1985 Bears 25th Anniversary

This season marks the 25th anniversary of the 1985 Bears, what could be the best team in a single season in NFL history. There are plenty of teams who strung together multiple seasons that were better and there is no denying that the Bears teams that followed '85 did not live up to expectations but for one unbelievable season in 1985 the Chicago Bears were arguably the best ever. I put this topic on the dry erase board last week when I was fishing for blog ideas and I have been drooling to get at it ever since. As I write this post I am watching the week 11 game at Dallas where the Bears won 44-0. I was 10 years old during the '85 season, I remember it pretty well but no Bears fan should be without the 12 disc box set put out by the NFL. You get 9 regular season games and all 3 playoff games. Each game is the original network broadcast, commercial free. A good portion of the games are done by either Tim Ryan and Johnny Morris or by Pat Summerall & John Madden. This was back when Madden was actually good, before he fell in love with Brett Favre and before he became a caricature of himself.

One of things I like to do every couple of years to test my memory is sit down and try and remember all 22 week 1 starters as well as the kicker and the punter. Go ahead, give it a shot, you can get bonus points for getting all 3 QB's, the back up RB's, 3rd/4th WR, 2nd TE and defensive subs. The last time I tried it, I missed a DT and a CB. Hint: Perry didn't start til Week 8. I'll list the answers at the end.

In the early and mid 1980's 5 teams from each conference made the playoffs, 3 division winners and 2 wild card teams. The two wild card teams played each other with the winner advancing to play the division winner with the best record, the other two division winners played each other. The 1984 Bears won the NFC central but were the 3 seed behind S.F. and Washington. The Bears beat Washington at RFK stadium 23-19 and then traveled to San Francisco for the NFC championship game. The 49ers won that game 23-0 and then beat Miami in Super Bowl XIX. The expectations for the 1985 Bears had been set, nothing less than a trip to the Super Bowl would be acceptable.

The Bears started the preseason 0-3 before beating Buffalo in the final tune-up for the regular season. Preseason games weren't televised back then and no one really paid much attention to the results. I remember week 1 at home against Tampa Bay. The Bears struggled for much of the game, the Bucs led by Steve DeBerg moved the ball well and put up 24 points. I kept thinking this Tampa team, in their funny uniforms, is not supposed to be good so why aren't the Bears killing them. Bears won 38-24, not pretty but moving on. Week 2 was not memorable, the Bears hosted the Patriots and won 20-7, even when the Super Bowl match-up was set it didn't really register. It was more like "New England? oh, yeah. Way back in week 2." Week 3 was a whole diff story. In a rare, for its time, Thursday night game the Bears had to travel to Minnesota. McMahon hadn't practiced the 2 days leading up to the game and the Bears started Steve Fuller at QB. They were struggling to score points and McMahon was shown on the sidelines standing right along side Ditka almost as if he was pestering him to get in the game. Finally, in the 3rd quarter, with the Bears trailing 17-9 McMahon is put in and his first pass goes for a TD to Willie Gault, Bears trail 17-16. Before the 3rd quarter ends McMahon would hit Dennis McKinnon for 2 TD's, passes of 25 yd & 43 yd, at the end of the 3rd the Bears were up 30-17 and went on to win 33-24. Probably the most memorable game of the regular season other than the loss to the Dolphins but who could forget that game. Some of the things I remember about Willie Gault was how fast he was but he had bad hands and didn't like contact. Remember I was 10 years old and the only football knowledge I had was watching Walter Payton run and this ferocious defense. When Gault dropped seemingly easy, wide open passes or ran out of bounds instead of squaring up to take on a defender I knew it wasn't right. McMahon would miss all or parts of 5 different games during the season and all 3 QB's on the roster saw action. Can you remember all of McMahon's headbands? The Adidas one was the one that made it all a big deal because it wasn't a licensed NFL trademark, then came the "Rozelle" headband for the commissioner, followed by some fines. He also wore "JDF Cure", "POW-MIA", and "Pluto" which I remember announcers suggesting was where McMahon was from but it was actually the nickname of a friend who had a brain tumor. I also remember him wearing one that said "Sweetness" but can't remember if that was 1985. McMahon also had a couple issues leading up to the Super Bowl when a radio host made up a story that he had called the men and women of New Orleans(site of SB XX) idiots and sluts and then Jim mooned a news helicopter hanging around the Bears practice in the week before the game.

Rematch was the theme for weeks 4, 5, and 6. In a divisional playoff rematch from the year before the Bears beat the Redskins 45-10, then in a week 1 rematch they beat the Buccaneers 27-19. Oddly enough, Tampa Bay went 2-14 in 1985 but gave the Bears two of their toughest games. Week 6 was a trip to the Bay area and rematch of the '84 NFC title game. The Bears left Candlestick with a 26-10 victory to go 6-0. Towards the end of the SF game Ditka put Perry in the backfield as a shot at 49ers HC Bill Walsh for using Guy McIntyre in a similar role the year before.

Week 7, Monday Night Football, Green Bay Packers! This game marked a couple of firsts in the season. The Bears knocked out their first two QB's when they knocked out Lynn Dickey(1) and Randy Wright(2), making room for Jim Zorn. It was also Perry's first rushing TD, the Bears won 23-7 and a star was born. The injured QB's, the Perry TD, and the loss, all on MNF was too much for Packers HC Forrest Gregg who had a bit of a strained relationship with Ditka anyway going back to their days as players for the Bears and Packers. The two teams were going to meet again in 2 weeks in Green Bay. The Bears beat the Vikings 27-9 in week 8 where they also knocked Vikings QB Tommy Kramer(3) out of the game, that was the 3rd QB of the year and it was on to Green Bay for the rematch.

In Week 9 Payton ran for 192 yards and a TD, McMichael sacked Zorn for a safety and Perry made his 1st TD catch. The Bears won 16-10 and the game was as dirty a football game as one will ever see. There were 6 unsportsmanlike penalties in the 1st half, 4 on the Packers. Packers DB Mark Lee was ejected from the game for riding Payton out of bounds and over the players bench, Charles Martin sacked Jim McMahon and then appeared to throw elbows or fists at McMahon's hips and thighs as he tried to roll off the pile. The game is better summed up in print here, Bears v Packers, 3 NOV 85 or in video here, Video CHI v GB . That particular game film should be shown to every Bears team before every Packer game from now until the end of time. That was 25 years ago and after watching that clip I want to pummel anything green & gold.

[pause: Bears beat Dallas 44-0, need to change dvd's. Miami game up next. Sidenotes: Joe Namath & O.J. Simpson on MNF in '85, on screen graphics were awful, not many color choices available so Bears helmet either appeared as royal blue or black depending on network.]

The Bears beat the Lions, 24-3 in week 10 and were heading to Dallas 10-0 and looking for their first win against the Cowboys since '71. It was also Ditka going back to where his coaching career began, he was an assistant coach under Tom Landry from '73-'81. McMahon didn't play in the Dallas game but the Bears didn't need him, the final score was captured on that famous SI cover, 44-0! The Bears knocked Danny White(4) out of the game(twice) and seemingly scored at will handing the Cowboys their most lopsided loss in team history. I know he was only a rookie but watching Dallas game again and seeing Kevin Butler in that single bar facemask is really funny. He looked like he is about 16 and he was taunting the Dallas bench after he made a FG that was backed up 5 yd by a Bears penalty. The Falcons came to Chicago in week 12 and the Bears defeated them 24-0 while knocking Atlanta QB David Archer(5) out of the game. This marked the 5th QB the defense had taken out in 6 weeks and capped a 3 game stretch where the Bears defeated the Lions, Cowboys, and Falcons by a combined score of 104-3. The Bears finished the '85 season allowing only 198 points, avg 12.4 game a feat that was later bested by the 2000 Ravens(168 pts 10.5avg) but the Ravens never had a 3 game stretch like that. Both the '85 Bears and '00 Ravens finished with a +23 takeaway differential but the Bears only had 2 games(wk 9 @GB-1 & wk 14 Indy-0) with less than 2 turnovers created, the Ravens had 4. The Bears recorded 7 takeaways in week 16 at Detroit and had 10 takeaways in 3 playoff games resulting in a +7 differential. They recorded 64 sacks in 1985 led by Richard Dent with 17, Otis Wilson was 2nd at 10.5. They scored 5 TD's and had 2 more on special teams. The Ravens only had 35 sacks, 1 TD on defense and 2 more on special teams.

The Bears were undefeated at 12-0 and headed to Miami having already clinched the division and all but wrapped up home field advantage in the NFC. The game was played on MNF, McMahon was out again and the 1972 Dolphins were in attendance at the Orange Bowl to see if the Bears had a shot at matching their undefeated season. The Bears struggled to move the ball with Fuller under center and the Dolphins put up 31 first half points. The Bears picked off Marino on the Dolphins first 2nd half possession, then threw a pick of their own. Mark Clayton fumbled on the Dolphins 2nd possession and the Bears outscored them 14-7 in the 2nd half but lost the game 38-24. Do you know what a loss like that does to a 10yr old kid? Every game the rest of the year I was worried that the Bears would somehow lose and then not win the Super Bowl. Looking back on it now, I should have understood how dominate they were and realized the loss actually made them refocus. As a sidenote,Willie Gault had spent the week leading up to the Dolphins game organizing teammates and musicians to record the Super Bowl Shuffle . It was recorded in Chicago the morning after the loss to the Dolphins. Among those who did not participate was Dan Hampton because he thought it was a bit arrogant and a bit premature. Hampton was ready to choke the life out of Gault after the loss. I had the pleasure of hearing him tell the story in his own words about 15 years ago, if you ever see the Danimal out somewhere and you have the time, ask him about it. It's something I will always remember.

The Bears beat the Colts, Jets, and Lions to close the regular season at 15-1. The only real highlight in the final 3 weeks was Wilber Marshall's hit on Lions QB Joe Ferguson(6)(about 1:20 in). When the playoffs started the Bears were healthy and ready to roll. First came the Giants. They had just beat the defending champion 49ers 17-3 in the wild card game. The Bears made quick work of them by pressuring Phil Simms all afternoon and not allowing the Giants to score. Bears win 21-0, here come the Rams, from Los Angeles, where its warm. The Rams had won the NFC West by beating the 49ers and were the #2 seed in the NFC. They had shut out Dallas 20-0 while the Bears were doing the same to the Giants. The Rams were traveling across the country as 10.5 point underdogs to face the Bears for a shot at Super Bowl XX. The game time temp was 37 degrees, warm for January 12 on the Chicago lakefront, 18 degrees warmer than the game against the Giants the week before. The Rams gave up a TD in the first quarter on a McMahon 16 yd run and Butler added a FG. The Bears led 10-0 at the half. In the 3rd quarter McMahon hit Gault for a 22 yd score and the Bears led 17-0. With time winding down in the 4th quarter the Rams were near midfield and looking to get on the scoreboard. Dent hit Rams QB Dieter Brock and he fumbled, Wilber Marshall scooped up the ball and had a Bears escort to the endzone as it began to snow. The Bears won 24-0 and were headed to New Orleans to face the Patriots.

Everyone remembers Super Bowl XX and the final outcome, Bears win 46-10. At the time the most lopsided score in Super Bowl history. The Bears entered the game an 11 point favorite. Had it not been for a Walter Payton fumble on the Bears opening possession that gave the Patriots the ball inside the red zone the Bears quite possibly would have recorded the only shutout in Super Bowl history and finished that season by not allowing a point in the post season. New England didn't score again in that game until the 4th quarter when the score was 44-3. Had the Bears been pitching a shutout I have no doubt that the Patriots would not have scored. The Bears defense claimed its 7th and final QB of the season is the game when they knocked out Tony Eason(7) in the first half. It is widely known that the one regret that most players carry from that game is the fact that Walter Payton didn't score. Ditka claims it still bothers him to this day but, I have to believe that with the swagger and arrogance that the '85 Bears had they never thought that would be their only trip to the Super Bowl.

Some other interesting facts about the 1985 Chicago Bears. No starter made more than $685,000 in base salary and that paycheck belonged to Walter Payton. McMahon made $600,000, Dan Hampton was highest paid starter on defense at $325,000 and he was in his 7th season. Two starters, Dent and Mark Bortz only made $90,000 in base salary. All others made at least 6 figures. Two starters from the 1984 team sat out the entire season with contract disputes, DE/LB Al Harris and SS Todd Bell. The Bears swept the individual post season awards, Singletary was Defensive player of the year, Payton was Offensive player of the year and Ditka was named Coach of the year. Current Titans HC Jeff Fisher was a DB on the '85 Bears but spent the season on IR with an ankle injury that ended his career. The Super Bowl marked the final appearance of the Honey Bears, the official cheerleading squad of the Bears.

OK, the answer to the question I asked at the top about the 22 week 1 starters and the other significant players. First the 2 I missed. Mike Hartenstine DL and Leslie Frazier CB. Hartenstine was replaced as a starter in week 8 when Hampton moved from tackle to end and Perry became the starting tackle alongside McMichael. Defense: Hartenstine, Hampton, McMichael, Dent, Marshall, Singletary, Otis Wilson, Frazier, Mike Richardson, Gary Fencik, and Dave Duerson. Other important subs were Shaun Gayle, Ron Rivera, and Henry Waechter. Offense: Jimbo Covert, Bortz, Jay Hilgenberg, Tom Thayer, Keith Van Horne, Emery Moorehead, Willie Gault, Dennis McKinnon, Matt Suhey, Payton, and McMahon. Offensive subs include Calvin Thomas, Dennis Gentry, Thomas Sanders, Steve Fuller, Mike Tomczak, Tim Wrightman, Ken Margerum and Brian Baschnagel. Keith Ortego returned punts and Gentry and Gault returned kickoffs. Butler was the kicker and Maury Buford was the punter.

That's it! I had a lot of fun putting this together! Hope you enjoyed it. I'm going to watch wk 16 at Detroit and then on to the playoffs.