Owen's leadership qualities called into question after Bears victory in NFC title game
By "John Johnson"

Playoffs 2107 (Albany, NY) - In the last few years, Giants quarterback Monte Owen has proven to be a great regular season leader, but the comparisons to rival Morgan Capper appear to be eating at him the further the Giants get into the postseason.

In the 2106 season, the Bills went into Giants Stadium and defeated the Giants 24-23. Fans, disappointed that Capper had signed a franchise player contract after defeating the Giants in the 2105 Sundby Cup, serenaded the stadium with 'WE WANT CAPPER' throughout the game. The chants affected Owen, and he ended up losing in the playoffs to the Carolina Panthers.

Owen's shakiness continued into the first eight weeks of the season. The Giants were 4-4, and the Bills came into town, with Capper in tow.

Throughout the week, Owen kept posting on the Giants bulletin board on how everyone thought Capper was the better quarterback and leader, and that Owen had never beaten him. Owen was driven to prove the critics wrong and was nearly perfect as the Giants throttled the Bills 28-13. Owen was thrilled that he was a factor in handing the Bills their worst defeat in half a decade, and the Giants ran off six more wins in a row under his leadership to go into the NFC title game with huge momentum.

The momentum, however, came crashing down to Earth like a meteor. James Rust sacked Owen early on, and Owen fumbled the ball. Rust then picked it up and easily ran in for a score that set the tempo for the game. Owen was easily rattled, made a lot of dumb mistakes and took nine more sacks, when his mobility would've normally given him more time to make a pass. Bears linebacker Shawn Williams, who had one of the ten sacks on the day, stated, 'I've never seen Owen that shaken before. Give him a little bit of pressure and he folds. He hasn't seen a serious pass in awhile and it showed. I don't think the Giants can take the next step with him there if he's going to fold under pressure like that.'

Giants fans, of course, have been calling into local radio sports talk shows since the game, wondering what may have been if Morgan Capper was available. Despite two first round exits in consecutive seasons, fans believe that the three time MVP and three time champion would not have shriveled under the constant Bears pass rush and lost control of his offense.

'Capper has youknowwhat of steel.' a caller to WFAN recently said. 'He almost always rises to the occasion. He would've been a difference maker. Owen is another in the long line of Giants regular season leaders, who falter in the face of postseason pressure.'

Would Capper really have made a difference, though? The Bears are a team on a mission. They suffered through years of humiliation under a rebuilding process and are looking to establish themselves as a dominant force for years to come. While Capper may have fared better, the Bears pass rush was simply too much. They shut down the run early, forcing the Giants to go to the passing game after the first quarter. It would have been very difficult to beat the Bears this past weekend, whose defensive line reminds many of the old Tim Awkwright days.

In the end, it would come down to how the quarterback would've picked himself up off the turf and shown what kind of composure he would've had in the face of failure. So far, Monte Owen has not been able to pick himself up off the dirt. The Bills, lead by Capper, will still continue to put up huge numbers and double digit win seasons. Monte Owen is not only going to have to deal with another postseason demolition, but the loss of a lot of key players.