Bear Digest

Bears and Rams recreating the battle of Smiths and Grabowskis

Mike Ditka once called the Rams the Smiths and his Bears Grabowskis and Sunday night's divisional playoff 40 years later adds a few twists to an old NFL feud.
Gene Chamberlain|
Wilber Marshall takes back a 52-yard touchdown in the 1985 season's NFC Championship Game at Soldier Field.
Wilber Marshall takes back a 52-yard touchdown in the 1985 season's NFC Championship Game at Soldier Field. | Malcolm Emmons-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

To a large extent, the Bears are re-enacting the age-old Smiths and Grabowskis conflict Sunday when they host the Rams in the NFC divisional playoffs.

The basic difference is 40 years have gone by, and back then it was a game to go to the Super Bowl, but this time it's for a chance to play in the NFC Championship Game.

As that Bears team prepared to face the warm-weather Rams in the cold at the old version of Soldier Field, coach Mike Ditka gave the media a classic story line as he so often did.

“There are teams that are fair-haired, and those that aren’t so fair-haired," Ditka said. "Some teams are named Smith, some Grabowski. We’re Grabowskis."

Those Rams never knew what hit them, and it all ended with Dieter Brock sprawled on the ground courtesy of Richard Dent, the ball in Wilber Marshall's hands and the end zone ahead as William Perry and Otis Wilson accompanied him in the snow to the clinching touchdown. It was Mike Singletary standing up Eric Dickerson on fourth-and-1 and driving him back to trigger the rout, Jim McMahon scrambling in from 16 yards for a TD and hitting Willie Gault at the corner of the end zone for another TD.

Now, though, the Smiths appear much more formidable as an offense than back then. They have a well-time passing attack under Sean McVay, with veteran MVP candidate Matthew Stafford at quarterback and the NFL's best receiver in Puka Nacua. They have an accompanying running game with two strong backs. The Smiths have a defense with all the necessary parts to stop opponents from pass rush to a stout group of run pluggers.

Everything is collated and quantified. Rams success appears corporate in nature.

The Bears fly by the seats of their pants. Their plans frequently go awry early and then it's up to Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson to figure it all out as the game progresses.

Even then, it often has come down to Williams just pulling out a prayer throw on fourth down to Rome Odunze downfield for 27 yards or finding Colston Loveland at the last second.

They are tough, hard-nosed and run the ball but they'll wing it when it's needed, and it might not be from the pocket or even on the pass routes they planned. It's sometimes pure chaos more than it is designed success.

Johnson didn't even appear overly concerned Friday when the team's poor starts were brought to his attention and he was asked if they tried to solve the issue.

"Nope," Johnson said. "I believe in the process that we put in place. We're not going to change that at all. I've been saying it all year long, whenever something pops up and you want it to improve, you just make it a point of emphasis, and these guys do a great job of finding ways to help correct it.

"We'll look to do that as a coaching staff and as players and keep it moving.”

Why stop what's working? The Grabowskis don't become the Smiths to win. They stay true to themselves. They throw 58-yard touchdown passes to rookie tight ends or 46-yard bombs to DJ Moore, or the quarterback scrambles in twice to bring them back from 10 behind.

The only thing consistent about this Bears run has been its inconsistency and Johnson's insistence that they just keep plowing ahead.

The approach all along has been going 1-0 this week. Who cares how it happens?

“We are trying to fulfill the mission," Johnson said. "Which was, as I said when I took this job, to win and to win now. We're in the middle of it. All 32 teams start off with the intent to win a championship. That's what everyone talks about during training camp or if they're not talking about it, at least inwardly that's the goal. That's why you do what you do, is you're trying to win a championship.

"We positioned ourselves to make the playoffs during the season and now we're one of eight remaining teams and that's really all we care about is how do we do we survive this round of the playoffs and become one of the final four. That's all we're thinking about right now.”

It's not quantified, measured, calculated or even planned. They let it happen.

Even if Johnson's eventual success in Chicago had been anticipated no one could have expected it this suddenly except maybe Johnson himself.

After Williams struggled as a rookie, despite numerous defensive injuries, with the lack of a consistent pass rush, and with a defense making takeaways but giving up points and yards in stacks, and despite a rookie and undrafted free agent manning left tackle, the Bears persist.

They are not the Grabowskis of Ditka's era, in which hard work and toughness automatically led to success over the opposition.

Rather, they're like MacGyver. They get to a point in games where all appears lost and then throw something together that lets them escape and go 1-0 that week.

Hard work and toughness are fine. Forty years later the Grabowskis added resourcefulness to the mix to create the kind of momentum needed to get within a win of the NFC Championship Game.

As much as everyone wants to see the Bears start fast and then hold on for a win, it would not be true to their nature.

Get ready for another Grabowski thrill show Sunday night against a fair-haired opponent that achieves its success the textbook way.

For all Johnson cares, everyone can ask him if they're finally going to start faster next week, when they are getting ready to play for a berth in the Super Bowl.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.