Bears offense hardly a mystery Ernest Hooper, The St.Petersburg Times, published 24 November 1997 NFL players usually spend hours reviewing game films to discern the opponent's game plan, but Bears coach Dave Wannstedt made it easy for the Bucs. He basically told anyone who would listen what the Bears would do, and linebacker Hardy Nickerson was listening. "Last week they threw the ball 60 times, and Wannstedt was quoted as saying it turned his stomach and that's not what he believes in," Nickerson said. "So we knew that they were going to come out and basically run the ball, run the ball, run the ball." The Bucs defense knew what was coming, but couldn't stop it. Wannstedt was true to his word with Raymont Harris carrying 33 times for 116 yards to propel Chicago to a 13-7 victory. Knowing was only half the battle. "We know it was going to have to be a game where we had to tackle Raymont Harris," Tony Dungy said. "He's had some good games against us in the past. We had guys free on a lot of occasions, but he was just picking up extra yardage, getting to a lot of third and 2s, third and 3s, and we were not able to get off the field." Other than execute a simple and obvious game plan, the Bears did nothing spectacular. In fact, they may not have been capable of a spectacular offensive play with receivers Curtis Conway and Bobby Engram missing the game with injuries. With the aid of two early turnovers, however, Chicago broke out to a 10-0 lead. Bears quarterback Erik Kramer sparked the initial touchdown drive after a Mike Alstott fumble on the Bucs' 41, scrambling for 31 yards - the longest run of his career - on a third-and-3 play. The early deficit put more pressure on the Bucs defense to not only slow the Bears, but to make some big plays and possibly give the offense a short field. But the unit again bucked the notion that Dungy's defenses create turnovers, failing to get either an interception or fumble. "I think we were all out there just trying to do too much, and it backfired on us," Nickerson said. The Bears would add only one more field goal, but they consistently found holes in the Bucs defense and that left the offense with less time to mount drives. Chicago dominated time of possession 36:47 to 23:13. In the second half, the Bears drained 6:20 off the clock with a scoreless third-quarter drive and consumed 5:02 with a fourth-quarter stall. Each drive was extended either by Harris' second-effort running or quick Kramer passes to wideouts. "They had a lot of quick passing underneath, and they had some effectiveness there," safety John Lynch said. "We knew they were going to come in and try to pound it. He was falling forward after the initial hit and that's what he does effectively. They just had our number today. They took it to us." Harris became the first back to rush for more than 100 yards against the Bucs since Barry Sanders ran for 215 on Oct. 12, but Harris averaged only 3.5. Kramer completed 53 percent of his passes, but only for 110 yards. "We held them to 13 points, but we weren't real happy," defensive tackle Brad Culpepper said. "If we need to hold them to six points, then we need to hold them to six points." Said defensive end Regan Upshaw: "Everything happens for a reason. If this is going to make us a better team, I'm all for it."