| | Inexperienced Bears get taste of 'big' game
Associated Press
LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- No offense to their celebrated rivalry
with the Green Bay Packers, but the Chicago Bears are about to find
out what a big game really is.
The butterflies are going to seem like buzzards Saturday, and
Soldier Field will be rocking for the Bears' first playoff game
since 1994. It's going to be noisy. It's going to be electric. It's
going to be frenzied.
And it's going to be way different than anything most of the
Bears have ever experienced.
"I'm sure I'll be excited," linebacker Brian Urlacher said.
"I'm sure it's going to be a lot different than a regular-season
game. I know the atmosphere is going to be a lot more intense, more
people will be there. It's going to be exciting."
The Philadelphia Eagles (12-5) are playoff veterans compared to
the Bears (13-3). This is their second year in the postseason, and
they routed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-9 last weekend.
The Bears, on the other hand, don't know much about the playoffs
-- except what they've seen on TV. Only 15 players have postseason
experience. Anthony Thomas was playing in the Citrus Bowl a year
ago. Urlacher and safety Mike Brown are only two years out of
college.
Of the starters, only nine have been to the playoffs. And only
Keith Traylor and Ted Washington have significant postseason
experience, with Traylor going to two Super Bowls and Washington
playing in 14 playoff games with San Francisco and Buffalo.
Quarterback Jim Miller was with the Steelers when Pittsburgh
went to the 1996 Super Bowl, but he was a backup.
"I don't know," center Olin Kreutz said when asked if the
Bears inexperience is a disadvantage. "Hopefully we don't get too
excited and make mistakes."
And if the Bears are nervous, they're not showing it. The
winter's first big snow fell Wednesday, and a couple of players
were pelting each other with snowballs after practice.
"It's just staying focused, preparing well and don't get caught
up in the media and the trash-talking," Washington said of the key
to playoff preparation. "Just stay focused and keep doing what
we've been doing all year."
While teams try to say the playoffs are just another game, it's
anything but. For one thing, the loser goes home for the winter.
Players are more intense knowing how much is at stake, and fans are
even more hyped up than usual.
Players can feed off the electric atmosphere and have great
games. Or they can be paralyzed by their nerves.
"I remember my first playoff game," said Phillip Daniels, a
starter in Seattle's wild-card game against Miami in January 2000.
"And after the first snap, things finally got back to normal."
The Bears have been in a couple of "big" games this year -- and
they haven't gone so well. When Green Bay came to Soldier Field in
November, Chicago was riding a six-game winning streak and looking
to distance itself from the rest of the division.
The Packers left with a 20-12 victory.
When the Bears went to Green Bay on Dec. 9, they again had a
chance to take control of the NFC. And the atmosphere at Lambeau
Field was as close to a playoff as you can get.
The result? A 17-7 loss that wasn't as close as the score
indicated.
But don't compare those games to this weekend, Urlacher said.
The Packers-Bears rivalry is big, but Saturday's game tops it.
"Those weren't even close," he said. "Those are regular
season, they're over now. This is the playoffs. These are the ones
that count."
And when the time comes, the Bears will be ready, Washington
said. No matter how inexperienced they are.
"It's not tough," he said. "Just go out and do what we've
been doing all season."
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