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From: marc@bmcg.UUCP (Marc Lee)
Newsgroups: net.sport.football
Subject: Re: Super Bowl XX
Message-ID: <2038@bmcg.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 15-Jan-86 20:53:04 EST
Article-I.D.: bmcg.2038
Posted: Wed Jan 15 20:53:04 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 19-Jan-86 05:31:53 EST
References: <417@decwrl.DEC.COM>
Reply-To: marc@bmcg.UUCP (Marc Lee)
Organization: Burroughs Corp. ASG, San Diego, CA.
Lines: 29

In article <417@decwrl.DEC.COM> fredrickson@learn.DEC writes:
>Remember this: Miami beat the Bears convincingly December 2.
     
>wanted an unbeaten season. And the Dolphins were a far superior
>team.
>
I've seen statements to the same effect many times since that Dec 2
game, and it seems to me that those who call that game "convincing"
are missing something.

The Bears lost by 2 touchdowns.  One was off a wildly deflected pass
which was almost intercepted.  Another came shortly after a blocked punt.
OK, special teams' contributions count, too, but let's look at why the
Bears were even punting at that point in time.  The play before, 3rd and
3? 4? Fuller was in the shotgun, at the closed end of the Orange Bowl.
As happened several times in that game, the home fans turned up the
volume, Fuller couldn't run the designated play, returned to a normal
set, and botched the first down play.  Not an excuse, but it brings up
2 points:  At a neutral site (e.g. New Orleans) Miami wouldn't have their
"12th man" in the stands, at least not as many of them; also, everyone
forgets that McMahon only played about a quarter of that game, at a point
when everyone knew the Bears had to pass.  Well, at least I've persuaded
myself that it wasn't a convincing win.

By the way, Ditka admitted that he botched the game plan by not running
Payton more early in the game.  I think he outsmarted himself by thinking
Miami was thinking about Payton's record (9th straight 100yd game), so he
intentionally limited the running plays, which Miami has since proved very
vulnerable to.