Thread: Defense "Bears" Comparisons to '85 Defense...........

Best evaluate this AFTER the season is over. Too early to compare anything yet. After this team has back-to-back shutouts in the playoffs followed by a dominating HUGE blowout win in a Super Bowl effort.

We've kind of had this discussion already but I thought it beat whipping up on the offense and the line in particular just for a change of pace. Besides it'll get us in a better frame of mind before Sunday.

There are obvious statistical comparisons but the styles of each are so different that appears to be where they defy comparisons. The '85 Bears defense just beat the ever lovin' crap out of QBs and anyone else who got in their way. In 2012 you can't do that anymore. The fines would cost players their whole paychecks and teams would be inside our 20 all game long.

So this defense does it different. They aren't bullies they're thieves. There are probably few defenses in the history of the NFL that are any better at taking the ball away from you than these guys are and they've always been that way. The only real difference is that so far this year they've taken to a whole new level and combined it with a little of that tough '85 Bears pass rush as well.

So they're different but in a certain way much the same. They're just another reminder that when you play the Bears you better bring your A game on offense because the Bears defense will be bringing theirs.

I'd love to see these guys go to and win a Super Bowl this year just because as much as I loved that team I'm getting tired about those bragging rights being almost 30 years old now. It's time for this defense to take it's place in Bears history and legend too.

Bears defense dominates, despite rules changes

NFL rules are tilted so heavily in favor of the offenses — particularly the passing game.

Fred Mitchell November 10, 2012

The Pillagers of the Midway are on a record pace, returning seven interceptions for touchdowns in their first eight games as they prepare for Sunday night's prime time adventure against Matt Schaub and the Texans.

What is most remarkable is the fact the Bears defenders are dominating in an era when the NFL rules are tilted so heavily in favor of the offenses — particularly the passing game.

One of the early signs of preferential treatment for the offenses in the modern era came in 1978 when receivers were not allowed to be bumped beyond five yards of the line of scrimmage. That rule has been enforced more strictly in the past five years or so. In previous decades, receivers literally fought to get open. (I think sticking a shiv in the CBs ribs was actually legal at one time )

"Back then, as long as the ball wasn't in the air, (the defenders) could hit you anywhere on the field," former Bears end Harlon Hill told me. Hill still somehow managed to catch 233 passes for 40 TDs during his NFL career (1954-62).

Another rules change allows offensive linemen to extend their arms while blocking and basically grab on to defensive players in a manner that makes holding calls quite arbitrary. And, of course, quarterbacks cannot be hit too high, too low or too hard, less a hanky is tossed. (A hanky is what some of them should be carrying themselves to dry their eyes and blow their runny noses after crying about getting hit at all. I'm all for protection but some of these guys like Brady are just babies about it)

"You've got to think about it now with all of the rules against us," Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher said.

The head slap that Hall of Fame defensive lineman Deacon Jones popularized to get past offensive linemen was outlawed in 1977. The clothesline tackle that former Bears defensive end Ed "The Claw" Sprinkle perfected in the '40s and '50s is now prohibited. The horse collar tackle was deemed illegal in the NFL in 2005. (No more legalized muggings on the field. Man what's this game coning to?)

Beginning in 2001, new rules were implemented almost annually to protect the quarterback. All of these rules and new offensive strategies, no doubt, contributed to three quarterbacks (Drew Brees, Matthew Stafford and Tom Brady) passing for more than 5,000 yards last season — the first time that had happened in NFL history. It makes you wonder how Sid Luckman still holds so many Bears passing records. (That's about to come to an end)

Yet the enterprising Bears defense continues to dominate this season.
Urlacher joined the pick-6 party last Sunday at Tennessee when he returned a Matt Hasselbeck pass 46 yards for a score. Don't get Urlacher started talking about offensive rules advantages.

"This could be a long conversation," he said. "There are so many rules against us. I'm going to go on a different tangent. The thing that (concerns me) is the cut blocks. Last week Izzy (Israel Idonije) got hurt. He was engaged (by a Titans blocker) and a guy cut him. How is that legal? We can't hit in the head, we can barely tackle anyone because with a concussion you might be out for a week or two. But if you lose your knee, you're out for a season or maybe longer. It's very frustrating, but the rules are the rules. We have to play within them." (Well it's not so we'll have to suppose that they missed it)

For Bears defenders such as Charles Tillman, Lance Briggs, Tim Jennings, Major Wright, D.J. Moore, Urlacher and others to excel each week says something about their superior technique, anticipation and athleticism.

"I think the thing that eliminates most of (the rules disadvantages) for us is we play hard," Urlacher said. "We get 11 guys to the football. The ball's coming out. We've got guys stripping the football. And usually when they come out, unless they go out of bounds, we get them because we have so many guys going to the football."


fmitchell@tribune.com
Twitter@kicker34

This is a nice thread, soul, so I have to thank you for posting it.

I wasn't old enough or local enough to have watched the Bears in 1985, but I do own a collection of twelve games in which they played on DVD from that year. Most of the games I have show a team that was giving up a lot of yards; in fact, in total, only like four of them showed the defense when it was at its most dominant (the San Francisco and Dallas games; the playoffs and Super Bowl XX). In that set were both the Buccaneers games, the Redskins game, the first Minnesota game, the first Packers game, the Miami game (Ugh! Why not show the first Detroit game or the game against Atlanta the week after the Dallas affair?), and the last game of the season vs. Detroit. Most of the games were the ones in which the Bears struggled or, in the case of the Miami game, lost.

But what I did see in five of those games was a defense that was utterly dominant. They were completely unblockable, and they rushed anywhere from six to eight guys at the quarterback per down. It's sad that the 46 no longer is widely used defense except for when Rex and Rob Ryan run plays out of it in what is known as the "Diamond" formation version in which there are only three down linemen. They were better than this Bears team at rushing the passer because they blitzed so much, and that just makes me wonder how in the hell the New York Giants managed to lead the NFL in 1985 in total sacks.

I have noticed that with the pass rush on the 2012 Bears defense, they have slowed down in terms of how many times the defensive line sacks the quarterback per game. Right now, our defense is ranked second in the league in sacks with 28 unless we've passed up Green Bay in the past week. Then again, the Packers have played in one more game than we have, so that's something else to consider too. Lately, we've been getting two to three sacks per game, which is enough to apply proper pressure, but I'd like to get back up to three to four like we were there for a few weeks earlier in the season. I think we have more big sack games coming this season; we get to play Arizona, San Francisco, and Green Bay again, all of whom are among the five worst offensive lines in terms of sacks allowed in the league at the moment along with our line. I think we sacked Matthew Stafford three times a few weeks ago, and sacked Aaron Rodgers five times in Week 2. This defensive line has a chance to get some more in the weeks ahead, so I'm not really worried. I still think we'll wind up with more than 50+ sacks.

I do agree that this defense is not as stingy in terms of yards per game allowed as that '85 defense was. Up until we played the Carolina Panthers, we were only giving up 299.5 total yards per game. Now, we're up to 318. We don't have too many more games against weaker offenses coming up this season with the possible exception of Arizona, Seattle, Minnesota, San Francisco (yeah, they're 6-2, but their offense is mostly one-dimensional), and maybe Detroit if they play at all like they did against us three weeks ago. I'd like to see the Bears get back down below 300 yards allowed per game before I'm ready to call them a dominant defense like the '85 team's. Right now, there are probably three or four defenses in the league that are giving up less than 300 yards of total offense. I no longer believe it is possible for this defense to give up under 200 yards passing simply because we run a Cover 2 soft zone defense that allows a team to throw a lot of underneath passes. Still, if we could limit the Texans to about 220 or 230 passing yards and a minimal amount of rushing yards, we'll be set in my honest opinion.

Still, this is a very good defense, and the load of takeaways and defensive touchdowns have been helping this team win games, sometimes to the exclusion of what our offense is able to amass. But I won't call it great until it gets a little bit stingier about how many total yards it allows offenses to gain against it.

I'm just saying 1/2 of a season doesn't mean anything more than we've had a great start. But if they can finish the season great, and DOMINATE every playoff team with shutouts -- and then crush their Super Bowl opponent.....well....THEN let's talk.

8 games is just a start.

I would settle for a performance in the Super Bowl just like the 1963 Bears put on in the NFL Championship Game versus the New York Giants. I can handle a defensive slobber knocker with a 14-10 win with us getting about five interceptions, with Major Wright picking off a pass in the end zone like Ritchie Petitbon did to ice the game at the end of regulation.