(Ed Wagner Jr./Chicago Tribune/TNS)Kori Rumore, Chicago TribuneMon, December 1, 2025 at 10:30 AM UTC·27 min readCHICAGO — Don Pierson called 1985 the “most memorable season” not just for the Chicago Bears, but for any NFL team. The personalities, the injuries, the swagger, the statistics — all of the season’s highs and lows are recorded in his dozens of notebooks.
“There were so many (potential) stories, you had to pick one to work on,” he said. “Even the ‘Super Bowl Shuffle’ — it was just another story for that week.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementPierson, who covered the Bears for the Chicago Tribune from training camp in Rensselaer, Ind., in 1969, through the team’s loss to the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLI, said the Bears’ road to New Orleans wasn’t easy. He pointed out that the Bears came from behind several times early that season and remained undefeated until Week 13. The determination to make it to Super Bowl XX stemmed from coach Mike Ditka, who was introduced as Bears coach on Jan. 20, 1982.
“He was the first coach that ever came and said, ‘Some of you are going to be here and some of you won’t, but we’re going to the Super Bowl,'” Pierson recalled. “The older players like Gary Fencik and Walter Payton were happy to hear that because no other coach had ever talked about the Super Bowl.”
Pierson wrote hundreds of stories during the 1985 season, and has since written multiple books about the team, including the “Chicago Bears Centennial Scrapbook,” with Dan Pompei. He’s also been honored by the Pro Football Hall of Fame for his work.
Forty years later, here’s a look back — game-by-game — at the incredible 1985 season for the Bears, with Pierson’s insights:
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWeek 1: Bears 38, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 28
Sept. 8, 1985, Soldier Field
“I was kinda disappointed the fans got on our butt,” said Bears quarterback Jim McMahon, who made his first regular-season appearance since a kidney injury nearly ended his career Nov. 4, 1984. “We got down two TDs, and we started hearing the boos again. Hey, we can come back and score.”
Pierson: Openers are as important in football as they are on Broadway. If lost, they are often closers. When they fell behind a very ordinary Tampa Bay team 28-17 at halftime, the extraordinary expectations the Bears had for their 1985 season seemed pretentious.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“Maybe sometimes we read about how good we are,” Ditka said. Maybe the 130-degree heat on the Soldier Field Astroturf — which made it feel “more like a steam iron than a gridiron” — made Tampa feel more at home. But when defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan told cornerback Leslie Frazier at halftime to change his coverage, intercept a pass and run it back for a touchdown — and that’s exactly what happened — it was the first sign of magic to come.
Stat line: After giving up 307 yards, the Bears defense was not ranked No. 1 in the league for the first time since 1983.
“We thought we played terrible,” cornerback Mike Richardson said. “Embarrassing, ” Bears middle linebacker Mike Singletary said.
Week 2: Bears 20, New England Patriots 7
Sept. 15, 1985, Soldier Field
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“No surprises,” Bears safety Dave Duerson said. “(The Patriots) ran right into our hands 95% of the time. We had a game plan of 150 pages, and they ran right into it.”
Pierson: Nobody predicted a Super Bowl preview before or after this one. The defense intercepted Patriots quarterback Tony Eason three times and sacked him six times — three by Singletary — putting Eason in no hurry for a rematch four months later.
There was concern over injuries to McMahon (neck) and running back Walter Payton (ribs) because the Bears had to play the Vikings in Minnesota four days later on national TV.
Stat line: With 9:03 left, the Bears lost their shutout when Eason found running back Craig James isolated on Bears’ linebacker Wilber Marshall. Eason lofted a short pass over Marshall’s head that James turned into a 90-yard touchdown — then the longest in New England and Soldier Field history.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWeek 3: Bears 33, Minnesota Vikings 24
Sept. 19, 1985, Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
“I got in (Ditka’s) ear during warmups and told him I felt ready,” McMahon said. “I stayed in his ear at halftime and then after the first series of the third quarter, I said, ‘Let me go, I’m ready.’”
Pierson: McMahon hadn’t practiced because of lingering neck, leg and back problems, so Ditka told him he wouldn’t play. McMahon kept badgering Ditka on the sideline. So behind 17-9 halfway through the third quarter, McMahon replaced Steve Fuller and the magic turned near mystical. First pass, touchdown. Second pass, touchdown. Seventh pass, touchdown.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“That guy, I can’t explain,” Ditka said.
And no surprise that Payton — still battling sore ribs — played the whole game. His play-saving block of blitzing linebacker Dennis Johnson on McMahon’s first touchdown pass was one reason he is the best football player I’ve seen in 70 years of following the NFL.
“Beware of players with small injuries,” said Vikings coach Bud Grant. “I’m just glad I lasted this long to be around,” 10-year safety Gary Fencik said. “I was giddy on the way home.”
Stat line: In the span of 6:40, McMahon had completed five of seven passes for three touchdowns. “I must have been blessed tonight,” McMahon said. “I can’t remember the last time I threw three TDs like that.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMost amazing was that none of McMahon’s touchdown passes were planned.
“The first play, I almost fell on my face. I felt like a fool and thought, ‘What a start,'” McMahon said. “It was a blitz, and luckily Willie (Gault) was looking, so I threw it up. It was supposed to be a screen pass to Matt Suhey.”
“I don’t know how you write scripts for the kind of game you saw out there,” said Ditka, who turned and shook his head in disbelief on the sidelines after McMahon’s third touchdown pass.
Week 4: Bears 45, Washington Redskins 10
Sept. 29, 1985, Soldier Field
“If we play like we can play, ain’t nobody who can beat us,” McMahon said postgame. “I don’t mean we can just show up. I mean if we execute, we can beat anybody. We believe that now. Maybe last year we had some doubts. But not anymore, I don’t think. We’ve got that kind of confidence now.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementPierson: Greatness is not measured in one-fourth of a season, but the Bears have won their games the way great teams win them: Somehow, they find a way.
It was a misleading final score, because once again, the Bears were behind 10-0 before Gault returned a kickoff 99 yards. Then Dennis McKinnon caught his fifth touchdown pass in four games.
The game was Tom Thayer’s first start for injured right guard Kurt Becker, and also the only game left tackle Jim Covert missed with injury. For the next 15 games, Covert, left guard Mark Bortz, center Jay Hilgenberg, Thayer, and right tackle Keith Van Horne started every game. It was the best offensive line in Bears’ history and underscores how important continuity and competence count up front.
Stat line: Payton was held to six yards on seven carries, but Washington forgot he could also pass. On a trick play, Payton hit McMahon for a 13-yard touchdown pass.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWeek 5: Bears 27, Buccaneers 19
Oct. 6, 1985, Houlihan’s Stadium
“I don’t feel bad about it, but I don’t feel good about it, either,” Singletary said after the game. “I didn’t think it would take this long for us to perfect our game. We’re not doing enough of the little things. At various times, that makes the difference.”
Pierson: The Buccaneers won only two games all season, but when they jumped out to a 12-0 lead, it marked the fourth time in five games the Bears had fallen behind. So it’s no wonder Chicago fans were still a tad wary of their undefeated team. It took eight catches for 114 yards by underrated tight end Emery Moorehead and two fourth-quarter touchdown runs by Payton to get to 5-0.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAll week, players had credited Ditka with reminding them they had the confidence and ability to come back.
“He said the real true test of a great team is what you can overcome,” fullback Matt Suhey said. “We want to win ‘em all,” McMahon said.
Stat line: The Bucs had closed to 20-19 on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Steve DeBerg to Gerald Carter with 5:21 left. It would have been 20-20 if they hadn’t aborted an extra-point try in the first half with a wild snap.
Week 6: Bears 26, San Francisco 49ers 10
Oct. 13, 1985, Candlestick Park
“The Bears have a great football team,” 49ers quarterback Joe Montana said. “But they didn’t play us any different than they did in the title game. The difference was we didn’t make any mistakes in that game. We made enough mistakes today to last us a long time.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementPierson: The Bears had been looking ahead to this rematch since losing last year’s NFC title 23-0 to the eventual Super Bowl winners, who rudely suggested the Bears “bring an offense” next time. Big mistake.
“They didn’t show much courtesy or dignity,” Payton said. “They said negative things about our offense.” Payton’s 132 yards rushing and two touchdowns — plus the defense’s seven sacks of Montana — stamped the Bears as the new team to beat. The 49ers’ only touchdown came on an interception return.
The Bears ran out the clock with 300-plus-something-pound rookie defensive tackle William “The Refrigerator” Perry carrying the ball, an answer for what the Bears thought was the 49ers’ insulting use of guard Guy McIntyre as a running back late in the NFC title shutout.
“When I got up from the pile and the 49ers saw that I was the ball carrier, their eyes got real big,” Perry said.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementDitka celebrated too much on the plane ride home and got a DUI citation, which immediately stopped the celebration: “I don’t have a right to drink and drive. That right nobody has.”
Stat line: The 49ers were penalized 13 times for 94 yards.
Week 7: Bears 23, Green Bay Packers 7
Oct. 21, 1985, Soldier Field
“I’m just a straight-ahead runner at the goal line,” Perry said after the game.
Pierson: Perry, the Bears’ first pick at No. 22 in 1985, was in on only eight tackles and had no sacks in limited play for the first six games. Ryan labeled him a “wasted pick.” If Ryan wasn’t going to use him on defense, Ditka said he’d use him on offense. So the usual Monday night build-up for a Bears-Packers game reached a crescendo when Perry entered at fullback in the second quarter at the goal line.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe Bears were behind 7-0, and when Perry blocked linebacker George Cumby halfway out of the end zone to pave the way for Payton’s 2-yard touchdown, the nation was introduced to a more whimsical brand of football. But once wasn’t enough. Perry then carried for a touchdown over Cumby, and then blocked Cumby again for another Payton TD — all in the second quarter.
“I hit him pretty good but he outweighed me by 100 pounds. It’s not enough we have a worry about Payton,” Cumby said. Perry headed to “Late Night with David Letterman” the next week. As usual, it wasn’t all happy news for the Bears, as McMahon sustained “a tremendous bruise” on his seat, an injury that would rear up again Super Bowl week.
Stat line: The Bears used three quarterbacks in the game — McMahon, Fuller and rookie Mike Tomczak — for a play that backfired on the snap.
Week 8: Bears 27, Vikings 9
Oct. 27, 1985, Soldier Field
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“What today showed is we have a lot of ways to win,” Ditka said. “If we put it all on the right track, we can be pretty darn good.”
Pierson: The season’s two games against the Packers were only two weeks apart, so most of the talk seemed to look past the Vikings. There were accusations that the Bears ran up the score on the Packers. There were also rumblings of controversy surrounding a Bears team that was thus far unselfish and unspoiled. Would Perry get too much publicity? Would linemen or fullbacks who blocked for a living be jealous of Perry’s sudden notoriety?
The players ignored the noise and won with ease. Linebacker Otis Wilson had two of four sacks and returned an interception for a touchdown. Linebacker Wilber Marshall had two of the team’s five interceptions.
Perry and the Bears agreed his weight was only 308, which, 40 years later, would have made him one of the league’s smaller defensive tackles. For the first time, he played most of the game and registered his first career sack. “Better than scoring a touchdown,” he said.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementStat line: For the first time since 1942, the Bears were 8-0.
Week 9: Bears 16, Packers 10
Nov. 3, 1985, Lambeau Field
“I wasn’t the star of this show. This team is the star. Put the spotlight on the Chicago Bears.” Payton said. “This was as intense a game as we’ve ever had against them, in a way. I couldn’t say what their motivation was today, but ours was that we’re a pretty good football team who’s not supposed to lose to them.”
Pierson: In the Lambeau Field parking lot, fans took turns bashing refrigerators with sledgehammers. Inside the stadium, a Bears fan was wearing an actual refrigerator.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWhen the Bears got into their locker room, it reeked from two bags of manure stashed there. Ditka had said he respected Packers coach Forrest Gregg, a former teammate in Dallas, but defensive tackle Steve McMichael had a different take: “Mike and Forrest don’t have the greatest desire to like each other.”
Six personal foul penalties, four on the Packers, turned the first half into an ugly spectacle. Packers safety Ken Stills hit Suhey so late that Suhey confronted Gregg in a restaurant during Super Bowl week. Perry made his first start at defensive tackle next to McMichael, with Dan Hampton shifting to end opposite Richard Dent. Solid starter Mike Hartenstine became a sub. With 30 seconds left in the half and the Bears behind 3-0, Perry caught a touchdown pass from McMahon. “I had to keep a straight face when I got on the line,” Perry said.
McMahon said, “I ran down the sideline and flipped Gregg the bird.” But the outcome wasn’t decided until Payton ran 27 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, capping a season-best 192-yard day. Anybody who thought Payton had lost a step and was along for the ride in his 11th season as the Bears turned into more of a passing team did not see what I and many others thought was the signature game of his career.
Said Ditka: “Maybe as good as I’ve ever seen a guy with a football under his arm play.” He carried the Bears on his back in their closest call of the first nine weeks.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“Hard to put into words what he means to this team,” Hampton said. “If it wasn’t for Walter, this game would have been a fiasco.”
Stat line: Payton became the first NFL player to reach 14,000 career rushing yards, or actually 14,153.
Week 10: Bears 24, Detroit Lions 3
Nov. 10, 1985, Soldier Field
“When we woke up and saw the waves on Lake Michigan going up, we knew it would be a hard day to pass the ball,” Payton said. (The Bears opened with 21 consecutive runs.)
Pierson: With McMahon out with a sprained shoulder, backup Fuller ran for two touchdowns and handed off to Payton and Suhey, who each had 100-yard days against the league’s worst run defense. Perry — called “the final piece of the puzzle” by personnel director Bill Tobin — had five tackles and two sacks in his second start. And the Bears eventually became the first team in NFL history to have three defensive linemen from the same team elected to the Hall of Fame: Hampton, Dent and McMichael.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAgain, it seemed like the team might be looking past Detroit to their next game in Dallas, where the Cowboys beat the Bears 15-13 in an August preseason game that didn’t look meaningless as six Bears and an unknown number of Cowboys were fined for fighting. It was also the last time the Bears lost a game.
Stat line: At 10-0, the Bears were the 12th team in professional football history to win their first 10 games of the season. With a win in Week 11, the Bears could clinch the NFC Central Division.
Week 11: Bears 44, Cowboys 0
Nov. 17, 1985, Texas Stadium
“This one was for Mike (Ditka),” Payton said.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementPierson: After the Bears lost to the Cowboys the year before in the first meeting between Ditka and his old coach Tom Landry, Ditka made a very unusual admission. “I got uptight. I choked,” he said. This time, it was the Cowboys’ worst defeat ever — and it enabled the Bears to clinch a division title earlier than anybody ever had.
The game’s first two touchdowns came on interception returns by Dent and cornerback Mike Richardson. Fuller again subbed for McMahon, but it didn’t seem to matter as the Bears had six sacks and four interceptions against “America’s Team.”
Said Hampton: “If we keep playing like this, the other 27 teams in the league might start calling us the Kremlin’s Team.” With Hampton playing over center in Ryan’s “46” defense designed to limit double-team blocks, the pass rush was overwhelming.
Critics noticed opposing receivers were at times running dangerously wide open, but Ryan reminded them it was hard for any quarterback to throw while lying on his back. Safety Dave Duerson said what everybody was thinking: “We’re destined.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementStat line: The Cowboys didn’t make more than two first downs in a series.
Week 12: Bears 36, Atlanta Falcons 0
Nov. 24, 1985, Soldier Field
“That’s the thing … we aren’t satisfied yet,” Singletary said. “If you set your goals as being the best team of all time, the best players of all time, how can you be satisfied?”
Pierson: Of the 28 quarterbacks who started the NFL season, only nine were still starting by Week 12 because of injury or other circumstances. Of the replacements, Fuller had the best job. In his third straight start, all he had to do was get one score and the Bears won.
This time, rookie placekicker Kevin Butler got the rout started with two field goals. Then Payton again wowed the crowd with a 40-yard tightrope run for a touchdown along the sideline worthy of a ballet dancer. Perry scored his third touchdown of the season, more than starting fullback Suhey or speed receiver Gault had tallied.
The defense was again so impenetrable that the Falcons ended up with only three pass completions and minus-22 yards net passing. Backup defensive tackle Henry Waechter had three sacks including a safety to cap the fun. “We’re going to ask him to make a pass rush film to show Hampton and McMichael,” Ditka joked. “The way our defense is playing, it seems nothing is too hard.”
Stat line: Only two other teams had won 12 games to start their seasons: 1934 Bears (13-0) and 1972 Miami Dolphins (14-0).
Week 13: Miami Dolphins 38, Bears 24
Dec. 2, 1985, Orange Bowl
“We don’t need games like we’ve had the last two weeks,” Ditka said. “I think we need to be in games when it’s tooth and nail. It’s good for the coaches to see if we choke or not.”
Pierson: Be careful what you wish for. On a Monday night in Miami, the Dolphins not only preserved their legacy as the only team to complete an undefeated season (1972), but their game plan caused Ditka and Ryan to practically choke each other in the locker room at halftime.
Ditka was mad at Ryan for making Marshall try to cover slot receiver Nat Moore, who caught two touchdown passes from Dan Marino during a 31-10 onslaught in the first half.
“In the paper, it said Ditka was hollering at me. It didn’t say I was hollering back,” Ryan complained.
Ditka and Ryan echoed each other the next day: “We beat ourselves.” McMahon relieved a hobbled Fuller in the fourth quarter, but it was too late for any magic. “I hope they go as far as we’re going to go and we’ll play them again,” Ditka said.
Amazingly, most of the Bears kept a commitment arranged by Gault to tape the “Super Bowl Shuffle” rap video the next day. Although the “Shuffle” remains famous 40 years later, it was infamous to some. “I thought, ‘We better win the Super Bowl now or we’ll all look like a bunch of jerks,’” Hilgenberg said.
Stat line: Payton set an NFL record with his eighth straight 100-yard game but it was lost in the loss.
Week 14: Bears 17, Indianapolis Colts 10
Dec. 8, 1985, Soldier Field
“Hampton put it best,” McMichael said. “If you’re winning the Indy 500 by 10 laps, there’s no reason to push your car down the stretch.”
Pierson: Although the outcome never seemed in doubt against a Colts team with only three wins, it took a 16-yard touchdown run by Payton late in the third quarter to break a 3-3 tie. He did it on the way to extending his record 100-yard streak to nine games.
McMahon returned to start, and minus the incentive of an undefeated season, the team appeared to go on cruise control waiting for the playoffs. The game ball went to punter Maury Buford, who put two of his four kicks inside the Colts’ 5-yard line.
Said McMahon: “We’d like to win the next two games. The team that seems to limp into the playoffs usually limps out of there in a hurry.”
General manager Jerry Vainisi asked players to limit appearances and promotional activities to days off. “It was snowballing,” Vainisi said.
Stat line: The 13 victories tied the Bears’ most in a regular season, set in 1934.
Week 15: Bears 19, New York Jets 6
Dec. 14, 1985, Giants Stadium
“Best defense we’ve faced,” Hilgenberg said after Payton’s streak of 100-yard games ended.
Pierson: As meaningless as this game might have looked to the Bears, it was plenty meaningful for the Jets, who were still in the thick of the AFC East race and playing at home. So it was impressive that Butler kicked four field goals on a windy day in East Rutherford, N.J., to set club records. The Jets tried to keep Butler from doing it by conveniently opening a gate at the end of the stadium to increase the wind every time Butler lined up.
“We’d do it too if we had a gate,” Butler figured. He broke Mac Percival’s season record with his 26th field goal, and with only 17 seconds left, Ditka ignored claims of pouring it on by letting Butler break Bob Thomas’ record 11 consecutive makes in a row.
With all the deserved accolades for the Bears defense, people forget the Bears led the NFC in scoring too.
Stat line: Dent had two sacks on his way to leading the league with 17.
Week 16: Bears 37, Lions 17
Dec. 22, 1985, Pontiac Silverdome
“We played lousy. We couldn’t beat a playoff team today,” Ditka said. A day later, he changed his mind. “We played great.”
Pierson: Despite the lopsided final score, it was only 6-3 before Dennis Gentry returned the second-half kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown.
The week of the Detroit game, Pro Bowl voters elected nine Bears but overlooked some including Fencik, who led the team in tackles. Elected twice after losing seasons, Fencik was disappointed but philosophical and ecstatic about winning.
“It’s too bad because he’s probably had as good a year as anyone in football,” Ditka said. Fencik’s presence helped make fellow safety and first-year starter Duerson a Pro Bowler, and Fencik had opinions about his three other Pro Bowl teammates.
“Take Hampton away and it would be a critical loss. Singletary runs the defense and is the best middle linebacker in football. But impact player this year? Richard Dent,” he said.
Hampton had his own choice for defensive “unsung hero,” Marshall, also overlooked in Pro Bowl voting as Wilson, another linebacker, finally got honored. Then there was McMichael, who led the defensive line in tackles but was also shunned by voters.
Stat line: Butler finished the regular season with 144 points. He was the first Bear to win the league scoring title since 1965, when Gale Sayers scored 132 points in a 14-game schedule.
Divisional playoff: Bears 21, New York Giants 0
Jan. 5, 1986, Soldier Field
“What if we had lost? What would 15-1 mean?” Hilgenberg asked. “It wouldn’t have meant anything. It would have been ugly. What 15-1 does is make us feel a certain responsibility to win these games. We just don’t want to be second best. Nobody remembers who finished second or third.”
Pierson: The Bears became somewhat of a traveling circus for the playoffs in going to Suwanee, Ga., to practice. Even though they had earned home-field advantage, there was no home facility for practice in the winter. They immediately embraced the national spotlight.
Ryan predicted a shutout in the NFC Divisional title game against the Giants. McMahon was asked if he would predict a Super Bowl victory the way idol Joe Namath had for the 1969 Jets. “If we get there, yeah, I’ll say we’ll win it,” McMahon said.
Dent’s first of three and a half sacks set up a punt in the first quarter and the cold Soldier Field wind blew the ball off punter Sean Landeta’s foot. Shaun Gayle returned it five yards for a touchdown. Ryan also used backup safety Gayle in what he called a “Smurf 46” defensive alignment.
Covert kept feared pass rusher Lawrence Taylor away from McMahon, who threw two touchdown passes to McKinnon in the third quarter.
“You can go back the 20 years I’ve been around and be hard-pressed to find a defensive end play any better in a big game than Richard Dent played,” Ditka said. Dent’s agent used the compliment to issue the unlikely threat of withholding Dent’s services from a Super Bowl if a contract extension couldn’t be reached.
Stat line: Butler, who made 22 straight field goals from inside the 40, missed them from 26, 49 and 38 yards— all kicking against the wind. He cheered when he made the extra point against the wind to make it 14-0.
Conference championship: Bears 24, Los Angeles Rams 0
Jan. 12, 1986, Soldier Field
“Eleven years of climbing mountains and all the sweat finally paid off,” Payton said. “I wish this was the Super Bowl.”
Pierson: Everybody remembers when the snowflakes starting to fall at Soldier Field in the final minutes of the NFC title game after Dent sacked quarterback Dieter Brock and forced a fumble that Marshall returned 52 yards to the end zone. It looked like confetti sent from heaven by Bears founder George Halas as the Bears earned their first Super Bowl trip. “He sent the sunshine, the snow, the touchdowns, everything,” Ditka said.
Ryan had predicted three fumbles by running back Eric Dickerson, who dropped it twice. “If they would have run him more, he would have had three,” Ryan explained. McMahon ran 16 yards for a touchdown that was supposed to be a pass and later passed 22 yards to Gault for a touchdown that was supposed to be a run.
“The coach sent in a draw play I didn’t agree with, so I called my own,” McMahon said. It was not the first or last time the “punky QB” would be defiant. He wore a “ROZELLE” headband to remind NFL commissioner Pete he didn’t appreciate the $5,000 uniform violation fine for wearing an “Adidas” headband.
The Bears wished they were replaying the Dolphins, but the Patriots beat them for the AFC title, which made Patriot castoff McMichael happy.
Stat line: The Bears entered Super Bowl XX as the only team ever to record two straight playoff shutouts.
Super Bowl XX: Bears 46, Patriots 10
Jan. 26, 1986, Superdome
“Isn’t there any other news?” complained team President Michael McCaskey about McMahon.
With the circus invading New Orleans, there were more stories than the 26 Tribune reporters on site could wish for. Yet McMahon managed to overshadow all, starting with calling out McCaskey for not allowing his personal acupuncturist on the plane to tend to his sore rear end. Then he mooned a TV helicopter sent to spy on practice. Then he gathered a new collection of headbands to defiantly display. Then he was falsely accused on the radio for unkind observations he didn’t make about local females. Later, he revealed he was getting death threats. It was stunning how much pressure was building for the QB, unless it was all intentional.
“He’s a guy who is really kind of immune to all the pressures,” Suhey said. Single-handedly, intentionally or not, McMahon removed all the pressure from his teammates and coaches and put it on himself. That’s why I was one of the Super Bowl MVP voters who wrote down McMahon’s name instead of the deserving winner, Dent.
The Bears had seven sacks and held the Patriots to seven yards rushing. But it was McMahon who plunged for two touchdowns and directed an offense to the 46 points that cemented Ryan’s “46” defense into football immortality. McMahon’s only regret was not defying Ditka again and letting Payton score the final touchdown instead of Perry, a mistake also regretted by Ditka and lamented by Payton more than he let on at the time. It would have helped ease the memory of Payton’s fumble on the second play of the game that set up a Patriots field goal and prompted Patriots fans to march through the New Orleans airport the next day chanting, “We scored first! We scored first!”
On Super Bowl eve, Ryan had strongly hinted he would soon be named head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, prompting McMichael to throw a chair that stuck into the blackboard of their meeting room. The defense responded by terrorizing quarterback Eason, who was replaced after completing none of his six passes.
The Bears had just completed what I believe remains the most memorable single season in NFL history. The game drew a television audience of 127 million, replacing the final episode of “M*A*S*H” as the largest in TV history. But the day after the freezing celebration parade in Chicago, the space shuttle Challenger exploded after takeoff in Florida, putting an abrupt end to national merriment.
Stat line: Because they were so talented and young, more Super Bowl wins were predicted that still await 40 years later.
____
AdvertisementAdvertisement
