49ers’ Biggest Obstacles Today: Blitz and Payton

When the blitzing Bears go after 49er quarterback Joe Montana at Candlestick Park today, it will be something more than trivial pursuit.

It will be a matter of survival--for Montana personally and for the 49ers collectively in their push toward Super Bowl XIX that seems too pat to be true.

It seems almost absurd for a team to go all the way through the playoffs to the Super Bowl without getting on an airplane.

And what about the books that have been written, the T-shirts distributed and the parties planned in this, the capital of the cocktail hour, all based on the foregone conclusion that the 49ers (currently 16-1) will be performing at Stanford Jan. 20?

There is even a record on the local airwaves--”We’re the 49ers”--shouted by 14 members of the team.

Here’s how it goes:

“We’re the 49ers;

We will rock you till we win the fight.

We’re the 49ers;

We’re dynamite.

We don’t take no stuff;

Everybody knows we’re tough.

And we ain’t gonna stop till we get enough.”

It’s enough to make a non-partisan root for the Bears (11-6), and somehow the image of the 49ers singing and marching on from here to the Super Bowl, arms linked in fellowship, fails to come completely into focus. The mob from Chicago keeps getting in the way.

The premise upon which today’s National Conference title dispute will be settled seems too simple: whether the 49ers can control the Bears’ ferocious pass rush that felled opposing quarterbacks a league record 72 times this season--plus the Redskins’ Joe Theismann seven times in last week’s 23-19 playoff surprise.

Certainly, there are other issues involved. The rules say that the Bears get to play with the ball at least some of the time, and they have a guy named Walter Payton who is regarded by 49er Coach Bill Walsh, without argument, as “the best competitor in football today.”

The Bears hope to keep the ball out of Montana’s hands by controlling it on the ground, and that may be possible. While it’s pointed out that the 49ers’ defense is almost as strong as the Bears’, which led the National Football League this season, the 49ers yielded 4.2 yards per rush.

Not many teams tried to run against the 49ers because they were usually behind.

Nobody expects the Bears to come out throwing. They are trying to make do with their backup quarterback, Steve Fuller, and they possess only a fraction of the 49ers’ firepower.

So it comes back to square one. To equalize the contest, the Bears must neutralize Montana.

It won’t be easy. Montana, protected by Pro Bowl linemen Keith Fahnhorst, Randy Cross and Fred Quillan, was sacked only 22 times this season. The third-round draft choice from Notre Dame in 1979 is the most efficient career passer in NFL records, completing 64%, with only 2.6% interceptions.

His style is to keep the defense off balance by mixing dropbacks with sprintouts and draw plays, and then find the open man. In Walsh’s sophisticated scheme, there always seems to be one.

If there isn’t . . . well, on one play last week Montana scrambled for 53 yards, the longest run by any 49er this season.

But what makes the 49ers’ offense so effective--certainly better than the one they took to a victory in Super Bowl XVI--is balance.

The running game is overshadowed by the passing, but led by Wendell Tyler’s 1,262 yards, it ranked third in the league behind the Bears and Rams.

And the mix of Montana’s receivers is such that it’s foolish to ignore any of them. His top pass catchers this season were Roger Craig, a running back, with 71; Dwight Clark, a possession-type wide receiver, 52; Earl Cooper, a tight end, 41, and Freddie Solomon, a deep burner, 40.

The Bears’ scheme, devised by defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan, features seven- and eight-man fronts with linebackers and strong safety Todd Bell joining four linemen on the line of scrimmage. The key people are Bell, end Richard Dent and All-Pros Dan Hampton at tackle and Mike Singletary at middle linebacker--Pro Bowl selections all.

It is designed not to smother potential receivers with coverage but to attack the quarterback before he can throw to them.

Bold and simple, right? Frantic opposing quarterbacks completed only 45.5% of their passes against the Bears, a league low.

Bear Coach Mike Ditka said: “It’s how much pressure you can put on the other guy and make him do something he doesn’t want to do.”

But few teams have the means to do it successfully, and Walsh said most would be ill-advised to try.

“I think if somebody tried to adapt it without the knowledge and the know-how, they’d have some real problems,” he said.

Walsh said the Bears’ rush might force the 49ers to throw short, quick, timing passes--a skill Montana has mastered.

“It’s going to be hard to drop back there and run deep routes,” he said. “We’re hoping that his fundamentals are very sound in this game, that he can throw on time against the pressure of the rush.”

The 49ers last week disposed of the Giants, 21-10, but only after Montana was sacked four times and threw three interceptions--both totals well over his norm.

At times he seemed frustrated and flustered, and if the Giants could do that to him, what about the Bears?

Among lesser points, Gil Haskell, the Rams’ special teams coach, said: “The 49ers should do a better job in the special team area by a pretty good margin.”

The 49ers did much better covering and returning kickoffs and punts this season and, Haskell said, “The 49ers have a better punter (Max Runager). Their guy can place the ball.”

The Bears’ punter is free agent rookie Dave Finzer from Depauw, who injured his leg early in last week’s game and was unable to kick his team out of trouble in the fourth quarter, although the Bears’ defense rose to the occasion.

Finzer’s punts after the first two series traveled only 37 and 35 yards, and he hit only 43 on a free kick after taking an intentional safety. But his leg is apparently well now.

The Bears haven’t blocked a kick or returned any for a touchdown.

At quarterback, a comparison is irrelevant. Since the Bears lost starter Jim McMahon, their approach with Fuller is similar to the Rams’ with Jeff Kemp this season: you don’t have to win it for us, just don’t lose it.

Fuller, whose right shoulder was separated in preseason and again in early December, beat the Redskins by completing 11 of only 15 passes--and he hasn’t thrown an interception in 93 attempts.

“He’s playing well,” Walsh said. “But if he has to throw 30 or 35 times in a game, he might not be so sharp, because the Bears are not used to throwing that many times.”

Even Fuller admits his range is limited. His only play beyond 30 yards was last week’s 75-yard touchdown to Willie Gault, and only 10 yards was Fuller’s arm. The rest was Gault’s feet.

The Bears’ most impressive pass last week was the 19-yard touchdown thrown by Payton off a fake reverse-sweep. Payton is the NFL’s career leading rusher with 13,309 yards (plus 104 against the Redskins), but check this passing statistic: eight of his nine career completions have been touchdowns.

He is one weapon the 49ers don’t possess, and there also is the air of street-tough invincibility the Bears reclaimed from their past at Washington last week.

Club president Mike McCaskey was so moved by that victory that he ended all speculation about Ditka’s future by giving him a new three-year contract this week.

McCaskey said: “I think it’s absolutely critical for the Chicago Bears organization that the head coach be one that plays tough, aggressive and smart football.”

Ditka said: “We try to create an image with the Bears that a lot of people may not understand, (and) a lot of people may not even like. But we like it. It’s us. It’s what we’ve stood for. It’s what (late owner George Halas) meant it to be.”

But in this boxer-slugger, Tunney-Dempsey showdown, the Bears must guard against being blown out early because they lack the knack to play catch-up football.

The 49ers, operating from Walsh’s random list of 25 plays, are not a tentative team. They like to rush out from the opening bell and pile up points. They have outscored opponents in the first quarter, 110-29.

Walsh said: “It’s been a formula, but I can’t really explain it. We may go after people a little earlier (than other teams).”

Jack Youngblood of the Rams said: “Chicago’s got a legitimate chance, if they’ll play hard right from the first whistle. They can’t let ‘em jump up on ‘em like the 49ers like to do.”

These teams did not play this season and have never met in a playoff game. Their last encounter of any kind was on a cold and rainy day in Chicago in 1983. The Bears won, 13-3, holding Walsh’s offense to its lowest point total ever.

“It’s nice to be home, with good weather expected,” Walsh said. “(But) when you take the field in a playoff game, it wouldn’t make any difference if it was in Fargo or Tijuana.”

NFC Notes

In their 65 years, the Bears never have played a game in January. They are the only member of the “final four” that hasn’t been in a Super Bowl. Coming off a 23-19 playoff victory over the Washington Redskins, they are playing their first championship game since 1963, when they defeated the Giants for the NFL title, 14-10. . . . Coach Mike Ditka was a Dallas assistant coach in the press box in another NFC title game at Candlestick Park three years ago when the 49ers’ Dwight Clark made “The Catch” that put the 49ers in Super Bowl XVI. . . . The Bears have been wearing the initials “GSH” on their sleeves this season in tribute to George S. Halas, who died during the ’83 season. . . . There is speculation that Jim McMahon may be re-activated to play quarterback if the Bears reach the Super Bowl. . . . The 49ers allowed a league low of 227 points this season, but all of those were against the defense. The Bears’ defense permitted only 213. Opponents scored five touchdowns when the defense was not on the field.