Bears, Packers employ different strategies

It wouldn't be a stretch to call Sunday's NFC championship a battle of polar opposites in football strategy.

If the Bears and Green Bay Packers are not complete opposites, they definitely are located within a short distance of those two proverbial opposing philosophical poles. It only seems appropriate that an epic battle between long-time antagonists to decide a Super Bowl berth should hinge on a clash between radically different approaches to the game.

“There will always be some new things, wrinkles that you have to deal with a little bit, but we're not going to try to outthink ourselves,” Bears coach Lovie Smith said. “I think eventually it's going to come down to some basic, fundamental things that it comes down to each game.”

The X's and O's get players into position to execute fundamentals, however.

Defensively Sunday, it's Green Bay's 3-4 alignment with the zone blitz and the Bears' basic 4-3, Cover-2 approach that relies on very little blitzing.

“The 3-4 maybe they can change up more, but for us as a defense, we're predictable supposedly,” Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher said. “So we don't do a whole lot different.”

Simplicity is not necessarily ineffective. If they fail to confuse anyone, they still have the Packers' respect.

“We like to say they don't have a ton of calls; we tell our players, but they play their calls very well,” Packers offensive coordinator Joe Philbin said. “They know the adjustments to the personnel groups and the formations once they make the calls.”

If the Bears are rushing quarterback Aaron Rodgers with only four players instead of blitzing, at least one of the four is Julius Peppers.

“The thing for us is we have great front-four linemen,” linebacker Lance Briggs said. “We can pass rush with four. We're going to count on them as well as our linebackers and DBs to do what we do well and it will all show up at the end of that game.”

The Bears take heat from fans and media about their reliance on Cover-2 zone pass defense. The part that irks critics most is how defensive backs tend to play off the ball, sometimes as much as 10 yards. They rely on their speed to break on the ball as it leaves the passer's hand.

“For people to criticize Cover-2, which has been around since George Halas and Vince Lombardi, and long before that … again, Cover-2 is a defense everyone uses,” Smith said. “We're labeled as a team that plays Cover-2 every snap. If people watch us a little closer, they'll see that there is a time and a place for you to double-cover receivers, and Cover-2 gives you the best opportunity to do that.

“It will be around long after we're gone. We do believe in it like we believe in some other things we do defensively. And it's good to see the guys have the type of success they've had this year.”

Conversely, Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers never met a formation he couldn't alter. Sometimes the Packers play a two-man front line, sometimes a 3-4. Sometimes they're blitzing two, three, or more.

In the 3-4, their line is directly opposite the Bears' size-wise. While the Bears rely on speed and lighter players, the Packers smash the scales with the heaviest line in the league: ends Ryan Pickett and Howard Green are 340 pounds and nose tackle B.J. Raji is 337.

“They play a lot of multiple fronts, moving guys around,” Bears tight end Greg Olsen said. “(Linebacker) Clay Matthews can be a defensive end, he can be a linebacker, he can be off the ball on coverage. Same thing with a lot of their guys. (A.J.) Hawk moves around. They blitz those guys a lot.”

Last game, quarterback Jay Cutler had a problem timing up with receivers because of Packers DBs pressing them.

“I think they're the best in the league at bump-and-run and pressing and getting a hold of that receiver. They do a great job,” Bears offensive coordinator Mike Martz said.

On the other side of the ball, Green Bay runs a modified version of Bill Walsh's West Coast offense, one that presents quarterbacks with three or four receiving priorities each play. It's one they'd like to run the ball out of extensively, but haven't due to a season-ending injury to back Ryan Grant.

Conversely, Martz is running his own version of Don Coryell's old attack that originated with Sid Gilman and San Diego Chargers of the old AFL, and seeks to go vertical while minimizing the running game.

The Bears' offense is actually the original West Coast offense, although the Walsh offense run by the Packers actually wound up with that name. A reporter interviewing former Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar misquoted him and thought he was referring to Walsh's offense with the term “West Coast offense.” But Kosar actually had meant Gilman's and Coryell's attack. Reporters ran with the name and it stuck, leaving the Bears' current offense to be known as Air Coryell or the vertical passing game.

The Packers use a fullback and tight end extensively out of I-formations in their West Coast style, but it's the personnel who arm the attack more than formations.

“I think one of the biggest things that has changed with this offense is Aaron Rodgers,” said cornerback Charles Tillman, who also called Packers receivers the league's best corps. “He's making those throws. A couple times with us he missed a couple but these last two playoff games he's been connecting with all his receivers — not just (Greg) Jennings, but everybody.”

While the Packers wanted to run more in some games but couldn't, Martz wanted to air it out more but had to call more runs by Matt Forte.

“I've always been very pragmatic about football and how you impact a team offensively,” Martz said. “You have to do what you have to do to move the football and be significant and help score points and win. It changes everywhere. “

He's acquired a taste for the run.

“I know this: It's a lot more fun and it's a lot easier to call plays when you can mix it like we've been doing,” he said.