A potential Super Bowl preview takes place in San Diego on Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. as the reigning NFC champion Chicago BearsSan Diego Chargers, who had the best record in football last season.
There has been plenty of talking leading up to this game. Bears players have been critical of a new Nike commercial that shows Chargers star running back LaDainian Tomlinson, the 2006 NFL MVP, running through a Chicago defense like it's nothing.
Meanwhile, Bears Pro Bowl linebacker Brian Urlacher has criticized Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman for his "Lights Out" sack dance. Urlacher said that if Merriman does it after good plays, he should do it after bad ones as well.
"I would like to say a bunch of things," Merriman said. "And that starts all the way to the top and all the way to the bottom. Things have been directed at me and toward my team. But for the sake of this team and what we're trying to accomplish, I haven't said anything. I don't know how long that can last, but I still keep trying."
So it appears neither team is lacking for motivation. Both have stellar defenses, led by Urlacher and Merriman, respectively. The two key matchups will be the Bears' defense trying to stop Tomlinson and the Chargers' D disrupting Chicago quarterback Rex Grossman.
Tomlinson scored an NFL-record 31 touchdowns last season and rushed for more than 1,800 yards in winning his first MVP award. San Diego will use the power game to go right at the middle of the Bears' defense, trying to negate Urlacher's side-to-side speed. In addition, the Bears' best interior lineman, Tommie Harris, is coming off an injury that ended his 2006 season before the playoffs.
Rex Grossman, meanwhile, was a Jekyll-and-Hyde quarterback last year for the Bears. The good Rex was very good, with seven games of a plus-100 quarterback rating last year. However, the bad Rex was usually very bad, as Grossman also had games with ratings of 10.2, 36.8, 23.6, 1.3 and 0.0. He threw two interceptions in the Super Bowl loss to the Colts, with one being returned for a TD that sealed Chicago's loss.
The Bears also have a new featured back in Cedric Benson as Thomas Jones was traded to the Jets. Chicago does have a new offensive weapon in Devin Hester, however. The former Hurricane returned a record six touchdowns during the 2006 regular season and added a kickoff return for a TD to start the Super Bowl. He has been moved to receiver from cornerback and will play around 20 snaps a game. Expect the Bears to use him often on reverses or fakes.
So in what should be a close game, look for homefield advantage to be the difference. San Diego is -6 (over/under: 42), so expect the Bears to cover but end up losing by a field goal in a defensive-oriented game.
NFL Betting lines at WagerWeb Online Sportsbook travel west to face the
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