The '85 Bears: We Were the Greatest (35 page)
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Authors: Mike Ditka,Rick Telander
It hurts me that the Bears haven’t won the championship again. There are a lot of reasons why they haven’t, and I could tell you a lot of stuff. But that’s for another day.
Besides, I don’t get mad at things any more. Not things I can’t control. Not life. Really, I don’t. I only get mad at cab drivers now and then.
Because they’re idiots.
Ugly, but They’ll Take It
T
urns out meaningless games were not meaningless to championship-starved Soldier Field fans, who showered a 12–1 team with boos at halftime of a listless effort against Indianapolis. The Bears already had clinched home-field advantage throughout the playoffs but no longer could go undefeated, so they lacked motivation for the final three games the schedule said they had to play. Still, a 17–10 victory was better than the reverse.
Predictably, the Bears came out flat. Problem was, they stayed that way until a couple of time-consuming drives in the second half stuck the Colts on the shelf.
Jim McMahon returned from sick bay and started for the first time in five weeks. He said his shoulder felt fine, but he was nothing special with an 11-of-23 afternoon for 145 yards and no touchdowns.
Walter Payton came through late in the third quarter to break a 3–3 halftime tie with a 16-yard touchdown run.
Steady as ever, he extended his NFL record by gaining 100 yards for the ninth game in a row. He ran 20 times in the second half after only six in the first half because, coach Mike Ditka said, he “got nasty notes from the media saying, ‘Run Payton.’”
Fighting the effects of the flu, Payton finished with 111 yards, yet he said his most satisfying moment had been “a block for Matt Suhey.”
Actually, on a day devoid of big plays for the Bears, Calvin Thomas wound up scoring the clinching touchdown on a three-yard scamper with six minutes left.
Leslie Frazier and Wilber Marshall join forces to stop Colts tight end Pat Beach.
Bears defenders Otis Wilson (55) and Richard Dent move in to bring down Indianapolis Colts halfback George Wonsley during the first quarter of the game in Chicago on December 8, 1985.
That offset an ensuing 61-yard Mike Pagel-to-Wayne Capers pass on which cornerback Mike Richardson got undressed.
The defense forced concern by failing to force a turnover for the first time all season. That made Maury Buford the day’s most valuable player, as he booted terrific punts to the 4-yard line to set up both touchdowns.
“Wasn’t fancy, but it’s 13–1,” said linebacker Otis Wilson, who recorded the Bears’ only sack late in the game.
In the Bears’ last home appearance before the playoffs, even a sluggish effort was enough to propel them to their 13th victory, which tied the franchise record set in 1934.
“I’m not unhappy,” Ditka said. “I didn’t think it would be a blowout like a lot of people. The main thing is we’re going into the playoffs, and people are going to have to come here to play us.”
After enduring this stinker, fans would say the playoffs could come none too soon.
Chicago 17, Indianapolis 10
DEC. 8, 1985, AT SOLDIER FIELD
Sluggish Bears have enough to win eyesore
Walter Payton’s 16-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter. He rushed for more than 100 yards for the ninth straight game.
For the only time all season, the Bears had no takeaways or giveaways.
Richard Dent hovers over Indianapolis quarterback Mike Pagel after leveling him in the fourth quarter.
TOM THAYER
No. 57, guard
“I
t starts with Joliet Catholic and wanting to play football there, playing college football somewhere, and then always shooting for the stars, and shooting for the stars was the NFL, and the Bears were always a dream situation.”
“The day we were announcing my USFL contract [with the Chicago Blitz], it was the same day as the NFL draft, and here I am, sitting in a room with George Allen, signing a contract so I can stay in Chicago, and after that announcement I drive home and pull into my driveway, and my sister says, ‘Jim Finks is on the phone. The Bears just drafted you.’ I kind of felt like I blew the opportunity to live out every childhood dream in playing for your hometown team. But on the positive end of it, I signed a three-year contract, and the Bears had my rights for four years.”
“The best thing about 1985 was losing the coin toss and letting the defense go on the field first. Those guys usually set the tone.”
“Ditka was great because he motivated by fear of losing your job. I think if you have any pride or any passion for the game of football, that’s one of the best motivations you can have.”
“Walter Payton was the toughest man I’ve ever known. He was physically fit and tough. If you go back and look at Walter’s football helmet, he wore the old suspension helmet—the one that just has the belt around your head, the one that doesn’t have that sophisticated pad system that they have today—and he never missed a game with a head injury. He never left a game because he had a concussion.”
“Every time I think of Fridge, I smile.”
“I think Keith Van Horne was as smart about our offense as our quarterbacks were.”
“Super Bowl XX, I was so young in my NFL career that I expected it to happen again. You hear people talk about, ‘Oh, you should’ve won it two or three more times.’ Maybe not, but at least one more time.”
“For me, as an ex-Bear and as a Chicago resident, I get frustrated going to opponents’ stadiums and talking to different people involved with different teams, and they don’t have that fear of the Bears coming. There’s no respect for the Bears’ swagger.”
“I think it’s my Type-A personality. Surfing in Hawaii is the best thing I’ve ever done since I quit playing football. When you pull up to the ocean and you look out and you see that the surf is 10 feet, that puts the same nervousness in your stomach that you felt before kickoff. I think that’s healthy for me.”
“What am I proudest of? Man, it sounds corny, but it’s being able to experience everything in my professional life with my family.”
