Analysis : Nerves (and the Bears) Get to the Patriots

The nervous New England Patriots drowned Sunday in the suffocating tensions of the 20th Super Bowl.

They could have had a 14-0 lead in the first couple of minutes. All they had to do was hold a touchdown pass and an easy interception thrown by a man who, for a while, was as nervous as they were--Jim McMahon of the Chicago Bears. But the Patriots dropped the football both times in the pressure of the year’s biggest game, they were off and running to possibly the most jittery performance in Super Bowl history.

Eventually, the Bears took command. Eventually, the Bears dominated. Eventually, the Bears’ fearsome 46 defense ran the score up to an appropriate 46-10.

But McMahon’s reaction--and the reaction of his teammates--would have been something to see if the Patriots had opened a two-touchdown first-quarter lead.

During the week, McMahon said: “I’m sure I’ll be nervous until we play awhile and get ahead.”

What if he hadn’t gotten ahead? Could a nervous McMahon have brought the Bears back from a 14-0 deficit?

His first two mistakes Sunday in the bewildering circumstances of his first Super Bowl game were as serious as any by the Patriots.

On the second play from scrimmage, when McMahon forgot his assignment, the error resulted in Walter Payton’s fumble at the Bear 20. This would have set up a 7-0 Patriot lead if wide receiver Stanley Morgan held Tony Eason’s second-down, 20-yard touchdown pass.

On McMahon’s next play, firing from the Bear 25, he threw the ball to New England linebacker Don Blackmon. This would have led to a 14-0 Patriot lead had Blackmon held the interception. He was open.

There is a temptation to suggest that, if these two, quick touchdowns had counted, the Patriots would have merely lost, 46-14. Almost certainly, against the first-string Bear defense, they were going to earn no points whatever--if they had fought all day and all night.

Defensively, under Coach Buddy Ryan, the Bears have found a new way to play football. They would have had three consecutive shutouts in this season’s playoffs if not for their offensive team’s mistakes Sunday plus Ryan’s decision to give his second-stringers some experience in the second half.

Nonetheless, a Super Bowl game is like no other in football. If McMahon’s jitters had cost the Bears two touchdowns in the first quarter, instead of a meaningless three points, he could have made another seven-point mistake or two as his embarrassments--and the pressure on him--grew.

And thus stimulated, the Patriots could have stayed in the game and possibly won it, the way they did in playoff upsets over the New York Jets, Raiders and Miami Dolphins.

In any case, jitters cost the Patriots Super Bowl XX.

It’s worth noting that the Bear defense didn’t bother Eason on his first pass. He put the ball in the hands of tight end Lin Dawson, who dropped it. Dawson, in a freak incident, tore up his knee on the play without being hit.

Nor did the Chicago blitzers bother Eason on his next play, when he threw a second-down strike to the usually reliable Morgan for what was going to be a touchdown if Morgan could catch it. He couldn’t.

The Bears’ Mike Singletary nearly made a beautiful coverage play as the pass came to Morgan, but wasn’t close enough to tip the ball off trajectory. Morgan simply dropped it.

Before the first quarter passed into history, two other Patriots, Eason and halfback Craig James, fumbled the ball away and the Bears recovered on the New England 13 to set up the Bears’ go-ahead points.

Neither fumbler took a tough hit from any Bear. Eason, sacked, appeared to be so stunned in the big-game atmosphere of his Super Bowl debut that he couldn’t make the effort to get the ball back.

Indeed, the Patriots seemed helpless-looking in the first quarter.

This had been forecast, perhaps unknowingly, by the rival coaches during the days ahead of the game.

Bear Coach Mike Ditka had said: “I hope you (writers) feel like I do. I can’t wait to play this game.”

Patriot Coach Raymond Berry said: “I don’t know about you (writers), but this game is making me tired already. I was in bed at 9 o’clock last night.”

The Patriots, in other words, lost their nervous energy during the week.

Their opponent is, of course, nicely constituted to prey on the minds of a nervous team.

The aggressive Bear defense would make a wreck out of anybody.

This season the Bears beat up on every group they faced except Miami.

Aside from Ryan and his players, no one in the league knows precisely what they’re doing down there, although their philosophy is easy to read. The Bear defense simply goes on the offensive against every offense. The objective of the Bears is is to shake up the quarterback on every play.

That is, on every play they attack with an eight-man front--with eight players who are constantly stunting and blitzing.

Instead of playing sensible, orderly, balanced defense, the Bears have one objective. To beat them, a quarterback--Eason or Steve Grogan or anybody--must play a perfect game.

For a while Sunday, very briefly, Eason was nearly perfect. Or, more exactly, he wasn’t as jittery as the receivers who kept dropping his passes. But when he didn’t get an immediate payoff in touchdowns, Eason folded. His team folded with him, leaving the Bears in charge of pro football. They’ve earned it.