Faking injuries? Nothing new around these parts

Giants coach Tom Coughlin brushed off suggestions that his players faked injuries Monday night to slow down the Rams’ no-huddle attack. Regardless if the Giants are guilty or innocent, it wouldn’t be a revolution. This has been happening (at least it has been accused of happening) for years.

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A few of the more memorable examples:

1988 AFC Divisional Playoff: Seahawks at Bengals

This one caused a firestorm. Seahawks coach Chuck Knox admitted that his nose tackle, Joe Nash, had faked injuries four times (hugely subtle) in order to stop the clock against the Bengals’ no-huddle offense. Cincinnati won 21-13 on its way to losing Super Bowl XXIII to the San Francisco 49ers.

1995: Bills at Browns

After the Bills beat the Browns 22-19 in a Monday night game in Week 5, coach Marv Levy accused Cleveland of faking injuries to slow down Buffalo’s no-huddle offense. Browns coach Bill Belichick wasn’t shy in taking exception to that hypothesis.

“I think that’s a bunch of garbage,” Belichick said. “It’s hard for me to have respect for Levy for saying that. It’s demeaning. We had guys out there playing as hard as they could play, with as much courage as they could show. For this guy to come back and make a ridiculous comment like that, I see where he had some players hurt in the game. If Levy thinks he’s the only coach that’s ever had a guy hurt, then I think he ought to take a look around the league.”

Belichick — just a sliver crankier back then — went on: “Here’s a guy offensively who came in and tried to run the wing-T offense in Kansas City. That was brilliant. And the best thing he did was turn the offense over to Jim Kelly in the second half of the Carolina game and against us. There’s a guy, Jim Kelly, who can run an offense and move an offense. Unfortunately, he (Levy) didn’t call more plays against us, like he did against Carolina. I would much rather go against him than Jim Kelly. I think it’s a disgrace for him to make comments like that.”

Fourteen seasons later, the Browns found themselves in another mess:

2009: Browns at Lions

Belichick disciple/nemesis Eric Mangini, at the helm of the Browns, accused the Lions of faking injuries to slow down Cleveland’s no-huddle offense during a 38-37 loss at Ford Field. Like you, we’re trying to imagine a scenario in which the 2009 Browns — ranking 32nd in total yards — could have moved slower. We’ll keep working on that.

– Marc Sessler

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These Bears won’t go away quietly

The team that no one wants to believe in is the Bears. Well, when I say no one, that means everyone outside of Chicago, outside of Halas Hall and outside of the true believers.

This team just isn’t sexy. Despite the fact Jay Cutler is at quarterback, running a Mike Martz offense, the Bears just don’t capture imaginations. The Bears haven’t been and aren’t going to be ”The Greatest Show on Turf” with their group of receivers. It’s not who they are.

The Bears, though, have made adjustments from the wide-open offense from earlier this season. Cutler is getting rid of the ball quicker, Martz has adjusted the protections and is more judicious in spreading out the offense, and the run-pass ratio is more balanced. It has all helped.

And defensively, you can’t move the ball against the Bears. They shut down Michael Vick and the Eagles when no one thought it was possible. A healthy Brian Urlacher this season is a huge, huge difference.

The Bears are a sum of their parts. As a whole, this team is tough, gritty and while they don’t do a lot of exotic things, they’re very good at what they do.

What’s interesting is that their NFC North rival Packers, who the Bears play the final week of the season, had that exact same image under Vince Lombardi. They had a very thin playbook, but  out-executed teams, and were very tough, physical and nasty. It’s what the Bears are now.

The current Packers seem to be the team to beat the Bears. People look back at their Monday night game on Sept. 27, and count 18 penalties as the difference maker in the loss instead of giving Chicago the credit for the win. People keep wondering why teams lose to the Bears, as opposed to why the Bears are winning games.

Well, it might be time to get on board.

Lovie Smith has done a tremendous job as head coach and a defensive mind, and no doubt has saved his job. The team has adopted his persona in being low-key and not worrying about what anyone says. People might be doubting this team all the way through the playoffs.

The only downside for the Bears is their schedule down the stretch which is a monster: Patriots (10-2), Vikings (5-7), Jets (9-3) and Packers (8-4). They will be tested. It’s a tough call if the NFC North gets two teams in the playoffs and the Bears make it, but I don’t believe anyone should think that they’re an easy out or are going to go away quietly.

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