BEARS 39, Saints 14: Now I Can Exhale

Right on schedule.

Like a CTA train after midnight, you can count on the BEARS to show up at the NFL Championship station about once every 20 years.

They did it this time by dispatching of the feel-good New Orleans Saints. They did it with a run-heavy offense, a return of the marauding defense, and just enough good Rex when it mattered.

They did it in BEAR weather, with chilly, slippery conditions that contributed to 4 New Orleans fumbles -- three of which were recovered by the BEARS -- and that teamed with the aggressive BEARS defense to turn Deuce McAllister into a non-factor.

They did it in a fashion that should have convinced the great unwashed, although it didn’t. Almost all the experts were predicting that the BEARS would have to score 30 points to win that game, and most of them figured they couldn’t do it. Well, they did. And then some. And it turned out that they didn’t even need to.

It’s true that the game was still in doubt after three quarters. The BEARS seemed to be rolling after heading out to a 16-0 lead, but the Saints struck back with an impressive Drew Brees drive and an 88-yard Reggie Bush touchdown scamper off a swing pass that was made possible by Danieal Manning torching himself.

At 16-14, and later at 18-14 after the defense forced a safety, the Saints were actually bottling up the BEARS running attack. But Rex Grossman, embattled, controversial Rex Grossman, would not let them lose. Having completed just 5 of 20 passes at that point, he went 4-for-4 on an 85-yard touchdown drive capped by a tumbling Bernard Berrian catch for the score. With a two-score lead a minute into the fourth quarter, the BEARS put the game away with easy scores off of turnovers.

The real genius of the run-heavy philosophy was evident after Jones’ personal 69-yard touchdown drive late in the second quarter. Drew Brees followed that by moving the Saints 73 yards into the end zone in 1:10 to make a game of it at 16-7. Although he did spend a fair amount of time on his back, Brees also threw for 354 yards, and if he had gotten a few more chances the BEARS might not have been in a position to run away with that game late.

As it was, thanks to the heavy use of the running game, the BEARS chewed up clock while holding the ball for 35 minutes and keeping it away from the Saints’ dangerous quarterback (as well as their own, for that matter).

The BEARS had better run the ball 50 times against Indianapolis and again keep the ball out of both quarterbacks’ hands. Although most experts and fans out there seem to see a team that can’t hang with Indy, I see one that can exploit a soft run defense to control the game the way they did against the Saints.

And underdogs step up in the big game every now and then. Remember, the dynastic Patriots were big underdogs when they won their first Super Bowl (XVI) -- come to think of it, against a dome team with a high-scoring offense (St. Louis). Then there was the biggest underdog of all, the Jets in Super Bowl III, who defeated the seemingly undefeatable … hmm, now what team was it that they played?