Sports Then and Now

Few teams in sports history have matched the brashness and brilliance of the 1985 Bears.

It is difficult to believe that it has actually been 25 years since the Chicago Bears completed one of the most dominant seasons in NFL history with a 46-10 thrashing of the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX.

Though it has now been 25 years ago since their Super Bowl victory, the 1985 Bears still hold special place in the memories of many football fans as much because of the larger-than-life personalities as for their dominant performances on the field.

The images of Jim McMahon mooning a helicopter, Walter Payton running through tacklers, William Perry plowing into the end zone and Wilber Marshall running through the snow to a game clinching score are still fresh in the memory.

The Bears didn’t just beat opponents, they punished them. Of their 15 regular season victories, only four were not double digit victories.

They made two proud franchises look old and out-manned with a 45-10 victory over the Washington Redskins and a 44-0 white-wash of the Dallas Cowboys.

Only a 38-24 loss to the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football in week 13 kept them from a perfect season.

But even that loss didn’t stymie the confidence and brashness of the Bears. The day after that loss, members of the team gathered to shoot their “Super Bowl Shuffle” video.

They then went out and out-scored their final three regular season opponents 73-33 to finish with a 15-1 regular season mark.

The previous season, the Bears had reached the NFC Championship Game, only to lose to the San Francisco 49ers.

This time around the Bears left little doubt that they would be the NFC representative in Super Bowl XX. Read the rest of this entry →

Aaron Rodgers didn't have his best game against the Bears, but he was able to lead Green Bay back to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1998.

Three years after making the controversial decision to cut ties with future Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre and put the future of the Green Bay Packers in the hands of unproven quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the choice has been justified. After defeating the Chicago Bears 21-14 in the NFC Championship Game, Green Bay will be making the fifth Super Bowl appearance in team history and first in 13 years.

Though their performance against the Bears wasn’t as dominating as a week ago against the Atlanta Falcons, Rodgers and the Packers did what they needed to do to overcome a pesky, but overmatched opponent.

Rodgers started out hot as he drove the Packers down the field on their first possession and capped the drive with a touchdown run.

However, for the remainder of the day Rodgers and the Packers kept tentative control of the game, but were never able to completely put the Bears away.

The Packers scored early in the second quarter to take a 14-0 lead that stood at halftime.

Early in the second half, Rodgers drove the Packers methodically down the field looking to put the game away, but an uncharacteristic interception kept the Bears in the game.

Things looked good for the Packers when starting Chicago quarterback Jay Cutler injured a knee and backup Todd Collins was ineffective during the third quarter. Read the rest of this entry →

Ben Roethlisberger has the Steelers one win away from their third Super Bowl appearance in seven seasons.

With Ben Roethlisberger poised to lift the Pittsburgh Steelers to the Super Bowl for the third time in his seven year career, some sports talk hosts and NFL analysts have started asking the question of whether “Big Ben” should now be mentioned in the discussion of the best quarterbacks of all-time.

While Roethlisberger is a better than average NFL quarterback and seems to be heading toward a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, to even waste breath on comparing him to the best quarterbacks in NFL history is an example of how desperate sports talk radio can sometimes be to find topics of interest and controversy.

When it comes to looking at all-time greats, there is a definite difference in how quarterbacks are evaluated than players at any other position. Statistics are given some weight when looking at the best quarterbacks of all-time, but they are just one factor.

Of the 10 quarterbacks we recently ranked as the best of all-time, eight led their team to at least one Super Bowl title and Dan Fouts was the only one who never played in the NFL’s biggest game.

But all 10 of these quarterbacks had something in common and it is something that Roethlisberger has yet to, and probably is never likely to, achieve. Each of these quarterbacks was unquestionably the best player on their own team and there was little doubt that the team would not have enjoyed as high a level of success without them under center.

This is one reason that three quarterbacks with multiple Super Bowl rings and spots in the Hall of Fame are rarely mentioned when talking about the greatest quarterbacks of all-time.

While Terry Bradshaw, Troy Aikman and Bob Griese were all very good quarterbacks and deserve to be in the Hall of Fame, they were never “the man” that opponents had to game plan for when playing against their squad. Read the rest of this entry →

The Baltimore Ravens try to keep their playoff run intact. It’s going to be tough task, as the Ravens are going to be facing their

The Baltimore Ravens versus the Pittsburgh Steelers is going to be a hard hitting game

arch rival Pittsburgh Steelers.

In the two games they played in the regular season were only decided by three points. So look for this game to be close to the very end.

It’s going to be a brutal fight, as both teams are hard nosed smash mouth football teams and they just don’t like each other.

These type of games are built for the teams that play dominating defense and that can sustain a running game.

In this game it’s going to take a lot of will power and strength to come away with the win.

There is not going to be much scoring in this game, but their will be a lot of jaw wrenching hits. Read the rest of this entry →

Tom Brady threw for 326 yards and four touchdowns in his last game against the Jets.

The New York Jets did some soul searching at halftime of their game against the Colts, and found the answer they’d been looking for. It had eluded them for the first half, but they finally recalled their identity and started running the ball.

In other words, they got back to what has worked for them in the past and has rarely let them down.

It isn’t likely that the Jets will come out slinging the ball on Sunday.

Why? Because quite frankly, Sanchez has let them down before. In just two contests at Gillette Stadium, he has one touchdown, seven interceptions, and two fumbles.

He won’t thrown three or four picks if he doesn’t even throw the ball more than 15 times.

Quite simply, the Patriots will have to shut down the run. That’s not the question. The question marks pop up around the defensive line, where both Mike Wright and Ron Brace have been placed on season-ending injured reserve since the end of the regular season. The Patriots now boast a defensive line featuring Vince Wilfork, Gerard Warren, Kyle Love, Myron Pryor, Brandon Deaderick, Eric Moore and Landon Cohen.

Read the rest of this entry →

Matt Hasselbeck tossed four touchdown passes to lead the Seahawks past New Orleans.

Some, including an article on this site, suggested that the Seattle Seahawks should be embarrassed to be playing in the NFL Playoffs with a losing regular season record. Well, instead of tucking their tails between their legs and sleeking off quietly into the night, the Seahawks pulled off one of the more surprising playoffs upsets in recent memory with a 41-36 victory over the defending Super Bowl Champions.

Because they have endured three straight losing seasons with three different coaches, it is easy to forget that for much of the 2000s, the Seahawks were a regular playoff visitor and their roster still includes a number of players with playoff experience and significance pride.

Perhaps the best personification of that past and that pride is quarterback Matt Hasselbeck.

A three-time Pro Bowler and key reason the Seahawks went 13-3 and reached the Super Bowl in 2005, Hasselbeck has endured injuries and uncertainty over the last three years.

Despite being healthy enough to have probably played, Hasselbeck was held out of the do-or-die final game of the regular season against the St. Louis Rams. Many wondered if Hasselbeck had taken his final snap for the Seahawks.

But with his 7-9 squad heading into the playoffs to face the defending champions, head coach Pete Carroll called on the experienced Hasselbeck, rather than Charlie Whitehurst (who made only his second career start in the win over the Rams) to lead his team into what most expected to be a slaughter.

From the very beginning, there was something unfamiliar and uncomfortable about the game between the Saints and Seahawks. Seemingly everyone in America already knew how it would end, but after a predictable start the game seemed to be working against those certainties. Read the rest of this entry →