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From: stevev@tekchips.UUCP (Steve Vegdahl)
Newsgroups: net.sport.football
Subject: Re: PATS IN SEVEN
Message-ID: <26@tekchips.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 30-Jan-86 20:32:16 EST
Article-I.D.: tekchips.26
Posted: Thu Jan 30 20:32:16 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 1-Feb-86 07:27:46 EST
References: <2b974567.2a75@apollo.uucp>
Organization: Tektronix, Beaverton OR
Lines: 37

>    On the other hand I give credit to Jim McMahon's acupuncturist
>    for his unexpectedly good passing.  I think Chicago's ability
>    to go deep was a surprise to most Patriot fans, but I equate
>    that with Danny Ainge's perimeter shooting in the first quarter
>    of game one of last year's NBA finals, i.e. an unexpected streak
>    of greatness from a BYU alumnus.  Time will tell of course,
>    but I don't think the BEARS can count on that kind of performance
>    from McMahon throughout the series.

I attribute Chicago's ability to go deep to the fact that the Pats were
keying on Walter Payton the whole game.  How many times in the game did
McMahon get one-on-one coverage for a wide receiver after a fake to
Payton?

One of the major reasons that the Pats beat the Raiders and Dolphins is
that against the Raiders, their defense could concentrate on stopping
Marcus Allen, and trust that Wilson would have a typical day.  Against
the Dolphins, they could concentrate on stopping Marino's passing game,
with the knowledge that the Dolphins don't have much of a running attack.

Against the Bears, they were forced to decide between stopping Payton and
stopping the rest of the offense.  They did well stopping Payton, but at
the expense of doing quite poorly on many plays where Payton did not
carry the ball.  If they tried to play the Bears like they did the
Dolphins, chances are that Payton and crew would eat them alive.
Weren't the Bears the #1 rushing team in the NFL this year?

>    Does anybody really think the Bears can beat the Patriots
>    in a best of seven series?

I would estimate that the probability of the Bears SWEEPING a best-of-seven
series is significantly higher than the probability of the Pats winning it.

		Steve Vegdahl
		Computer Research Lab.
		Tektronix, Inc.
		Beaverton, Oregon