Redskins Put Critics in Freezer : After Week of Abuse, They Beat Bears, 21-17

Dexter Manley tried hard to control himself, but what the Chicago Bears were saying all week was enough to frost his grapefruit.

“You know,” the Washington Redskin defensive right end said, summarizing Sunday’s 21-17 victory, “(quarterback Jim) McMahon shot his mouth off, and the offensive coordinator shot his mouth off and, of course, (Coach) Mike Ditka was like a raving maniac.

“The Chicago media pumped (McMahon) up. He’s a good quarterback, but he can’t lay out six, seven weeks and expect to perform.

“The media in Chicago said, ‘Oh, the Mac is back.’ They expected us to buy that. Well, the Mac wasn’t back today. No way.”

Even Doug Williams, the Redskin quarterback who is not a mouthy type, couldn’t resist.

“I guess Patton didn’t return today,” Williams said. “Patton was there, but the Bears didn’t come through like they usually do when he’s the starting quarterback.”

Williams was referring to a poster McMahon did posing as Gen. Douglas MacArthur, with sunglasses and corncob pipe, but that’s only history, as are the Bears, for whom Manley had a parting shot.

“I think the Bears are a bunch of arrogant . . . but don’t quote that . . . ,” Manley said. “Just say that they feel they’re better than sliced bread. It comes from the front office all the way down to our players.

“I mean, they bad-mouthed our defense. That was pretty dumb.”

Myths always look dumb after they’re dead, but this one’s demise a day after the wild-card Minnesota Vikings blew up the San Francisco 49ers’ beautiful balloon, 36-24, in the other divisional playoff left the NFC looking for a worthy contender to meet the Cleveland Browns or Denver Broncos at the Super Bowl in San Diego on Jan. 31.

Whichever side emerges victorious in the title game in RFK Stadium next Sunday will be the shakiest representative the old line has sent to the Super Bowl in years. If the Vikings win, this will be the first time the NFC hasn’t sent a division champion since the current wild-card playoff format was introduced in 1978.

The Redskins, although they overcame an early 14-0 Bear lead, are still a couple of cuts below awesome themselves. There were only two differences between them and the Bears at sub-freezing Soldier Field, where the temperature at kickoff was officially 4 degrees, with a 12-m.p.h. breeze dropping the wind chill factor to minus-23.

One difference was Darrell Green’s 52-yard punt return for a touchdown to give the Redskins a 21-14 lead early in the third quarter.

The other was the interception--one of three--McMahon threw to Barry Wilburn in the end zone, missing a wide-open Willie Gault with 9:20 remaining and the Bears trailing by the final score.

“I was surprised because I figured they were gonna try to throw it to Willie Gault,” Wilburn said. “But I didn’t think he would throw it straight to me.”

Walter Payton, for whom the end came suddenly after 13 years, ran younger than his 33 years--18 times for 85 yards--but 74 of those were in the first half when the game was even. Then the Redskins switched to a five-man line, and the legend retired.

McMahon hadn’t played since he tore a hamstring at Minnesota Dec. 6, but the Bears talked all week about how they expected the magic to return with him, just in time to restore the invincible aura of Super Bowl XX two years ago.

After all, he had won 28 of his last 29 starts and hadn’t lost a start at Soldier Field since 1984.

But what was McMahon’s opinion of his performance?

“This is probably the worst game I’ve played in a long time,” he said. “I could say a lot of things, but I just didn’t get it done today.”

He completed 15 of 29 passes for 197 yards but, besides the 3 interceptions, was so immobile that he was sacked 5 times--3 times by Charles Mann, the Redskins’ less talkative defensive end.

McMahon, meeting the press from a platform in black hat, black leather coat with fur trim, sunglasses and three-day beard, was asked if the layoff affected him.

“Nope,” he explained.

He spat a long stream of brown tobacco juice down among the reporters, hitting the open spot.

“I was hurt,” he continued. “The hamstring felt pretty good until I threw that interception at the start of the third quarter and I had to go make the tackle. It didn’t feel all that good then.

“But I was on the field. I’m supposed to do my job. Injuries are part of the game. I couldn’t run. It was obvious. They knew that.

“I didn’t play a good ball game. I know you guys are gonna put heat on me. I deserve it. But I can take it. I’ll be back.”

Williams played a better game, not so much in passing numbers (14 of 29 for 207 yards) but, with better protection from his blockers, was sacked only 1 time, that leading to the Bears’ first touchdown.

Williams’ only interception was a pass deflected by Bear tackle Steve McMichael to cornerback Mike Richardson. That snuffed out a serious threat, because Redskin rookie Brian Davis had just returned McMahon’s first interception 23 yards to the six-yard line.

Williams, 32, hadn’t won a National Football League game as a starter since he played for a poorer team in a more temperate climate at Tampa in 1982. Otherwise, he had lost two other starts this season and won three games in relief of Jay Schroeder.

CBS’ Jimmy (The Greek) Snyder suggested in a pregame interview Sunday that Williams might “choke.”

After the game Williams, who aspires to be the first black quarterback to play in a Super Bowl, responded calmly.

“I guess younger guys would choke, but I don’t think I’m a choking type of individual,” he said. “I might not play well, but I don’t think I’m a choke.”

Although Redskin Coach Joe Gibbs said, “This is the happiest I’ve ever seen our locker room,” Williams acted like he won a game every week.

The cold didn’t worry him, the Bears’ intimidating defense didn’t concern him.

“The weather was a big factor in pregame warm-ups but after that, hey, you have to play football,” he said.

“You can’t go into a game thinking about the Richard Dents, the Al Harrises and all those guys. You have to concentrate downfield and hope the guys blocking for you do their jobs.

“Our receivers did a good job of getting open and our offensive line did a great job of giving me time to look around.

“The Bears are still tough, but somebody’s gotta give the Redskins credit somewhere along the line.”

Williams wore gloves in a game for the first time, but that was no big deal, either.

“I’ve been practicing in the gloves since it’s been cold in Washington,” he said.

And the Redskins practiced outside in the snow all week, while the Bears worked indoors at Notre Dame.

For a while, it did seem the Bears had recaptured ’85.

Five-and-a-half minutes into the game, Dent sacked Williams blind-side, forcing a fumble that tackle Dan Hampton kicked downfield to the Redskin 30, where McMichael recovered.

Payton ran off left tackle for 15 yards, then hit the middle for 7, and three plays later fullback Calvin Thomas punched the last 2 yards for a 7-0 lead.

The Bears had a more impressive scoring drive early in the second quarter, Payton again carrying the load until McMahon passed the last 14 yards to Ron Morris over the middle--Bears, 14-0.

McMahon was hit after he threw and said later: “I got a zinger down my neck in my left shoulder. It wore off after a while.”

Even then, Manley insisted, he wasn’t worried.

“If Gary Hart can come back, the Washington Redskins can definitely come back,” he said. “We will never give up.”

Williams quickly brought the Redskins back into the game with a 72-yard drive highlighted by his 32-yard pass to Ricky Sanders and climaxed by George Rogers’ 3-yard run.

The Redskins went 69 yards on their next possession, Williams finding tight end Clint Didier for the last 18 down the middle to tie the score.

So, you want a turning point? That had to be Green’s punt return burst.

He fielded Tommy Barnhardt’s high kick with running room, cut to the near right sideline and hurdled Bear tight end Cap Boso, who tried a diving tackle.

Then he cut back across the Bears’ broken coverage until he was clear, holding the ball with his right hand and his abdomen with his left. In hurdling Boso, Green strained some stomach muscles and eventually had to leave the game.

“Believe me, that was an instinctive jump,” he said. “That wasn’t in the plan. I saw the guy and I just . . . I don’t like to get tackled and I don’t like the run to be over with. I could have just let him hit me or go out of bounds. I guess I was just determined to keep going.”

Two years ago Green won the NFL Fastest Man contest at Palm Desert, and Sunday he was assigned to cover Gault, one of the fastest. Until Green departed, Gault hadn’t caught a pass, and he wound up with only one reception--a 44-yard play leading to Kevin Butler’s insufficient 25-yard field goal.

Green didn’t know if he would be able to play next Sunday.

Meanwhile, Manley spoke his last words on the ’87 Bears, whose coach had said he had “the IQ of a grapefruit.”

Manley said McMahon picked up the theme Sunday.

“He did call me ‘Grapefruit’ early in the game when they were ahead,” Manley said. “I just told him I’m gonna keep comin’, save me the seeds.”

The cold, Manley said, was overrated--although he seemed to spend much of the day with his face in a sideline heater.

“Thinking about it all week set ourselves up for it. But you should never start projecting, because it was a great day for football. I didn’t think it was cold at all.”

Ditka had considerably less to say afterward. He needed exactly 1 minute 15 seconds to bury his own myth.

“In a nutshell, we ain’t good enough right now, gang, it’s that simple,” he said. “When we have to stop people, we aren’t capable of stopping people. When we have to score, we don’t do a good enough job.

“And they made a play on the special teams that beat us.”

Asked if he would talk about McMahon, Ditka was brief.

“No,” he said.