Super Bowl Recap

Well, my beloved Bears missed out on their chance for a 2nd Super Bowl title. The Colts employed a great gameplan of running the ball to take advantage of the 2 deep (way deep) scheme that the Bears defense was using against Manning. With the exception of the first drive when Manning was intercepted by Chris Harris, Manning took what the defense gave him, often utilizing the running game up the middle which gashed a safety-less run defensive scheme. Hats off to the Colts coaches and Manning for managing the game like they did. It's amazing the offensive identity makeover that the Colts had in the playoffs...they ran the ball and played defense, which is what championship teams do well.

It would have been really nice had the Bears defense been at full strength. With the Bears advancing to the Super Bowl, the fact their defense was without both Tommie Harris and Mike Brown was often overlooked, and their importance forgotten. Tommie Harris helps make the Bears' front four what it is, a gap controlled defensive line that can generate a great pass rush without the aid of blitzers. This is essential to a cover 2 scheme...the front four must generate a quality pass rush to force the quarterback to make quick decisions against the aggresive zone defense. Without that pass rush, any pro QB will be able to pick apart a zone defense and find the holes. Harris is one of the best pass rushing defensive tackles in the game, and the pass rush hasn't been the same without him. In the secondary, Mike Brown is a physical presence at safety who has great awareness and completely changes the face of the Bears run defense. His range allows him to both help stuff the run and drop back deep to cover the WRs. His replacement, Chris Harris, is more suited to stopping the run and has shown a deficiency in covering the pass. Harris is only a 2nd year player, and his safety-mate Danieal Manning was a rookie. Their inexperience led to them being out of place several times, most notably when Reggie Wayne busted wide open for his TD catch. D. Manning decided to cover the TE short over the middle than follow Wayne deep, and any player who fails at his assignment in a zone defense will leave someone wide open. Harris couldn't play as close to the line as Brown can due to his lack of range, and that allowed the Colts to run right at the Bears without that safety help.

The turning point, in my mind, was the terrible play calling on 2nd and 1 in the 2nd quarter. While 2nd and 1 is the best playaction down in football and leads to many big pass plays, one must take into account the game situation. The Bears were winning and running the ball well. I understand that Lovie wanted to generate a big play to get Grossman some confidence and light a spark into the offense, but when the goal is ball control against a dynamic offense like the Colts, going for a big play when leading is a bad idea. Use Jones and run over the Colts defense, keep moving the chains, and allow the defense to rest. Instead, Lovie opted to call a playaction pass which lead to blown blocking assignment and an 11 yard sack. The Bears then punted and Indy drove down and scored against a defense that was given little rest.

Finally, the Rex Grossman criticism needs a limit. I can't believe all the criticism heaped upon him on a weekly basis. Rex Grossman cannot be compared to 3rd and 4th year QBs. This was his first full season in which he wasn't hindered by injuries, and he had a pretty solid season. His bipolarism from game to game is bad, but he's still learning the position and managed 2 pretty solid performances in the playoffs until having a bad game last night. He obviously needs to work on his decision making and ball security, but that can be improved if he dedicates himself this offseason to working on that. He's spent a lot of the past two seasons not practicing and learning the offense, but instead rehabbing a torn ACL and a broken ankle. That's not time in which he's progressing as a football player, it's time focused on rehabbing injuries. He's not spending that time learning the offense, getting reps in practice, and working on his timing with his receivers. He's actually regressing because instead of learning the QB position, he's working on getting healthy. Therefore, his situation is not like Phillip Rivers, for example, who spent all of the past 2 years studying the offense and practicing before getting his shot on the field. Grossman spent his first season learning a completely different offense, then the Bears changed coaches and he had to learn another offense. He then tore his ACL, and spent a year rehabbing. After coming back from that, he spent some time learning the new offense before breaking his ankle and missing most of last season as well.

Give him time, Bears fans. I know it's a lot to ask with some of the disasterous performances he's had this year, especially last night, but he's still quite young and is behind the learning curve for a QB his age. He obviously has potential and has room to grow. Hopefully he'll spend this offseason working on his flaws, and Bears fans will see a more mature Rex Grossman on the field next season.