NFC Championship Game : Bears Hoping to Ground Air Montana

SAN FRANCISCO —  The San Francisco 49ers could make history here Sunday, becoming the first National Football League team to reach the Super Bowl without going to the air.

The Chicago Bears, the 49ers’ opponent in today’s National Conference title game at Candlestick Park, know the feeling.

The game, on Channel 2 at 1 p.m., matches teams with opposite personalities. The 49ers, favored by nine points, haven’t had to board an airplane in the playoffs, although if they advance to Super Bowl XIX at Stanford Jan. 20 it will be on the arm of quarterback Joe Montana.

The Bears were one of only two NFL teams--the Rams being the other--to gain more yardage rushing than passing this season. Both the Bears and Rams had a severe fear of the air brought on by injuries to starting quarterbacks.

The Bears would like to ground Air Montana, as well, and if anyone has the means to do it, they have.

Montana, protected by Pro Bowl linemen Keith Fahnhorst, Randy Cross and Fred Quillan, was sacked only 22 times in regular-season play.

The Bears, however, set a record with 72 sacks, then last weekend outflanked Washington’s Hogs and dumped Joe Theismann seven times in a 23-19 playoff victory. Meanwhile, the 49ers were outfinessing the Giants, 21-10.

The key to this one would seem to be: Can the Bears get to Montana?

Montana, a third-round draft choice from Notre Dame in 1979, is the most efficient passer in NFL records, having completed 64%, with only 2.6% interceptions. His style is to keep the defense off balance by mixing dropbacks with sprintouts and draw plays. He is expert at finding the open man, and in Coach Bill Walsh’s sophisticated scheme, there always seems to be one.

If there isn’t? Well, on one play last week, Montana scrambled for 53 yards, the team’s longest run of the season.

But what makes the 49ers’ offense so effective--certainly better than the one they took to a victory in Super Bowl XVI--is balance.

The running game is overshadowed by the passing but still ranks third in the league, behind the Bears and Rams. Wendell Tyler gained 1,262 yards rushing for the 49ers.

The mix of Montana’s receivers is such that it’s foolish to ignore any of them. His top pass catchers this season were Roger Craig, a running back, with 71 receptions; Dwight Clark, a possession-type wide receiver with 52; Earl Cooper, a tight end with 41, and Freddie Solomon, a deep burner with 40.

Walsh said the Bears’ rush might force the 49ers to throw short, quick passes, presumably to Craig and Clark. Walsh says things like that to make people think he’s worried. Maybe he is. Against the Bears, maybe he should be.

“It’s going to be hard to drop back there and run deep routes,” he said. But the 49ers’ defense will give the Bears trouble, too. The Gold Rush recorded 51 sacks.

In yardage allowed, the 49ers’ defense does not rank with the Bears, which led the league against the rush and overall. But where it counts--on the scoreboard--the 49ers yielded only 227 points, lowest in the league.

The 49ers do not have a serious weakness and appear to be superior in the kicking game, as well.

Gil Haskell, the Rams’ special teams coach, said: “The 49ers should do a better job in the special team area by a pretty good margin.”

The 49ers did much better covering and returning kickoffs and punts this season. Haskell also observed, “The 49ers have a better punter (Max Runager). Their guy can place the ball.”

The Bears’ punter is free agent rookie Dave Finzer from DePauw, who was unable to kick his team out of trouble in the fourth quarter at Washington Sunday, although the Bears’ defense rose to the occasion.

Finzer’s punts after the first two series traveled only 37 and 35 yards, and he got only 43 yards on a free kick after taking an intentional safety.

The Bears haven’t blocked a kick or returned any for a touchdown.

At quarterback, there is little basis for comparison, since the team philosophies are so different. Since the Bears lost starter Jim McMahon, their approach with Steve Fuller has been: “You don’t have to win it for us, just don’t lose it.”

Fuller, who has overcome two separations of his right shoulder since training camp, beat the Redskins by completing 11 of only 15 passes--and he hasn’t thrown an interception in 93 attempts.

“He’s playing well,” Walsh said. “But if he has to throw 30 or 35 times in a game, he might not be so sharp, because the Bears are not used to throwing that many times.”

Even Fuller admits his range is limited. His only play beyond 30 yards was last week’s 75-yard touchdown pass to Willie Gault, a play involving 10 yards of Fuller’s arm and 65 yards of Gault’s flying feet.

The most impressive pass last week was the 19-yard touchdown thrown by Walter Payton off a fake reverse-sweep. Payton is the NFL’s leading rusher with 13,309 yards, but check this passing statistic: Eight of his nine completions have been for touchdowns.

He is one weapon the 49ers don’t have, and there also is the air of street-tough invincibility the Bears reclaimed from their past at Washington last week.

Club president Mike McCaskey was so moved by the victory that he ended all speculation about Coach Mike Ditka’s future by giving him a new three-year contract.

McCaskey said: “I think it’s absolutely critical for the Chicago Bears’ organization that the head coach be one that plays tough, aggressive and smart football.”

Ditka said: “We try to create an image with the Bears that a lot of people may not understand, (and) a lot of people may not even like. But we like it. It’s us. It’s what we’ve stood for. It’s what (late owner George Halas) meant it to be.”

The 49ers’ image under Walsh is urbane and cerebral, giving this game the look of a Dempsey-Tunney affair.

The 49ers like to rush out from the opening bell and pile up points. They have outscored opponents in the first quarter, 110-29. If things get tough, though, they can stand the pressure. They also have outscored opponents in the last quarter, 141-64.

Jack Youngblood of the Rams said: “Chicago’s got a legitimate chance, if they’ll play hard right from the first whistle. They can’t let ‘em jump up on ‘em like the 49ers like to do.”

The teams did not play this season and have never met in a playoff game. Their last encounter of any kind was on a cold, rainy day in Chicago in 1983. The Bears won, 13-3, holding Walsh’s offense to its lowest point total ever.

“It’s nice to be home, with good weather expected,” Walsh said. “(But) when you take the field in a playoff game, it wouldn’t make any difference if it was in Fargo or Tijuana.”

NFC Notes

In their 65 years, the Bears never have played a game in January. They are the only one of the four teams left that hasn’t been in a Super Bowl. Coming off a 23-19 playoff victory over the Washington Redskins, they are playing their first championship game since 1963, when they defeated the Giants for the NFL title, 14-10. . . . The Bears have been wearing the initials GSH on their sleeves this season as a tribute to George S. Halas, the team’s founder, owner and longtime coach who died during the ’83 season. . . . There is speculation Jim McMahon will be re-activated to play quarterback if the Bears reach the Super Bowl.