Bears plan to repeat feat of shutting down Panthers

LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- All along, the Chicago Bears claimed they would reach this point. They said they would make the playoffs, stuck together through a tough start and proved their preseason predictions were more than just hollow training camp chatter.

And here they are.

After a first-round playoff bye, after a season proving the doubters wrong, the Bears host the Carolina Panthers today, with the winner advancing to the NFC Championship game.

It all seemed unlikely, especially after a loss to Cleveland that dropped Chicago to 1-3 and left linebacker Lance Briggs wondering: "Are we that bad?"

The answer was an emphatic no. The Bears won eight straight after that, 10 of their last 12, and captured the NFC North. Along the way, they dominated the Panthers 13-3 at Soldier Field, sacking Jake Delhomme eight times.

Now, they meet again.

The Bears are in the playoffs for the first time in four years and are looking for their first playoff victory since beating Minnesota in the first round following the 1994 season. After going 13-3 and earning a bye in 2001, they lost by 14 to Philadelphia.

The Panthers became the first road team since 1980 to score a playoff shutout when they beat the New York Giants 23-0 in the opening round last week. The defense forced five turnovers and the offense ran over a Giants team hurt by injuries to its linebacking corps.

DeShaun Foster rushed for 151 yards after going for 165 against Atlanta the previous week.

None of this seemed to awe Bears middle linebacker Brian Urlacher, who cut off a question about the Panthers' running game this week by saying, "We're not the Giants."

The Bears owned the NFL's top-ranked defense for seven weeks before ending the regular season with a 34-10 loss at Minnesota that dropped that unit to second behind Tampa Bay. They allowed a league-low 12.6 points per game.

And the last time the Bears met Carolina, they branded themselves an NFC contender with a victory that was as lopsided as a 10-point win can be.

The Panthers managed 55 yards rushing in that game. But they have a different look now, more speed and finesse with Foster carrying the ball.

"They run a lot of tosses with him to use his speed," Bears defensive end Alex Brown said. "That actually helps their different blocking schemes; it's not all power. They can run some finesse type plays. The guy runs hard, he breaks tackles."

Colts have dome-field edge

Tony Dungy spent a quarter-century chasing home-field advantage throughout the playoffs before he finally earned it.

The Indianapolis Colts coach doesn't intend to let that reward slip away today against his old team, Pittsburgh, in the divisional playoffs.

"It's our opportunity to do something special and cap off a year that's been really good for us," Dungy said. "That's what it's all about."

Conventional wisdom suggests the RCA Dome is the Colts' ticket to Detroit.

In past years, Indianapolis (14-2) has contended with snow, wind, rain and cold weather in January. It was shut out at New York in 2003, then lost at New England each of the past two years.

Critics contended after those losses that the only way the high-scoring Colts would reach the Super Bowl was to stay indoors.

Mission accomplished. Even the Super Bowl is in a dome this year.