The '85 Bears: We Were the Greatest (30 page)
Read The '85 Bears: We Were the Greatest Online
Authors: Mike Ditka,Rick Telander
Numbers Add Up to an Even Dozen
A
fter the Bears stomped Atlanta 36–0 at Soldier Field to complete a three-game stretch in which they’d outscored opponents by a combined 104–3, other numbers might pale. No way.
Walter Payton gained 102 yards for his seventh straight game with 100 or more yards, tying the NFL record held by Buffalo’s O.J. Simpson and Houston’s Earl Campbell. Payton, who left for the day in the third quarter, had his 71st career 100-yard game and scored the Bears’ first touchdown by tiptoeing down the sideline for 40 yards, the team’s longest run of the season.
The defense suffocated the Falcons, holding them to 119 total yards and neutering the passing game. Atlanta’s David Archer and Bob Holly combined to complete three passes for 16 yards, and their passing yardage was reduced to minus-22 when 38 yards of sacks were factored in.
Three of those sacks came from Henry Waechter, who recorded the Bears’ third safety in six games.
Henry Waechter! Who knew?
The closest the Falcons penetrated was to the Bears’ 18-yard line in the third quarter, but Gerald Riggs, the NFL’s leading rusher, was held to one yard on a fourth-and-3 situation.
Defensive lineman Mike Hartenstine grabs a fumble by Atlanta’s Bob Holly.
William Perry added a wrinkle to his offensive legend by scoring again, this time by leaping (everything’s relative) into the end zone from the 1-yard line. Having been ankle-tackled and stopped short of the goal the previous week in Dallas, Perry took to the air this time after Steve Fuller had hit Willie Gault on consecutive passes of 20 and 50 yards. The touchdown was Perry’s third of the season, second by rushing.
The Falcons Gerald Riggs (42) gets a dose of heavy coverage by Chicago Bears defenders Mike Singletary (50), Dave Duerson (22), and Steve McMichaels, during first-half NFL action on November 24, 1985, in Chicago.
Normally sturdy fullback Matt Suhey hurt his back in the first half, and former Illini Calvin Thomas didn’t miss a beat filling in. His 18-yard run helped set up the first of two Kevin Butler field goals, and Thomas himself scored on a two-yard run in the second half.
The rout of the Falcons was the 12th consecutive victory for the Bears. Only two teams in NFL history had won more at the start of a season, the Bears’ 13 in 1934 and the Miami Dolphins’ 14 in 1972.
“Right now we’re playing at a very high peak,” defensive end Dan Hampton said. “We needed this type of effort to get ready for Miami because they’re a great offensive team.”
Eight days later, Hampton’s words would prove prophetic.
Chicago 36, Atlanta 0
NOV. 24, 1985, AT SOLDIER FIELD
Payton, defense push Falcons into oblivion
While Gault’s back-to-back 20- and 50-yard receptions from Steve Fuller. They brought the ball to the 1-yard line, and from there William Perry scored.
The defense held Atlanta to minus-22 yards passing and had five sacks.
Walter Payton is out of reach and off on a 40-yard touchdown run, part of a 102-yard day.
LESLIE FRAZIER
No. 21, cornerback
“I
came in town for the first time in a while for the Bears convention, and I could not believe the way the fans treated myself and the other guys who played in the Super Bowl. It was almost like we just won it this past February.”
“When we were walking off the field at halftime and they were playing ‘The Super Bowl Shuffle,’ it was almost like it was a home field for us.”
“As far as I’m concerned, Walter Payton was the greatest running back ever. But a great human being who really tried to reach out to me and other young players and tried to be a good example.”
“The scheme that we ran was so unique at the time. It took a lot of pressure off our defensive backs. People thought we were under a lot of pressure because we played so much man and we blitzed so much, but Buddy Ryan would tell us, ‘Just cover them an extra second, Leslie, and we’ll get there,’ and boy, we usually got there.”
“I don’t think I would have that Super Bowl ring if not for Mike Ditka. Without question. When he came in, I don’t know if we really understood what it took to win in the National Football League, the sacrifice that was necessary, the importance of teamwork. He instilled that toughness that we needed to get over the hump.”
“Next to us winning a Super Bowl and meeting some of the guys I met, that period of time coaching at Trinity College was probably the greatest period of my life. To come in there and start a football program at 28 years of age and be an African American head coach at a Christian college was a great time.”
“The birth of my kids and the lady I married—those are experiences I wouldn’t change for anything in the world.”
