THE NFL PLAYOFFS : Tomczak Throws Surprise at Saints : NFC: The Bear quarterback completes only 12 of 25 passes, but his 38-yarder to Gentry is the key play in 16-6 victory at Chicago.
CHICAGO — The temperature was 18 when Chicago got up Sunday morning. Happily, that was 18 above. And the smoke from the city’s smokestacks was drifting straight up.
That meant a relatively comfortable January afternoon would settle in at Soldier Field, where the Chicago Bears got out of trouble in a tense fourth quarter because the cold northwest wind measured only 15 m.p.h.
Passing against it on third and 11, their quarterback, Mike Tomczak, unexpectedly dropped a 38-yard bomb on his fastest wide receiver, Dennis Gentry. And that saved the Bears.
When they kicked their third field goal a moment later, they had a 16-6 playoff victory over the New Orleans Saints, who, until Tomczak unloaded, had held the fourth-quarter momentum.
“It was the greatest play of the game,†Bear Coach Mike Ditka said of Tomczak’s long pass, one of the few good ones he threw on an afternoon when the Saints, closing the score to 13-6, started making upset noises in the last 15 minutes.
“It put us over the hump,†said Tomczak.
“It killed us,†said New Orleans Coach Jim Mora, whose team went nowhere until backup quarterback John Fourcade replaced injured Steve Walsh late in the third quarter to put a little life into a less than sensational struggle.
In the big picture, the Saints (8-9) are still going nowhere. The Bears (12-5) are off to New Jersey to play the New York Giants next Sunday on the second day of the NFL’s second round.
After an off year last season, Ditka has the Bears back as an NFC semifinalist once more, along with three other familiar groups, the Giants, Washington Redskins and San Francisco 49ers.
But the way their quarterback played most of the time in the first round, the Bears may have gone as far as they can go this season. And Ditka probably knows it.
“Next week will be a gigantic task,†he said.
Ditka’s problem is that his new starting quarterback, formerly the backup, doesn’t throw many straight passes.
Before he got off the game-saver to Gentry in the last five minutes, Tomczak, who has replaced injured Jim Harbaugh, had known only one good, brief series.
It came in the second quarter when he suddenly completed four straight passes to drive the Bears 62 yards to the only touchdown of the game. For the final 18 yards, he threw a short easy one to tight end Jim Thornton.
“I was surprised that Jim was so wide open,†Tomczak said.
Confessing that the lone touchdown came on a New Orleans defensive mistake, Thornton said: “Nobody covered me.â€
By comparison, Gentry was closely covered in the fourth quarter, when Tomczak reached him on the pass of the game.
Strangely, the bomb is the one pass Tomczak throws well. He has a knack for delivering the long touch pass that even Joe Montana would envy.
It’s the simple ones that bother Tomczak, who frankly admits that he doesn’t like mid-range passes, and who, throwing to running backs, often spins the ball along the ground.
Batting under .500, Tomczak completed 12 of 25 passes for 166 yards on a forgettable day that mostly matched the kickers, Kevin Butler of Chicago and Morten Andersen, both of whom made some and missed some.
But this is not to say that Ditka has a lousy team here. Except at quarterback, it’s a solid, tough team with strengths in three of the four offensive departments and with gifted players and good coaching on defense as well.
The Bears won principally because they are tougher than the Saints, who are pretty tough themselves.
Occasionally the Bears are too aggressive--as when rookie free safety Mark Carrier twice mindlessly roughed up New Orleans receivers in the fourth quarter to keep the Saints in the game.
But Ditka, who is an aggressive sort himself, would rather have them rough than otherwise.
“We let them run the ball down our throats,†said New Orleans safety Toi Cook. “That’s not Saints football.â€
It was this time.
On one tough run after another for Chicago, halfback Neal Anderson gained 102 yards and fullback Brad Muster 71.
There isn’t a more valuable running back in pro football than Anderson, who runs, blocks, catches and even throws on occasion. He threw one against the Saints to set up a field goal.
As a ballcarrier, Anderson carries people when he has to. He also makes good, timely cuts, and he has the speed to outrun most linebackers.
Muster is a Bear-style fullback--a Ditka-style slow, big, tough guy who, like tight end Ditka years ago, makes the plays he should either as blocker or runner--and often as receiver.
As a combination, Anderson and Muster give Ditka perhaps the best all-round backfield in the league.
As Mora said: “They controlled the ball--better than we could.â€
The Saints would have had an easier time controlling it if, when they went out to get a quarterback earlier this season, they had found someone besides Steve Walsh.
Reportedly, New Orleans General Manager Jim Finks made the Walsh deal with Dallas. And if so, someone has said, it’s a good thing that the NFL didn’t wind up with Finks as commissioner.
For Walsh doesn’t throw the ball hard or accurately, he doesn’t hang tough in the pocket and he’s pretty frail.
One question is whether either Walsh or Fourcade will be in the league two years hence.
Or Tomczak, for that matter.
On the playing field, Tomczak always seems to turn his eyes toward Ditka--sheepishly, if he does something wrong. He’s like a kid playing for mean old dad.
The leader of the Bears is defensive tackle Dan Hampton, who does the same thing for Ditka’s club that safety Ronnie Lott does for the 49ers.
It remains to be seen if the Bear defense holds up next season when Hampton retires and linebacker Mike Singletary is a year older.
On a busy day for the officials, including the instant replay folks, the penalty of the day at Soldier Field was a call against New Orleans cornerback Robert Massey, who was offside when the Saints blocked a field goal in the third quarter.
Said New Orleans cornerback Vince Buck, who picked the ball up and ran it back 61 yards for an apparent touchdown: “I don’t believe (Massey) was offside. I think it was really a bad call.â€
It cost the Saints a 10-10 tie at the time. And, perhaps, it took Walsh and Fourcade out of the playoffs. Think of it that way.
Go beyond the scoreboard
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