chicago Bears died from a case of exposure on this frosty day near the shores of Lake Michigan. The Philadelphia Eagles exposed them for what they have been all season: A talented defensive team that has no semblance of balance on offense. The Bears can run the ball. But their dink-and-dunk passing game is almost pointless. The Philadelphia Eagles have no such limitations, as their 33-19 NFC Divisional-round upset of Chicago drove home. The Eagles' win underlined the importance of diversification at this time of year. In the playoffs, you can't sit on a slim lead and revert to stall ball. There is no four-corners offense in the NFL. You have to run, you have to pass, and you have to play stout D.
For the Bears, two out of three finally wasn't good enough. The style of play that got them here also sent them home for the winter. If they didn't realize that before, they learned it against the well-rounded Eagles (13-5). "We knew they were going to try and run the ball," said Eagles Pro Bowl safety Brian Dawkins. "That was no secret. We knew they don't throw the ball down the field. And with the defense we run as far as the blitzing package, it makes them even less likely to go down field. We kind of figured what they were thinking." All you need to know about this game came midway through the third quarter, with Chicago holding a 14-13 lead and facing a second-and-13 at its 9. The Bears ran rookie running back Anthony Thomas off right tackle for 1 yard, threw a short pass to Thomas, then punted. Up a point in a game in which they were being thoroughly dominated, the Bears played it safe. Suffice to say it was the sorriest of approaches in a game that Chicago had to have to keep its storybook season alive. And don't try pleading that the Jim Miller injury forced the Bears into a conservative, non-passing mode. When Chicago's starting quarterback went out with a separated right shoulder early in the second quarter, the Bears trailed 6-0 and Miller had completed 3-of-5 passes for 23 yards, with a long of 14 yards. Shane Matthews took over for Miller and played the final three quarters. Even though the Bears were behind the majority of that time, Matthews didn't exactly light up the Chicago night. He finished 8-of-17 for 66 yards, with a long gain of 12 yards, two interceptions, and almost invisible QB rating of 17.9.
The Bears, though desperate, took just one legitimate shot at completing a deep pass while the game was still within reach. Fittingly, it was picked off by Eagles strong safety Damon Moore, on the play on which Miller was hurt. Combined, the Chicago's quarterbacking M&M boys were just 11-of-22 for 89 yards and three interceptions. While the Bears running game produced a decent 111 yards on 23 carries, it wasn't enough to offset their woefully limited passing attack. "That was our game plan, with Miller or Matthews in there, we were going to still try and make them beat us throwing the ball," Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson said. "With our secondary people, that was still the matchup we liked. Them throwing the ball against our secondary. I'm not sure what they were thinking when they stayed conservative, but I'm sure they had a reason for it. Maybe they just thought their defense was good enough and they didn't want to put their quarterback in a bad position." But the Bears offense as a whole spent most of the game in a bad position. Chicago's defense accounted for nine of the Bears' 19 points, on cornerback Jerry Azumah's 39-yard interception return of a touchdown and a game-ending safety. Take away the trick-play 47-yard touchdown run that Chicago scored on an end-around to receiver Ahmad Merritt, and the Bears' offense managed just one Paul Edinger field goal. "In the playoffs, you have to have a balanced attack," Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb said. "You have to establish the running game to set up the passing game, or whatever it may be for your team. Either or. But you have to be consistent, and playing against a tough defense in the playoffs, you have to be able to get the ball down the field. And I think we were able to do that." McNabb was able to do nearly whatever he liked against the Bears. In getting the Eagles to their first NFC title game in 21 years, he was an improvisational genius, continually making plays on the move in the passing game. As adept as any quarterback in the league at buying time, McNabb would slide left, then right, then left again before firing a strike to a usually wide-open Eagles receiver. He did in the first quarter, when a 43-yard James Thrash catch-and-run on a broken play set up the Eagles' second of four David Akers field goals. He did it in the second quarter, on a 13-yard touchdown strike to fullback Cecil Martin. And he did it again on a key 30-yard completion to tight end Jeff Thomason midway through the third quarter, setting up the 6-yard Duce Staley touchdown catch that put Philadelphia ahead to stay. When McNabb starts to move, defenses don't know when to come up and fill the rushing lanes, and when to sit back and play pass defense. McNabb, the only quarterback left in the playoffs who was a first-round pick, gets them coming and going. "I guess we're at that stage now where, being in the playoffs, everything is bigger, and more is expected than what you did during the season," Eagles head coach Andy Reid said of McNabb, who finished 26-of-40 for 262 yards, with two touchdowns, and 37 yards on eight rushes. "He took a little bit of heat this season. He wasn't playing [at the level] people expected him to play at. I think he showed that in the biggest games, what he's all about. That's all a part of the journey." In improving to a gaudy 8-1 on the road this season, the Eagles overcame a substantial chunk of playoff history. Since 1990, home teams in the divisional round were 21-1. Make that 21-2 now. Playing their fourth playoff game in the past two seasons, the Eagles postseason experience shone through. But it was more than just experience that made the difference for Philadelphia on Saturday. On offense, defense and every other way, the Eagles were just more balanced than the one-dimensional Bears. This time of year, winning usually is just that simple. Don Banks covers pro football for CNNSI.com.
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