Some time around 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning will line up under center and survey the Chicago Bears’ defense before taking his first snap of the Super Bowl.

If he has looked at the stats, Manning might feel confident that he’ll have plenty of time to pass against that Chicago defense. Manning threw 557 passes this season and was sacked just 14 times, making him the hardest quarterback to sack in the National Football League. Although the Bears recorded 40 sacks this season, ranking eighth in the NFL, that doesn’t mean they have a good pass rush. Chicago faced 581 passes this season, second most in the NFL, meaning the Bears had far more opportunities to sack the quarterback than most teams did. The Bears’ rate of one sack for every 14.5 pass attempts was worse than the league average.

However, the Bears’ low sack rate was mostly by design: On the vast majority of passing plays, the Bears’ linebackers dropped into coverage rather than blitzing the quarterback. Linebacker Lance Briggs had one sack in 2006; the Bears’ other starting linebackers, Brian Urlacher and Hunter Hillenmeyer, had none. Of the Bears’ 40 sacks, 36 came from the defensive line.

One of the reasons the Bears can play a defensive scheme that includes so little blitzing is that they get good inside pressure from their defensive tackles. The Bears’ best pass-rushing tackle, Tommie Harris, has been out since early December and will miss the Super Bowl with a hamstring injury, so it’s up to tackles Tank Johnson and Ian Scott to pressure Manning on the inside and allow the Bears’ linebackers to stay back in coverage. The Bears’ starting defensive ends, Alex Brown and Adewale Ogunleye, are good pass rushers, and rookie backup Mark Anderson is even better. Anderson struggles on running plays, but when he gets on the field in obvious passing situations, he’s the best on the team at getting to the quarterback.

If one of the Bears’ defensive linemen manages to sack Manning on Sunday, he’ll have accomplished something that few defensive players have done. With Manning ‘s quick release, defensive players usually can’t get to him before he makes his throw. Manning proved so hard to sack this season that by the end of the year, teams had practically stopped trying to blitz him. In the Colts’ last six regular season games Manning was sacked just twice.

But in the AFC Championship game, the New England Patriots were relentless in their pursuit of Manning. New England sacked Manning three times and hit him as he was throwing on several other occasions. The Patriots have always had success pressuring Manning (they also sacked him three times when the teams met in the regular season) because they do such a good job of disguising their blitzes.

So can the Bears follow the Patriots’ lead and apply pressure to Manning? Although there are several differences between the Patriots and the Bears — chief among them that the Patriots run a 3–4 defense while the Bears run a 4–3 — there are some hints from the Bears’ playoff games that they could attack Manning in the same way New England did.

Despite eschewing the blitz throughout the regular season, the Bears have used more complex blitz schemes during the postseason, including zone blitzes, in which they drop their defensive ends into coverage and have a linebacker and a defensive back rush the passer. Defensive ends usually aren’t much use in pass coverage, but Brown, Ogunleye, and Anderson are all quick enough to cover opposing running backs and tight ends.

If the Bears pressure him, Manning will rely on running back Joseph Addai for help. Addai is a good blocker who won’t hesitate to step in front of a blitzing linebacker to give Manning enough time to throw. Addai is also a good receiver, meaning Manning can check down to his running back when he doesn’t have time to set up for longer passes to his receivers.

At times in the playoffs, the Bears have dropped their defensive ends into coverage without blitzing the linebackers or defensive backs. On those plays, the Bears have nine players covering the opposing receivers. That’s a rare defensive alignment and one that could work against Manning, who is one of the league’s smartest players but also a quarterback who doesn’t like to be taken out of his comfort zone. Seeing the Bears try an unusual coverage scheme like that is just the type of thing that could disrupt Manning’s timing. And if Manning gets out of his rhythm, that’s when he holds the ball too long and allows pass rushers to get to him.

In 20 of the 40 previous Super Bowls, the Most Valuable Player award has gone to a quarterback. Manning is the odds-on favorite to get that honor this year. But the only other time the Bears played in the Super Bowl, the MVP went to a defensive end, Richard Dent, who terrorized the New England Patriots’ quarterbacks in Super Bowl XX. If the Bears’ defensive line can step up and play like Dent, that will mean a long night for Manning and a championship for Chicago.

Mr. Smith is a writer for FootballOutsiders.com.