Rhett, Bucs find nowhere to run Don Banks, The St.Petersburg Times, published 7 November 1994 If the key to putting together a good second-half run this season was putting together a few good runs on Sunday, the Bucs are locks for a 12th straight year of double-digit losses. Tampa Bay's 20-6 loss to Chicago was a collage of mistakes, missed opportunities and misguided mayhem. But the starting point of the Bucs' demise was a ground game that ground to a halt: 38 yards in 14 attempts. Toss out quarterback Trent Dilfer's 15-yard scramble, the Bucs' long gain, and Tampa Bay's running backs accounted for 23 yards in 13 carries. "We make a lot of mistakes. It's simple," said Bucs rookie running back Errict Rhett, who made his first NFL start in place of Vince Workman and totaled 20 yards in 12 carries. "It seems like we run the ball good one time and then the next time come back and blow an assignment. Everybody has to be on. Nobody can miss their block. Nobody can make that key mistake." Determined to stuff the run and make Tampa Bay's rookie quarterback beat them, the Bears went to an eight-man front much of the time Sunday, blitzing early and often. It worked to near perfection. Six of Rhett's 12 carries resulted in either negative yardage or no gain. Entering the game, the Bears' run defense had been something of a misnomer. Whatever defense Chicago had mustered, most of it came from its second-ranked pass defense. On the ground, Chicago's defense had: Surrendered a league-worst 152.8 yards per game - an unheard of 26.3 yards more than No. 27 Houston. The league average was 105.7. Allowed ballcarriers 5.0 yards per carry, a half-yard worse than No. 27 New England and 1.3 yards more than the league average (3.7). Failed to hold a team to double digits in rushing. Clearly something magical happened to a Bears' defense that had been embarrassed just six days earlier by Green Bay's 223 rushing yards - the NFL's second-highest total this season. "You've got to understand, the press was on the Bears real hard this week and everybody was down on them about giving up the run," Rhett said. "They came in today and were filling holes and blitzing almost every other down. It made it very difficult for us to run. We had to change our running scheme and run toward the outside, and then try to cut it back. They were just prepared to stop the running game after last week's blowout." In the season opener at Chicago, the Bucs started the Bears' woes against the run, piling up what stands as a season-best 123 yards in 30 carries. That day, Rhett had 11 carries for 49 yards. But the Bucs have struggled since, averaging only 78.3 yards rushing, 26th in the league. Sunday's paltry output wasn't even a season low, that being Tampa Bay's 32-yard day (16 carries) in a blowout loss at Atlanta. "I never expected this because of the fact we knew what we had done before against the same personnel at their place," Bucs center Tony Mayberry said. "We had ideal conditions today. It was a good day for running, and the fact we had a young quarterback to protect it just made for extra incentive. I can't remember a more frustrating day." Mayberry and friends weren't willing to blame their troubles against the Bears on the loss of left tackle Paul Gruber - who was ejected after a first-quarter fight with defensive end Alonzo Spellman. "We've got the tools to do whatever. We should be able to run it and throw it," tackle Scott Dill said. "It's just not happening for us."