Read The '85 Bears: We Were the Greatest Online
Authors: Mike Ditka,Rick Telander
The '85 Bears: We Were the Greatest (32 page)
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obody’s perfect, not even the 1985 Bears. When Miami had polished off the 38–24 victory that turned out to be the only blemish on the Bears’ season, the Dolphins ensured that their 1972 record of 14–0 in the regular season and 17–0 overall would remain unequaled.
Seven seconds into the second quarter, the Bears trailed 17–7. Scoring on every first-half possession, Miami extended its lead to 31–10 at intermission. Mike Ditka chose to get into a shootout with the great Dan Marino in the first half, and Marino won. He wound up throwing for 270 yards and three touchdowns. Walter Payton, meanwhile, did not carry the ball until the Bears were behind 10–7 and nearly 10 minutes had elapsed.
One semi-highlight: Payton broke the NFL record with his eighth consecutive 100-yard game, but only because the Bears called timout three times on defense in the final minute after Payton had fumbled the ball away when he was stuck on 98 yards. But the Dolphins failed to run out the clock, and Payton got another chance, finishing with 121 yards.
“Walter Payton is the greatest football player to ever play the game,” Ditka said. “Other people who call themselves running backs can’t carry his jersey.”
Steve Fuller is helped from the field after spraining his ankle.
Jim McMahon had missed the previous three weeks with a tender shoulder, but he looked sharp in warmups. Still, Ditka left him on the bench until Steve Fuller sprained his ankle early in the fourth quarter. McMahon moved the Bears briefly until throwing an interception with 6:12 to go. It was Miami’s third interception against a team that had thrown just nine during its 12–0 start.
The Miami Dolphins’ Nat Moore (89) catches a Dan Marino pass and runs for a touchdown, December 2, 1985.
Not all the action was on the field. When the Bears gave up their fourth touchdown in the first half after a blocked punt at their own 6-yard line, Ditka screamed in frustration at Buddy Ryan on the sideline. But Ditka was calm, even cocky, postgame: “Nobody’s perfect, and we proved it. Now it’s what you do with it. Do you bounce back? We’ll be back. [The Dolphins] deserved to win and we didn’t. I hope they go as far as we’re going to go and we play them again.”
Of course, the Dolphins did not go to the Super Bowl. But the next day several Bears did record “The Super Bowl Shuffle.” Perfect season or not, this team had swagger.
Chicago 24, Miami 38
DEC. 2, 1985, AT THE ORANGE BOWL
Dolphins pile it on right from the start
Maury Buford’s punt being blocked at the Bears’ 6-yard line. Nat Moore’s ensuing touchdown made it 31–10 Miami, still in the first half.
The Dolphins’ 31 first-half points were the most against the Bears since the 1972 season opener.
Linebacker Mike Singletary and the defense had no answer for Dan Marino and the Dolphins in the Bears’ only defeat.
OTIS WILSON
No. 55, linebacker
“W
e had the ’80s, and Michael had the ’90s.”
“When you say ‘showmen,’ we were just a crazy bunch of guys with great personalities, but when it was time to work, we went to work.”
“With Buddy Ryan doing some of the things he did and Mike being vocal, hey, everybody was crazy.”
“One thing Buddy said: ‘If you don’t know what you’re doing, you’ll be standing over here by me.’ I couldn’t stand him at first. No. 1, he wouldn’t call us by our names. And he was on us so hard. But he wanted you to understand what was really going on. By my second year, it clicked in my head. I understood the total picture, and it made me a better player.”
“‘The Super Bowl Shuffle’ sounded stupid. It sounded cocky. But, hey, we did it. We put ourselves out there in front of the bullet and made it happen. Willie Gault put that together, and Harold Washington was in office. They were trying to come up with an idea to raise money for various charities. That was the whole focus. It wasn’t that we were trying to relate it to football. We were trying to raise money for charity. But it just turned out that way.”
“[Mike] Singletary, an intense, smart individual. Hard-nosed. Almost like a coach on the field. Dedicated. Watching him study and understand the game helped me as well.”
“Playing with Wilber [Marshall], I called him ‘Pit Bull,’ because he got on you and don’t let you go.”
“Dave Duerson and I, when we played, we’d get a little excited, a little carried away sometimes. We were just saying, ‘We’re like a pack of dogs out here. ‘We just started barking, and that’s how it all started, believe it or not. I wish I could’ve put a patent on it. I’d be Bill Gates.”
“You couldn’t double-team anyone on that line. If you double-team Richard [Dent], [Dan] Hampton and [Steve] McMichael would take your head off.”
“We saw something in everybody’s eyes. We were coming, and they were like, ‘Oh, Lord, here they come again.’”
“The fans have always been great here in Chicago. Twenty-five years later, they can still name every player on that team. It’s recognized, it’s appreciated, and their support’s always been great.”
“It’s a brutal sport. You see this guy going into his fifth year, and this guy coming out of college is 21. I only have to pay him $20,000. I have to pay you a million. Which one do you think they’re going to pay? You’ve got to look at all these things, kid. Don’t go in there stupid.”
