Pro Football / Bob Oates : Bears Will Have to Work Harder Next Season

The National Football League has come up with two consecutive 18-1 teams.

In the 16-game regular season a year ago, the San Francisco 49ers lost only to Pittsburgh. Then they smashed Miami in the Super Bowl.

This season, the Chicago Bears lost only to Miami. Then they smashed New England in the Super Bowl.

What’s ahead for these super teams next season?

As 49er Coach Bill Walsh could tell Bear Coach Mike Ditka, and probably has, it’s become harder to win consecutive championships in the ‘80s than it was in the ‘70s, when Pittsburgh and Miami did it, or the ‘60s, when Green Bay did it.

The difficulties inherent in the effort to maintain momentum and morale have become too many and too much. Besides, today’s NFL teams are generally coached by more people who work harder and more purposefully year round than they used to.

They figured out the 49ers last fall. Chances are that they’ll figure out the Bears next fall.

New England’s defensive coordinator, Rod Rust, puts more talent on the field than most NFL teams can and probably more than Chicago has.

Rust, whose coaching career has been as distinguished as that of the Chicago defensive coordinator, Buddy Ryan, was a careful student of the Bear defense this month.

Speaking from that perspective, he agrees with the football people who call Ryan’s coaching more vital to the Bears than their personnel.

“I admire Chicago’s (defensive) scheme,” Rust says. “It has put a lot of their players in the Pro Bowl.”

The things it takes to win modern NFL titles are easy enough to see.

The champions are those with a dominating defense, a gifted quarterback, and a healthy team.

That describes the ’84 49ers and the ’85 Bears.

If the Bears seem a little different, it’s because their defense is so unconventional.

Defensively, the Bears play aggressive football that is like Walsh’s 49er offense in one respect. It is apparently based on a random selection of plays.

On offense, the 49ers often use a sequence that ignores down and distance. On defense, the Bears attack the passer in a number of different ways that are carefully designed by Ryan and extensively rehearsed but seemingly scripted at random.

The best way for the NFL to beat Chicago next fall would be to help Ryan get a job somewhere as a head coach.

The Bears’ real most valuable player Sunday probably was their young wide receiver, Willie Gault. He got them going in both halves.

They were struggling in the first quarter when Gault ran past the Patriot defense and advanced the Bears 43 yards on a pass by Jim McMahon, who threw it a little off target.

McMahon is still talking about his shaky start. He settled down after Gault had made a quick, smooth adjustment to catch that bomb.

Early in the third quarter, with Chicago backed up on its four-yard line, McMahon threw to Gault on the 60-yard play that made a 96-yard drive thinkable.

Previously in his short NFL career, Gault had had some trouble converting from track to football. He dropped some passes this season. He was a potential liability for the Bears in this game. Instead, happily for them, he became a strength.

This is a team that needs Gault’s speed in order to attack with a balanced offense. He stretches the field. Without him, the Bears can be handled. Their ballcarriers aren’t the NFL’s fastest. Defenses have been loading up against the Bear run.

No more.