As many previous posts have detailed, I said since about 1983 how easy the 46 defense was to beat, and why teams’ offensive strategies against it were so wrong, guaranteed to fail, and made the bears’ defense looked dominant. I continued to say this throughout the 1985 season. I said that by putting 8 guys in the box, it was impossible to run against and the quarterback didn’t have time to sit in the pocket due to the rush, but what would work was quick, short passes, as the middle area of the defense was open due to 8 in the box. The few times teams did run a play like this, it worked. As we know, when Washington did it in the 1986-season playoffs, they beat the bears at home. We also know that in 1985, in the game the bears lost to the Dolphins, Marino rolled out to avoid the blitz and threw quick, short passes. We also know that about a year after the 1985 season, a number of national publications wrote about why no one played the 46 anymore, including Buddy Ryan who was coaching the Eagles, since teams figured out how to beat it. We also know that Bobby Knight, when asked who would win the Super Bowl after the 1985 season, said New England would win, as they would very effectively hurt the bears with short passes. We also know that Mike Ditka, the head coach of those teams, said about a year ago that opponents’ offensive strategies were all wrong, and had they not gone into max protect but spread out the receivers and done the other things I talked about, it would have been very effective and would have forced the bears to change their scheme. He said teams should have attacked the defense, which is what I said.
I could never understand why something so blatantly obvious was unable to be seen by football coaches that have looked at film their entire careers. These teams kept using strategy that had no chance of success and continued to fail, when the vulnerability of the defense was staring them in the face. No other great defense continues to have people talk about its vulnerabilities as the bear 46 does. The Super Bowl started with a quick, short pass to a wide-open tight end for a nice gain, but the tight end’s knee gave out and he couldn’t catch the ball. The next play was a quick, short pass over the middle to a wide-open Stanley Morgan for what should have been a TD, but he dropped it. The Patriots then started running the ball, and of course lost big.
Comcast aired a program about the 46 the other night, and more and more proof of what I’ve said all along was provided. Marv Levy was interviewed, and he said that teams stopped playing the 46 because quick throws worked, “and the secondary was pretty much denuded because the line of scrimmage was so stacked and that finally became the way to attack the 46.” Finally?!!! I said this for years before other coaches figured this out, and this was blatantly obvious to anyone who understood football. Levy continued, “and like everything else, it evolves in and it evolves out and something new comes up.” Again, no one talks about vulnerabilities of the Ravens’ and Steelers’ defenses.
The Comcast program also talked about the Miami game, and spoke about Marino having success because he rolled out from the blitz and made quick throws to Nat Moore. As the Dolphins went with 3 wide receivers and threw quickly to Moore, the bears could not cover this. Moore was one-on-one, and could break plays since there were 8 defenders in the box. Exactly what I said to do with the quick passes. Did other teams learn from this? Of course not.