Defense Wins Super Bowls: An Open Letter to Trent Dilfer
Published by Tim Lange on December 3, 2010
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
Dear Trent,
Anyone that knows me knows how salty I am about the lack of respect my Chicago Bears have gotten this season. Sure, they may not be the best team, but you don’t fall backwards into an 8-3 record. When you’re 8-3, there’s a little bit more than luck going on. Teams in the NFL don’t luck their way into eight wins out of eleven games—it just doesn’t happen that way.
Maybe the Bears aren’t the frontrunners for the Super Bowl, maybe they’re not even the best team in their conference. You know what though, plenty of people said that about the Patriots in 2000, the Giants in 2007 and the Bears in 2006. All three of those teams made it to the Super Bowl and two of them won. That’s why they play the games and that’s why championships aren’t won on paper.
In all likelihood, the Bears will not win the Super Bowl this year. That’s fine. Maybe Jay Cutler needs a little more work before he can be that franchise quarterback we Bears fans have been looking for since before I was born. However, it’s not like teams have never won a Super Bowl riding a great defense and just a mediocre offense and quarterback. I know it doesn’t happen much, but it’s been done.
Realistically, I know that this formula isn’t the easy route to winning. But if there’s one person that I’m not going to listen to talk about how the Bears have no shot at winning because of their quarterback play, it’s you, Trent Dilfer .
Hey Trent, I forget, who is widely regarded as the worst quarterback to ever play in, let alone win, a Super Bowl? Who’s wearing a ring today because he rode the coat tails of Ray Lewis and a great Baltimore Ravens defense? Oh yeah, the answer to both of those questions is you. In fact, you were so mediocre that you hold the distinction of being the only Super Bowl-winning quarterback to be cut by his team the following season.
If you don’t agree with me, check out your numbers. In the game against the Giants, you went 12 for 25 for 153 yards. All you had to do was hand the ball off to Jamal Lewis and sit on the sideline while the defense did the dirty work for you.
That season you threw an earth-shattering 12 touchdowns with 11 interceptions and for your career you had a 55.5 completion percentage, a touchdown to interception ratio of 113-129 and a quarterback rating of 70.2. Those kind of numbers put you in an elite class of quarterbacks that includes Eric Kramer, Dave Krieg and Joey Harrington. Congrats.
I know that Ravens defense was better than the one the Bears have right now and, like I said before, I don’t expect the Bears to win this season. By the way this year has gone so far though, anything can happen, meaning the Bears have as decent a shot as anyone.
So Trent, when someone asks the question “are the Bears the team to beat in the NFC?” don’t laugh it off and justify your response by saying Jay Cutler isn’t a good enough quarterback. He may make mistakes but when he’s good, he’s a thousand times better than you ever were.
So Trent, before you open your mouth to comment on what it takes to win championships just remember, that according to you, the Ravens didn’t have it. Don’t pretend for one minute that you were key to that team’s success because in reality, that team’s success came despite you.
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