The Right To Be First

The atmosphere in Green Bay after the Colt loss was not nearly so friendly.

"I guess we needed that," Currie said. "It got us keyed up again. That's what carried over into the first half today against the Bears."

The game changed completely after the half. The Bears, who had been disorganized and inept in the first half, began to gather momentum, and the key to the Bear revival was the big rookie end from Pittsburgh, Ditka. Ditka was the Bears' first draft choice this year; seldom has a club chosen more wisely.

He is 6 feet 3 inches tall, and he weighs 230 pounds. He played a spread most of the afternoon, separated from the tackle by some five or six yards. This put him far enough out to prevent a linebacker from playing him head on and holding him up at the line of scrimmage. When he got into the secondary, he moved like a halfback. He caught nine passes for 190 yards, and he scored three touchdowns.

"They didn't do anything different in the second half," one of the Packer assistant coaches said. "They just began holding onto the ball."

Even so, it was a 51-yard field goal by Paul Hornung that started the scoring in the second half. The field goal—and the general excellence of Hornung's play all day—makes it clear that his loss will be a severe blow to the Packers in the final five games of the year. Hornung's replacement—Tom Moore—played well, but Hornung does many things for this team that Moore cannot do.

Wade, who had had considerable difficulty moving the Bears during the first half, moved them easily in the second. On the drive following Hornung's field goal, he ran once, catching the Packer defense out of position and gaining 14 yards. Then, almost casually, he passed 15 yards to Ditka for a touchdown. This was on a pass pattern that the Eagles had denied Ditka the week before. The big end went straight downfield, then cut sharply to his left, and the ball found him on the goal line with no one near.

The Bear defenses, which had been solved easily enough by Starr in the first half, had been adjusted slightly during the intermission. No longer did Hornung and Taylor find running room inside the tackles and, time and again, Bear linebackers or ends broke through to harry Starr. The Packers, unable to generate any kind of drive, gave up the ball to the Bears as the fourth period started.

Strange but effective

Wade had a simple offensive philosophy now. When he needed yardage to keep the drive going, he threw to Ditka. In the drive that opened the fourth quarter, he moved his team with a deliberation that seemed strange, considering that the Bears trailed the Packers 31-14, but the method was effective. He took nine plays and more than four minutes to get a touchdown, again passing to Ditka on that deep pattern up the middle, this time for 29 yards.