Everyone Knows Chicago Will Win
Kevin Sheller
Sunday July 14, 2002
Early in the season, when the Rush experienced the pattern of win one, lose one, win one, lose one, they didn’t get many breaks. Now, however, the team can be losing by 1 to 25 points, and the players, coaches, team personnel, and home crowd know -- not just think -- they know that Chicago is still going to win.
 Cedric Walker Image courtesy of Michael Wright |
Twice Chicago faced impossible situations against the Dallas Desperados, and the ball took Rush bounces. One was with less than five minutes left in the game. Dallas was up by seven and on the verge of scoring again. Chicago had not been able to stop the Desperado offense all night. One defensive stop was possible, but two seemed unattainable. A loss was surely in hand. Dallas was less than 20 yards away from victory when a short pass was deflected high in the air, picked off by WR/DB Dameon Porter, and returned for a touchdown.
“I don’t know what to say,” said Porter about his 10th interception of the season. “That’s been happening for two years now. Balls just appear. I don’t necessarily believe in luck, so we’ll just call it fate. It was meant to be.”
Fate struck again. This time, 0:01 left in the game, Dallas kicker Jason Wells had a chip-shot field goal to win it. He hadn’t missed one the entire evening. He barely missed any all year.
Wide right.
“One thing this team doesn’t lack is belief,” said Hohensee. “I didn’t see panic in anybody’s eyes tonight. They could’ve. They kept believing, kept listening, and making eye contact. There was nobody hanging their heads. That’s what made me believe we were going to win the football game.
“I told [the team]: That was no mistake out there. We earned that win.”
The adage goes that championship teams find a way to win. Ask the Grand Rapids Rampage last year. During the regular season, almost every single Rampage victory was less than 10 points. When the playoffs began, they were unstoppable.
Rush players may have more confidence than any other team at this point in the season.
QB Mark Grieb’s San Jose SaberCats are now facing the playoffs without him after he broke his collarbone against the Rattlers Friday night. Of course, QB John Dutton is no slouch, and over the last few years, the two quarterbacks have often been interchangeable. The media will write off San Jose with Grieb out, which will serve as a motivator for the experienced San Jose squad, but without the star quarterback, the team is no longer invincible.
Meanwhile, Arizona is flying high after beating the unbeatable. However, only a few weeks ago the team suffered a meltdown that caused QB Sherdrick Bonner to be pulled in favor of Chris Hixson. The Rattlers were shaken, but have bounced back and won two-straight victories over division opponents.
So, the remaining question mark centers on the emotional status of the team. The Chicago Rush players are so driven by those emotions that they often must find tricks to motivate themselves. Obviously, this causes problems during the regular season, but in the playoffs, motivation comes naturally.
“We’re still not playing up to our full potential yet,” said Walker. “We have to get behind in order to wake up.”
And each week, when the team faces defeat, a different player, or groups of players, rise up to make a big play. This week it was FB/LB Jamie McGourty who sacked Jim Kubiak on third down in Dallas’ first and only overtime possession.
“Football is fun for us right now,” said Walker. “Granted, it may look like we’re struggling on the field at times, but actually we’re having fun. We’re enjoying football, and once we start enjoying it, everything becomes easy.”
It is that emotion – enjoyment – that has the players believing.
“We’re the hottest team right now,” said Walker. “I don’t see anybody right now who can beat us. Our goal is to win the ArenaBowl. We got the guys to do it. We have to go out there and win three games in a row to be the champions.”
If things keep going Chicago’s way, they won’t be denied.
Kevin Sheller ia founder of Arenafan Online and was the principal owner until 2004. Kevin graduated from the University of Akron with a degree in technical writing, and has been a member of the Arena Football Internet community since 1993. He has worked as a professional web programmer and is also the executive producer for a computer/video game company. The most recent Xbox title to his credit is called Hunter: The Reckoning.
