Pro Football / Bob Oates : Giants, Bears and 49ers Are the Strongest

Nothing that happened in the wild-card games Sunday changed the general impression that the National Football League’s three strongest teams this year are the New York Giants, Chicago Bears and San Francisco 49ers.

For the first time in recent playoff history, no wild-card entry looked as if it could beat a division champion.

Thus, as the playoff continues with four games this weekend, the major question is whether the NFC’s Western champion, the 49ers, can beat the Eastern champion Giants on their own field.

The 49ers will attack with the better quarterback, Joe Montana, and the more heralded coach, Bill Walsh. But the other team has the home-field edge in a business in which home pros win about 70% of the playoff games.

At Denver, similarly, the AFC’s Western champion Broncos may have only one advantage--their mile-high home field--over the Eastern champion New England Patriots, who would doubtless be favored in Foxboro.

Is this fair? Is it right?

Ask a baseball man or two.

In their game, nobody would stand for it. During the baseball playoffs each fall, each side gets some home-field time.

Over the years, the NFL’s leadership has made no real effort in that direction, although, if it wished to, it could.

As the Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins and others have suggested, the NFL could bring considerably more justice to its winter season by scheduling all playoff games on neutral, domed fields.

This week’s games:

49ERS (10-5-1) at GIANTS (14-2)

At 9:30 a.m. Sunday, this will be a rematch of one of the season’s strangest events.

On a Monday night in early December, quarterback Joe Montana’s passes opened a 17-0 halftime lead for the 49ers at Candlestick Park.

The 49ers were never heard from again. In the second half, New York quarterback Phil Simms’ passes brought the Giants back to win, 21-17.

A faulty defensive game plan beat the 49ers that night. Their objective was to halt running back Joe Morris at all costs. They committed their linemen and linebackers and even a safety or two.

The plan worked for a half, but when the 49ers made no second-half changes, the Giants gave the ball to Simms, and won easily. The 49ers didn’t rush him with enough people and didn’t cover his receivers well enough. Their forces were almost wholly geared to Morris.

Even so, the first half of that game demonstrated what the 49ers are capable of. No other offense or defense has recently dominated the Giants so thoroughly.

What the 49ers obviously have to do is control both Morris and Simms. Other teams haven’t found stifling Simms that difficult--which is why the 49ers ignored him a month ago. But he isn’t that bad.

“Simms has had some bad games this year, but I’m partial to guys that get the job done,” said Ernie Stautner, Dallas defensive coordinator. “And Simms gets the job done.”

REDSKINS (13-4) at BEARS (14-2)

At 1 p.m. Saturday, the Bears will be in the ring with only the second tough team they have faced this season, the other having been the Rams. And they lost to the Rams, who at the time were being quarterbacked by one Steve Dils.

The Bears have led a charmed life all year, playing the NFL’s softest schedule, and this has the look of a week when the charm will continue:

--The Redskins are a beaten-up bunch. Their two best blockers, Russ Grimm and Joe Jacoby, were hurt Sunday. And on a two-tight end team, most of their tight ends are hurt. Many of the wounded will play, but few are ready.

--After turning back the Rams in a difficult test Sunday, the Redskins find themselves in a six-day week in which they’re compelled to use one of the six days to get to Chicago before Saturday.

--In contrast, the Bears will have had two weeks to rest their injured players and work in their new quarterback, Doug Flutie.

Flutie provides much of the interest of this game. “He’s something special,” his new coach, Mike Ditka, says. And he could be.

His problem is that, in the NFL, few 5-foot 8-inch quarterbacks have ever been able to make a living. The question is whether Flutie’s powerful arm, fast feet, brains and leadership qualities will make up for his lack of size and his inexperience.

Defensively, there is a chance that the Bears aren’t as dominant as they have looked all year against the soft touches on their schedule.

There is also a chance that Flutie will be asked to outscore the young but more mature Redskin quarterback, Jay Schroeder. And almost certainly, at this stage of his NFL career, Flutie can’t do that.

The Redskins may not be a Super Bowl team this year, but after 17 counting games so far, they’re 13-4. They’re a beaten-up 13-4, though. The Bears figure.

PATRIOTS (11-5) at BRONCOS (11-5)

At 1 p.m. Sunday, this will be a rematch of a game that was played too long ago to have much bearing or meaning now--except for these two things:

--When the Broncos turned back New England in September, 27-20, they were in the midst of their season-opening, six-game winning streak. They played more good football in the second half that day than they sometimes played all day in November or December.

--The Patriots found what it’s like to play in the noise and altitude of Mile High Stadium. If they profit by what they learned, they’ll be a better team this time.

Tony Eason was New England’s quarterback that afternoon when the Patriots dominated the first half, 13-3, playing much of the time on the Bronco goal line.

But months later, it was Steve Grogan who rescued the Patriots’ injured young passer in the Orange Bowl on the last Monday night of the season, winning the division title against a hot Miami team, 34-27.

Patriot Coach Raymond Berry is no doubt thinking about both of his quarterbacks this week. And the one he starts may not be the one who finishes. Berry will judge, and perhaps rightly, that he can go with the hot one.

New England’s basic problem is that although the Broncos can be handled by a team that runs at them, the Patriots don’t run well.

That should put the game in John Elway’s hands. The Denver quarterback played the worst first half and best second half of his season against the Patriots in September. With a more consistent effort this time, he will win.

N.J. JETS (11-6) at BROWNS (12-4)

At 9:30 a.m. Saturday, the Browns, surprise team in the playoffs, will be asked to prove that they are as good as it often seemed this year when they put together the best record in the AFC.

The Browns won the AFC Central title a year ago with an 8-8 record. This year, after a slow start, they improved consistently, winning low-scoring games with their defensive team and high-scoring games with quarterback Bernie Kosar.

This time, they’ll be meeting a club with more talent than they have. Nobody in Cleveland can run with the Jets’ Freeman McNeil, and nobody there or in most towns can catch with the Jets’ Al Toon and Wesley Walker.

But Marty Schottenheimer has coached the Browns to play team offense and team defense distinctively, and for most opponents that has been too much.

The Jets probably erred Sunday when they benched quarterback Ken O’Brien for backup Pat Ryan. That did nothing for O’Brien’s confidence, and he’s the man they’ll have to win with if they’re thinking of getting to the Super Bowl.