Rozner: Denver pass rush great reminder for Bears

A funny thing happened on the way to the Super Bowl.

Defense mattered again - and that's great news for the game of football.

For the last 10 or 15 years, the NFL has become a pass-happy circus while Roger Goodell has done everything within his power to increase scoring and make it easier for the offense to operate within - and outside - the rules.

It's odd, of course, that every commissioner in every sport is always trying to increase scoring while every coach, manager and executive is thinking of every way imaginable to keep the opposition from getting on the board.

That's because coaches know they can't always control how much they score, but they do know they can't lose if the other team doesn't score.

And while the NFL was driving up scoring the last decade or so, they have run into a bit of a problem the last few years.

There aren't enough starting quarterbacks to go around, and that's a problem that won't be solved by their minor-league teams - the college programs - which have gone about coaching the position in such a way that doesn't translate to the NFL.

So you have maybe a dozen or 14 legitimate No. 1 QBs in the league, which is why some teams are getting back to basics and building from the interior of the line on both sides of the ball and moving out from there.

The reality is if you have a solid offensive line and a way to pressure the opposing quarterback, you have a chance to win every game.

Witness the Denver Broncos, who just won a Super Bowl without a quarterback. They played extraordinary defense and ran the football just enough to keep the Panthers off balance, and then won the game with an attacking defense that kept Cam Newton from being Cam Newton.

That may not be exciting for Goodell, but that's a great way to play football and a guarantee that you always have a chance on Sunday.

Denver essentially announced when Peyton Manning returned to the lineup - through their actions - that they weren't going to let their own quarterback beat them, and they would hope that by playing field position, holding on to the football and running clock, their defense could carry them.

And that's exactly how they beat the Patriots and Panthers, two teams with a much better offense and a belief that the Broncos couldn't compete.

"That goes back as far as when the league started," Peyton Manning said last week. "If you can't get to the (other) quarterback and you can't protect yours, it's hard to win. In this league, a quarterback with time to throw is going to make life miserable for the defense."

The great Jim Finks built the '85 Bears exactly that way, and it's merely the greatest team in NFL history.

The Panthers have a good offensive line, and that wasn't good enough to keep the Broncos from pounding Newton all night, making him look human for the first time in a year.

On Von Miller's first sack-strip, the Panthers had nine players on the line of scrimmage, creating confusion for Carolina and a chance to isolate the tackles. Once that's occurred, the fate of the offense was sealed.

Miller is too quick off the ball and then too fast to the quarterback for anyone to prevent something bad, even if it's only pressure and an early throw. In most cases, something worse occurs, and in this case it was a sack, strip and touchdown.

For the Broncos to win a game in which they were overmatched without an offense, they needed an early turnover and some easy points.

They got that from Miller midway through the first quarter, giving them a 10-0 lead and a belief they could win, and putting serious doubt in the minds of the Panthers that they could control the vicious Denver pass rush.

It sounds simple and it is that simple.

As John Fox and Ryan Pace begin the task of moving the Bears toward playoff contention, they would be wise to remember the lesson just taught by Fox's former team, that a great pass rush is the great equalizer.

Quarterbacks come and go, and around these parts they're rarely good for more than a year or two at a time.

But a great defense can take you a long way.

brozner@dailyherald.com

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