PRO FOOTBALL : Even Against Underdogs, Mike Ditka Gets Team to Bear Down

A headline seldom seen in Mike Ditka’s decade in Chicago: “Bears Upset.”

As an NFL coach, Iron Mike is unique. He has kept the Bears mentally and emotionally ready, no matter how insignificant any game seemed to others.

The results:

--Chicago is 47-12 against its four normally feeble NFC Central rivals since 1984. Even adding in a 5-7 in his turn-around seasons, 1982 and ‘83, the Bears, in Ditka’s 71 intra-division games, are 52-19.

--They don’t have the talent this season to outscore Washington and Buffalo, but motivated each week by Ditka they have again beaten every opponent in their division: Minnesota, 10-6; Tampa Bay, 21-20; Green Bay, 10-0, and, in Soldier Field on Sunday, Detroit, 20-10.

“(Ditka) has shown them how to win,” Detroit tackle Lomas Brown, an all-pro candidate again, said. (The Lions) are still learning how. (The Bears) are always up.”

That’s what sets Ditka apart.

“You can’t get (football players) up every week,” the late Paul Brown used to say. “You have to take some teams in stride.”

Ditka doesn’t.

Two lessons: Among the NFL’s better teams, the Houston Oilers are the latest to discover that learning how to win is, indeed, the hardest thing about turning the corner in pro football.

In Washington on Sunday, when they got their chance in the fourth quarter, the Oilers played for field-goal position, overlooking that their kicker was among the NFL’s worst. He was Ian Howfield, who was playing semipro ball in Oklahoma when, after seven NFL clubs previously cut him, the Oilers called him back.

Moreover, in Washington, Howfield was working with a new holder when he predictably blew a 33-yard kick, enabling the Redskins to win in overtime, 16-13. Howfield was waived Monday.

Nonetheless, Houston’s run-and-shoot team won in regulation. That is, the run-and-shoot offense was outplaying the Redskin offense right up until the last second--when Howfield missed. And that’s the larger lesson of the Houston-Washington game.

If they play again, it will be on a neutral domed field in Minneapolis instead of the Redskins’ field, where Washington’s noisy fans always stack the deck against visitors.

More hits: The Dallas Cowboys, who have won four of their last five with sharp-shooting passer Troy Aikman, will catch Houston at the right time Sunday--a week after the Oilers’ nervous, muscle-battering game in Washington.

The last time the Oilers were in a comparable bruiser, they beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 17-7, but were upset by New England a week later, 24-20.

“I think that Aikman and (running back) Emmitt Smith are the best new one-two punch in the league,” Washington Coach Joe Gibbs said.

The Cowboys gave Gibbs his worst scare yet, 33-31.

Aikman is still impressing all witnesses with his medium-distance throws, and he still has the arm strength for long passes. What he has yet to learn, or prove, is that he has long-pass touch.

Speaking of one-two punches, Aikman and Houston’s Warren Moon took more hits in their first nine games this year than probably any other NFL quarterback pair--largely because both, when facing angry defensive linemen, exhibited a greater willingness to stay in the pocket while waiting for a target to pop up.

Run-and-shoot enthusiasts are no longer wondering whether the Oilers can make the new offense work. Their worry now is whether Moon, who will be 35 Nov. 18, can play 16 games unhurt.

When he couldn’t last year, the Oilers fell quietly out of the playoffs.

AL shows NFL: On the night that the Minnesota Twins got into position to win a seventh World Series game last month in extra innings, they didn’t bring in a cricket player to pinch-hit. They allowed an American League ballplayer to bat as usual.

NFL clubs, however, when pro football games are on the line, are still bringing in soccer players to replace football players.

Again Sunday, that made big trouble for some of them:

--A soccer player named Gary Anderson hurt the Pittsburgh Steelers when he missed a 24-yard kick in the final minutes at Denver.

--One named Chris Jacke missed from the 42 in overtime for Green Bay, setting up a New York Jet victory.

--And Howfield missed for the Oilers.

Should they all be fired? Unrealistic. The teams would just hire some more soccer players.

What, then, should the NFL do? Tough question. But it should think of something. Football games ought to be won and lost by football players.

It seems wholly unacceptable that Buffalo’s football players, for example, should have earned a Super Bowl victory that was lost last winter when, at the last minute, a soccer player couldn’t kick the ball straight.

Practice it: The Hail Mary pass--or as some call it, the Big Ben, or desperation, or Geronimo, pass--is still winning and losing NFL games.

Although the Rams couldn’t hit it Sunday, the Atlanta Falcons did--upsetting San Francisco. And the New York Jets did--scoring in the last four seconds of the first half when quarterback Ken O’Brien threw a high, soft one 50 yards.

“I saw the ball hit (one player), and I saw (another player) tip it, and I just concentrated on it and followed it all the way down,” said Jet receiver Chris Burkett, who, after the catch, jumped into the end zone to score his team’s only touchdown.

The question is: Why doesn’t every pro club throw the Hail Mary in the final seconds of the half whenever it’s in possession of the ball at midfield, or even its own 35- or 40-yard line?

Most coaches order their teams into the kneel-down formation there, and run out the clock.

Of all the things that can happen to a team throwing the Hail Mary, few are bad. It could be caught or deflected for a touchdown, or it could fall incomplete. If intercepted, there’s almost no chance that it could be returned through the mob around the guy intercepting.

Most teams practice the Hail Mary during the week--but there’s no time like game time for practicing any play. Players who blow it at the half might learn something that would help them win with the same play 29 1/2 minutes later.

In any case, the NFL, as it keeps forgetting, is in the entertainment business. Does anybody except a coach prefer the kneel-down to the Hail Mary?

New plan: The Denver Broncos expect their quarterback to call only about half the plays against the Raiders in Mile High Stadium Sunday. They’ve given up on John Elway as their regular signal caller.

That doesn’t surprise the new coach of the New England Patriots, who doubts if any NFL quarterback studies films and game plans long enough to call more than a few plays.

Said Dick MacPherson: “If (Elway) wants to draw up his own offense and try to run it against (the Patriots), I’d love to go up against him.”

Quote department:

Tom Waddle, Chicago wide receiver, on the New Orleans Saints’ prevent defense, which cost them the Bear game last week, 20-17: “I think that if defensive teams would play their regular defense in two-minute situations and not sag off, it would be more difficult to attack.”

Joe Montana, injured San Francisco quarterback, on the exhilaration of playing in championship games: “If I didn’t know what it was like to play in the Super Bowl, I might (retire) now.”

Pat Swilling, New Orleans linebacker, on the Saints’ 8-1 record, after last year’s 8-8: “The (difference) is Bobby Hebert.”

Jim Harbaugh, Chicago quarterback, on the New Orleans quarterback: “(Hebert’s) shoulder injury is the biggest worry they have.”