Old-school Bears make the grade

CHICAGO -- Lovie Smith had no reason to change a game plan devised by George Halas in the 1920s, one that worked well enough for the Chicago Bears to win five NFL titles by 1946. Smith did some updating and streamlining, using the run to set up play-action passes, and the Bears took a 39-14 win over the New Orleans Saints yesterday, launching the Bears into the Super Bowl and making Smith the first African-American coach to win a conference championship.

After the game, Smith made the symbolic connection with the past, standing on a stage at Soldier Field as Virginia McCaskey, the 83-year-old daughter of Halas, accepted the NFC Championship trophy named for her father.

"She's happy right now," Smith said of McCaskey. "Next game she'll be even happier. Being the first black coach to lead this team, the players knew about it and wanted to help us make history; I feel blessed, I'll feel even better to be the first black coach to hold up the [Super Bowl] trophy, though."

Last night, Smith was joined by the Colts' Tony Dungy in the Super Bowl, making it two African-American coaches in the Feb. 4 game in Miami.

The Bears, and the climate, set the tone for this game.

Chicago's ball-stripping defense and freezing temperatures were factors as the Saints fumbled four times (losing three), bobbled and dropped passes, and quarterback Drew Brees twice was flagged for intentional grounding, once for a safety when New Orleans trailed by only 2 in the third quarter.

"This is the blueprint of the Chicago Bears' tradition," quarterback Rex Grossman said. "Great defense, run the ball well, and we were able to make a few plays in the passing game that set us apart at the end. This is typical, traditional Chicago Bears football. The snow, this was huge."

Grossman did not make those plays until the second half. By then, though, the Bears' defense was in control and Thomas Jones (19 carries for 123 yards, 2 TDs) had ignited the running game.

Despite the early Saints turnovers, the result remained in doubt until Grossman threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Bernard Berrian early in the fourth quarter for a 25-14 lead.

In the first half, Chicago stalled on drives at the 1-, 25-, and 6-yard lines before settling for Robbie Gould field goals. But on the Bears' next possession, they simply handed off to Jones -- eight successive times on a 69-yard drive -- for a 16-0 lead, Jones scoring from 2 yards on the first play after the two-minute warning. Eight plays and 70 seconds later, though, the Saints scored on a 12-yard pass from Brees to Marques Colston to make it 16-7 at the half.

Once the Saints became acclimated, they displayed how dynamic their offense could be. On their second play from scrimmage in the second half, they scored on an 88-yard pass from Brees to Reggie Bush, who taunted pursuing Bears and flipped into the end zone to cut the deficit to 2 points.

At that point, the Bears were struggling; they converted a first down on their first play of the second half but did not have another first down until the second-to-last play of the third quarter. Meanwhile, the Saints squandered their only chance to take the lead when Billy Cundiff's 47-yard field goal attempt fell short.

Then, as a light snow began to fall, the Bears overcame their offensive lethargy.

An intentional grounding call against Brees in the end zone resulted in a safety and an 18-14 advantage, Brees having tossed the ball into the right flat while under heavy pressure. Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher placed his palms together overhead to convince officials to award the Bears 2 points. Referee Terry McAulay hesitated, then confirmed the safety ruling.

Two Cedric Benson runs netting minus-2 yards and a Grossman incompletion gave the ball back to New Orleans. The next time the Bears gained possession, though, Grossman completed four successive passes, including the 33-yarder to Berrian for an 11-point advantage. Two plays later, the Bears again gained possession when Adewale Ogunleye recovered a Brees fumble. Four plays later, Benson scored on a 12-yard run for a 32-14 lead.

The Saints' fumble-itis had set in long before then, as they coughed up the ball three times in the first quarter -- once resulting in a 25-yard sack, then again after a long completion to midfield, which led to a 19-yard field goal by Gould for the game's first points. The ensuing kickoff was fumbled away by Michael Lewis, and the result was another Gould field goal, from 43 yards.

Neither offense generated much early. After a 40-yard pass from Brees to Devery Henderson on the second play from scrimmage, the Saints netted just 25 yards on their next 15 plays. The Bears started three possessions in New Orleans territory, but they only had one play of more than 5 yards in the first quarter, a 16-yard end-around run by Rashied Davis. But early in the second quarter, Grossman was able to complete a 30-yard play-action pass to Desmond Clark to set up Gould's third field goal, from 24 yards.

"I'll tell you it doesn't get any better than that," Smith said. "You start off early in the year, minicamps, training camps, all those things, you see how hard the team works, you lay out a plan and they buy into it. You want it to end this way."