The '85 Bears: We Were the Greatest (24 page)
Read The '85 Bears: We Were the Greatest Online
Authors: Mike Ditka,Rick Telander
Against Fuller, Lions on Empty
J
im McMahon sat this one out with tendinitis in his right shoulder, but Steve Fuller proved he could hand the ball off with the best of them as the Bears rolled to a 10–0 record. Walter Payton rushed for 107 yards and Matt Suhey for 102, the first time in two years that two Bears had broken 100 yards in the same game. The Bears ran 21 consecutive rushing plays before calling a pass, and they wound up running 55 times while throwing just 13. That made perfect sense. The Lions were the worst team in the NFL against the rush. Suhey proved that with six runs of 10 yards or more.
The William Perry extravaganza continued, though with a bit less flash. Late in the first quarter, the Bears had the ball at the Lions’ 4-yard line. On came Perry. The Fridge lined up at left halfback and led the blocking, but Payton was stymied at the 2. The Bears needed seven plays, including a holding penalty against Detroit, to reach the end zone. Perry played on three of them, and he went in motion as a decoy on Fuller’s one-yard touchdown keeper.
Cold, misty Soldier Field weather gave both teams trouble holding on to the ball, as each side fumbled three times, losing two. Barely into the second quarter, the Lions already had fumbled twice and thrown an interception. Granted, the Lions did not present much competition. But Buddy Ryan’s defense held its fifth straight opponent to 10 or fewer points, forced four turnovers, recorded four sacks, and gave up barely 100 total yards.
Matt Suhey, who rushed for 102 yards, rips off a large gain during the Bears’ victory over the Lions.
Mike Ditka said on November 11 that he would take a wait-and-see attitude toward starting quarterback Jim McMahon in Dallas the next week, when the Bears could clinch the NFC Central with a victory against the Cowboys.
Still, Fuller deserves some credit. Not only did his offense outrush Detroit 250–68, he also out-passed Eric Hipple 112–73 and threw no interceptions to his opponent’s two. Fuller also scored the first and last touchdowns on bootlegs. He did this without starting flanker Dennis McKinnon or starting tight end Emery Moorehead, who joined McMahon on the sidelines with injuries.
During warmups, McMahon tossed a few left-handed passes but did not test his right shoulder. It would be up to Fuller to lead the Bears for the next two games, in which they would post their most overwhelming victories … until the Super Bowl.
Chicago 24, Detroit 3
NOV. 10, 1985, AT SOLDIER FIELD
Bears’ offense clicks even without McMahon
Steve Fuller’s one-yard TD run in the first quarter. Playing in place of the injured Jim McMahon, Fuller also scored the Bears’ final touchdown.
The Bears outgained the Lions by an overwhelming 360–106 margin.
An injured Jim McMahon watches from the sideline.
STEVE MCMICHAEL
No. 76, defensive tackle
“T
his thing isn’t going to die out, this ’85 Bears thing, baby. We were entertainers, you understand? We were entertainers as well as a great football team. That’s why everybody remembers us in the pantheon of pro football. We could’ve been the team of the decade if McMahon had stayed healthy. But he didn’t.”
“I knew there was going to be something special downtown when we left the airport and all the exits from O’Hare to downtown were blocked off. There was no traffic. There was no traffic even waiting to come on where it was blocked off. So I knew everybody was downtown.”
“Mike Ditka brought the ‘Monsters of the Midway’ back to Chicago. They’d been gone since Dick Butkus. That’s why he’s beloved.”
“Listen, baby, we were vicious. That’s the Cro-Magnon that Hampton talked about, and teams were scared to come in here and play us.”
“I’m not talking about scared whether they were going to win or lose. I’m talking about scared if they were going to get out of the game walking or on a stretcher.”
“When Wilber Marshall hit Joe Ferguson in Detroit, ooohhh, my goodness. You can’t do it anymore, but it was legal back then. Ferguson was out before he hit the ground, and how I knew he was out was Richard Dent, like a referee in boxing, he picked up Ferguson’s arm and let it go and it just flopped back down.”
“I think we put out six starting quarterbacks that year.”
“They gave me the paper that we wanted Halas to keep Buddy no matter who the coach was, and I signed it, even though Buddy wasn’t playing me yet. That’s the kind of respect I had for him. I wanted him to stick around long enough for him to put me in the game and play me. Then I knew I’d done something. I was proud of myself when that happened.”
“One of the best games I played in pro football was that year against the San Francisco 49ers in
Candlestick Park. I got a game ball and we beat them 26–10. That’s when I knew we were going to win the Super Bowl, because they were the defending world champions, they were there in all their glory, they didn’t have any injuries, it was in their house, and we whipped their (butts).”
“Buddy would give us a little speech before the game and walk out of the meeting, and Dale Haupt, the defensive line coach, would run the projector and we’d watch one more reel of film. Well, the night before the Super Bowl, Buddy got up in front of us, and the last thing he said before he walked out of the room was, ‘No matter what happens, you guys will always be my heroes.’ I knew he was gone. Tears in his eyes, you understand?”
“After he walked out and closed the door, I stood up, picked up the metal chair that was under me, those folding chairs, and threw it into the blackboard that was right in front of me. It was like a movie special effect. I was trying to shatter the board. All four legs impaled the thing and just hung there. The room erupted. That’s when Hampton clubbed the projector and said, ‘This meeting’s over.’ And we all filed out yelling and screaming. That fever pitch that started right there kind of carried through till about halftime, and we’d already blown the game out.”
“I might not ever be in the Hall of Fame, but there’s guys in there that are, and I’ve whipped their (butts).”
