Brian Urlacher hangs his head in defeat after a 36-7 loss to the Patriots (Photo courtesy of Chicago Tribune)

It was like sitting inside a snow globe.  So what if it was a Jetsons meet the Flintstones called Soldier Field, it was still a sight to see.  The scene was set for a showdown of first place teams but only one team showed up and it wasn’t the home team.  The New England Patriots came into Soldier Field and snow-blowed the Bears 36-7.  If you want to relive the painful memories, you can check out the highlights from NFL.com here.

The Bears closest competition in the NFC North, the Green Bay Packers had just fallen to the lowly Detroit Lions, providing an opportunity for the Bears to go up two full games in the NFC North with three to go.  Maybe that was the worst thing that could have happened?  Maybe the notion that they had a little breathing room in the division instilled a sense of complacency.  Maybe it was a team that thought they could sleepwalk through another half of football.

The Bears played the first half as if they had never seen snow and didn’t know how to deal with the elements.  Before they knew what hit them, they were down 33-0 at halftime.  Tom Brady and the Patriots offense exposed the Cover-2 defense while Mike Martz’s offense was never known as the Greatest Show on Skis for a reason.  Let’s start with Brady vs the Cover-2 after the jump.  (more…)

The story lines abound.  You’ve got the Mad Scientist Mike Martz vs the Hoodie Bill Belichick, the middle linebacker Brian Urlacher vs the pretty boy quarterback Tom Brady.  Chicago vs Boston.  Midwest vs East Coast.  How about a re-match of the Super Bowl XX teams a mere 25 years after the Super Bowl Shufflin’ Bears captured their first Super Bowl title?

You can’t have an instant classic without great teams and some great stories, but the cherry on top will be the weather.  Sunday’s forecast?  Arctic winds, temperatures dropping into the single digits and a good chance for SNOW.  Soldier Field will be rocking on Sunday.  Let’s take a closer look at one of the key story lines – Mike Martz vs Bill Belichick after the jump.  (more…)