'85: The Greatest Team in Football History

To be a sports fan in Chicago was to be familiar with disappointment. The Cubs, White Sox and Black Hawks were seldom in contention late in their seasons. Prior to 1985, the Chicago Bears had not won a championship since 1963 and most seasons were hardly relevant. Angry Bear fans had taken to dumping beer on the Bear players as they exited the stadium. Fans even burned a hole in the canvas tarp that was constructed to protect the players from that humiliation. In the 1980's the Bears began drafting and collecting players like Jim McMahon, Mike Singletary, Steve McMichael, Willie Gault, Dennis McKinnon and Jim Covert who joined Otis Wilson and Walter Payton, the long-time mainstays of the team. The newer players were not used to losing and rejected the losing culture. Mike Ditka was hired in 1982 as the 10th coach of the Chicago Bear. Ditka had a real interest in the job as he had felt he left the team as a player under less than ideal circumstances. After an early practice, Ditka told the team he had good news and bad news for them. Ditka predicted the Bears would be in the Super Bowl in three years, but that half the roster on the field would not be there to see it. That kind of toughness permeated Ditka's coaching style and the Bears play on the field. Ditka worried little about who he might offend. Near the time when Neal Anderson was replaced as head coach by Ditka, the Bears defense wrote a petition letter to George Halas and Bears management that defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan be retained. With Halas support, Ryan was offered a new three-year contract that Ditka would have to accept. The Bears were essentially two teams with Ryan the father like drill sergeant running the defense separately from the offense. Practices had more hitting and running and were harder than most teams of that era in the NFL. Fights between offensive and defensive players were commonplace. The conflicts between Ryan and Ditka were real yet Ditka ran an offense that fit the Bears defense. The Bears ran a unique defensive scheme. The 46 defense which was complicated and hard hitting. The Bear defense became so dominant it cast fear in other NFL offenses. At virtually every position, the Bears defense had among the top athletes in the game and many were All-Pro, giving opposing offensives few options. On offense, Ditka quickly discovered he had no top caliber quarterback on the roster. In 1983, Jim McMahon was drafted from Brigham Young. McMahon was a rebellious and a free spirit who lived by his own rules stretching the standards of player decorum. At first, McMahon refused to sign his first contract when George Halas made him wait for a meeting. Later, McMahon toyed with NFL rules often promoting advertising on his headband. McMahon was notorious for changing the plays that Ditka called on the sideline, with mixed, but often positive results. McMahon sometimes frustrated Ditka but he proved to be a very intelligent quarterback and leader who may have lacked prototype physical tools. But mostly McMahon was a winner and Bears' fans began to believe the Bear team could have Super Bowl aspirations. In 1984, the young team started to realize its potential. Jim Osborne, who had been a Bear for 14 years was nearly in tears when the Bears won the division for the first time in his career. It resulted in the first ever Gatorade dump over a coach's head when the Bears celebrated the moment in Minnesota. The Bears faced the San Francisco 49ers in the 1984 NFC championship game and were trounced 23-0, leaving opposing safety Ronnie Lott to note that the next time the Bears should bring an offense. To a man on the plane ride home, the Bears made playing and winning the next year's Super Bowl their ultimate goal. Walter Payton was the Bears premiere player for several years before 1985. He was considered the best running back to play the game by his peers and was considered a legend while still playing the game. He was soft spoken but his talent was unquestioned. Payton fans were excited the Bears finally had some talented players around him hoping he would realize his Super Bowl dream. William "Refrigerator " Perry was a great athlete with nimble feet that weighed in at over 300 lbs. Perry was a great run stopping defensive lineman. Ditka saw his burst off the line and his size as an ideal blocking back for Walter Payton near to goal line. Later Ditka allowed Perry to run and catch the ball for touchdowns during the '85 season. NBC's Saturday Night Live built the "Superfan" characters based on real Bears fans who donned aviator glasses and Ditka like mustaches, drank heavily and loved their meats and sausages. The skits gained immediate popularity in Chicago and beyond. The Bears players themselves were a cast of characters. It was a team where everyone had a solo act, but successfully combined their talents into one of the hardest working teams in NFL history. The Bears gained in popularity and were mobbed both at home and on the road by fans. Bear players had many lucrative endorsements opportunities. The Bears were 12-0 and had already clinched the division when they rolled into the Orange Bowl to face the Miami Dolphins, the previous claimant to the best season in NFL history. The Dolphins, led by Dan Marino, defeated the Bears by spreading out their defense and matching up and preparing well for their opponent. The Bears took the loss as a wakeup call that reigned in some egos and refocused the season. The "Super Bowl Shuffle" video was taped at Park West, a Chicago night club, the morning after the Bears' only loss of the 1985 season, 38-24 to the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football on December 2, 1985. Jim McMahon and Walter Payton refused to participate in the video shoot, thinking it would be better to release the song and video after the season was complete. However, the team was insistent on releasing the song and video shortly after the shoot, so the video was filmed with the remaining players. Payton and McMahon both filmed their segments separately a week later at the Bears' practice facility. The video was a bold statement about the Bears being in the Super Bowl game which they had yet to reach. Willie Gault led the effort to recruit players for the video where the proceeds would go to charity. Many players felt the video would create bad karma, but ten players rapped in the memorable video. The Bears realizes it would be foolish to put out such a video and not be able to back it up. The Bears had that kind of confidence and arrogance. The weather turned cold when the Bears entered the playoffs. The Bear defense should put the Giants 21-0. The vaunted Los Angeles running attack led by Eric Dickerson was also no match for the Bears center defenders Steve McMichael, Dan Hampton and Mike Singletary who took great pride is stopping the run. The conference championship also ended with a shutout Bear victory. A short time later, the Bears and their fans took over Bourbon Street in New Orleans. The Bears interacted and partied with their fans much of the week before the Super Bowl. New England Patriot fans were largely outnumbered and ignored by bar owners. The Thursday morning before the game, comments disrespecting the people, the women and the city of New Orleans were attributed to Jim McMahon. Though false, McMahon lived in fear of retribution for the rest of the week, rather than being able to enjoy the Super Bowl experience. The night before the game, the Bears defense held a team meeting. The players realized that Buddy Ryan would be leaving the Bears after the game. The Monsters of the Midway had tears in their eyes that so enraged Steve McMichael that he threw a chair through a blackboard. On January 26, 1986, the Chicago Bears nailed the New England Patriots 46-10. The Bears did anything they wanted to both offensively and defensively. Every member of the roster got to play in the game. There was no way any other team would have beaten the Bears that day and the better team won. Chicago was the "Second City" no more and made headlines around the world. Mike Ditka and Buddy Ryan were carried off the field and the celebration began. In the aftermath of the victory, Ditka and many Bears and Bear fans regretted that Walter Payton had not scored a touchdown in the Super Bowl. It was a situation that Payton took personally. The Patriot game plan was designed to stop Payton at all costs and he served as a decoy on many plays. Still, the greatest running back who ever played the game failed to score a touchdown in the Super Bowl. The city of Chicago turned out some 45,000 fans for a downtown parade in subzero weather. Jimbo Covert, among the players chosen for the Pro Bowl, missed the parade and regrets it to this day. Just two days after the Super Bowl victory, NASA's Challenger space shuttle exploded sending seven American astronauts to their death. Chicago's celebration was short lived. Yet the Bears, like much of athletics, had a way of drawing people of diverse backgrounds together for a community ground and a common purpose. For a time, the city mirrored the Bears. All great teams much eventually suffer loss. In 2011, Dave Duerson committed suicide citing his mental health issues were a result of the pounding his head and brain took on the football field. Buddy Ryan passed away in 2016. Numerous Bears believe that any success they had in and off the field was due in large part to their relationship they had with Buddy Ryan. Walter Payton had no idea how many lives he impacted. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame by his son. Walter Payton was placed on a liver donors list fighting for his life at age 46. He died in 1999. The Bears did not repeat as Super Bowl champions. Buddy Ryan's absence was thought to be a large contributing factor. Ditka blamed the team management for not retaining several key players. Other players lost focus writing books and doing talk shows forgetting about what got them there in the first place. Jim McMahon suffered injuries and was not able to play consistently. The Bears never became a dynasty. They were more like a flare that shown beautifully but tended to fade away. Many argue that the '85 Chicago Bears were the greatest single season team of all time and that the '85 Bears defense was the single best unit of all time and that the Bear organization possessed the greatest running back of all time. Because of the Challenger tragedy, the Bears invitation to the White House to celebrate the championship was postponed. Twenty-five years later, President Barack Obama, a Bear fan, brought the '85 team there to celebrate the championship. The Bears were given the run of the house for the day and enjoyed the experience along with President and his staff. A particularly moving moment occurred when Obama gave special homage to Buddy Ryan as the architect of the 46 defense at a time when Ryan's life was fading. Bears players stated much the visit meant to them in later years, more so than if they had visited the White House six months after their victory. The Bears were recognized as a cultural force that changed Chicago and the country. In closing, Mike Singletary boldly decades that of the team had stayed together after the 1985 season, they certainly would have won more championships. 6*