Bears, Raiders and Dolphins Are Staging Revivals in NFL

Think this business of giving each team a week off has more than the NFL schedule-makers confused? That the local paper or TV station is showing the standings from 1985, or more confusing still, upside down?

Well, BOOM! POW! CRASH! as coach-turned commentator John Madden is guaranteed to scream at least once during an NFL telecast this coming weekend. Look again, but don’t touch that dial! There is nothing wrong with your eyes or your reception.

The Bears, Raiders and Dolphins really are back with a bullet. And the reason they are ruling their respective roosts--Chicago (5-1) in the NFC Central, Los Angeles (6-1) in the AFC West and Miami (tied with Buffalo at 5-1) in the AFC East--is not because nostalgic gremlins are stalking the print shops and the airwaves.

Simply put, they are playing “smashmouth football”--as in smash your opponents with a punishing running game, then smash them some more with a punishing defense.

Granted, the slice-and-dice San Francisco 49ers are still the class of the league, still killing everybody softly with dink passes and a defense that relies as much on guile as guts. But as the continued success of the New York Giants and the resurgence of these three dominant teams of yesteryear is proving, hurting people is only going to help your standing.

“It’s a good feeling after last year,” grizzled Bears defensive tackle Dan Hampton said, “especially the way the ground gave out under us.”

Ah, last year. When we left off then, the Bears were 6-10, tired and nearly toothless themselves, grateful for a chance to go into hibernation early. The Raiders were 8-8, having lost their last two games and a shot at the playoffs in the bargain, and seemed more concerned with relocating the team than fielding one worthy of moving. And the Dolphins? They, too, were pinned down at 8-8 and tarnishing the bust of coach Don Shula being kept in a closet for shipment to the Hall of Fame.

Now, the ground seems to be giving out under their opponents.

All three teams are distinguished this time around not only for what they are doing right, but for what they are not doing at all--which is leaving their defenses on the playing field past the point of diminishing returns.

Heading into the weekend’s action, the Giants--no surprise there--were ranked first overall in total defense. But the Dolphins were a a surprising No. 2, surrendering an average of just 13.8 points per game; followed by the Bears and their league-low 12.5 yield; and another place farther back were the Raiders at 14.1.

“Our biggest improvement in defense is offense,” Miami defensive end Jeff Cross said matter-of-factly. “It’s all about fatigue.”

Modesty may cause Cross to figure his own improvement into the equation--the ninth-round pick out of Missouri two years ago shares the NFL sack lead at eight with San Francisco’s Charles Haley--but the point about the offense is well made.

“This year, I’ve already had one game in which I was on the field for a total of 22 plays,” said inside linebacker John Offerdahl, Cross’ teammate and the Dolphins’ leading tackler.

“I walked off the field after the game,” he added, “and it felt like a practice.”

The reason for that is smashmouth category No. 2. The Bears, led by Neal Anderson, lead the NFL in rushing. Though Anderson ranks second in the NFC in yards gained on the ground, if you put aside the kickers, he is tops in the conference in scoring.

In the team rushing ranks, neither the Raiders nor Dolphins look very impressive, settling in at 16 and 17th, respectively. But the resillient Marcus Allen ranked sixth among all AFC running backs in rushing and seventh in scoring, with 340 yards and four touchdowns, and the surprising Sammie Smith was 10th in rushing and third in scoring, with 318 yards and six touchdowns in 86 attempts.

Indeed, Smith’s proficiency and the addition of two big rookie offensive linemen, No. 1 pick Richmond Webb and No. 2 Keith Sims, finally convinced Shula to restore the kind of balance between running and passing to his offense unseen since the successful Dolphin teams of the mid-1980s.

“We had turned into a very one-dimensional offense and it wasn’t working,” he said. “We’d been talking for years about doing something about it, but it wasn’t really until the last couple of years that we did something about it.

“Now,” he added, “we’re starting to see some of the results.”

The Raiders never were genuinely in balance that way, owing to owner Al Davis’ constant tinkering and the love of the home-run ball. But by dumping coach Mike Shanahan for Art Shell last season, Davis did get the team back into its own quirky version of equilibrium.

Shell is a former Raider lineman and like Davis, a bottom-line guy. The first thing he did was to do away with Shanahan’s rule barring players from sitting on their helmets; the result is that the Raiders are forcing other teams to do so.

Last Sunday, the San Diego Chargers drove inside the Raider 20-yard line on five occasions, but came away with only nine points. And when someone asked him whether it wasn’t dangerous to allow opponents to penetrate so deep so often, Shell hardly blinked.

“It’s dangerous if they get in the end zone. If they don’t get in the end zone, it’s not dangerous. ... I don’t care about statistics. I,” said Shell, sounding remarkably like Davis, “just want to win.”