Read The '85 Bears: We Were the Greatest Online
Authors: Mike Ditka,Rick Telander
The '85 Bears: We Were the Greatest (3 page)
Balky Beginning Turns Out Well
A
season of history began like anything but, with the underappreciated Bears offense bailing out the defense against what most considered a mediocre NFC Central opponent.
The Soldier Field crowd’s expectations had been raised by a strong 10–6 season in 1984 followed by a playoff victory over Washington. But the Bears fell behind 28–17 at halftime as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, not the Bears, were the smashmouth team at the outset.
When it was over, Tampa Bay quarterback Steve DeBerg had thrown for three touchdowns to Jim McMahon’s two, and Bucs running back James Wilder had outrushed Walter Payton 166 yards to 120. Wilder ran wild through a Buddy Ryan defense that was still feeling its way without Pro Bowl safety Todd Bell and defensive end Al Harris, both mired in contract impasses that would keep them out all season.
The Bucs scored first on a 1-yard pass to Calvin Magee, which the Bears answered with a 21-yard scoring pass from McMahon to Dennis McKinnon. But Kevin House scored from 44 yards out on another DeBerg pass. No one knew it then, but the Bucs would be the only team to score two first-quarter touchdowns against the Bears all season.
Jerry Bell gave the Bucs a 21–7 lead early in the second quarter on DeBerg’s third scoring pass before a 1-yard McMahon run and a 38-yard Kevin Butler field goal brought the Bears within 21–17. However, Wilder powered into the end zone from 3 yards out for a 28–17 Tampa Bay lead at halftime. The defense then came to life and struck with what head coach Mike Ditka and others considered perhaps the most important play of the season.
Matt Suhey celebrates his third-quarter touchdown with Jay Hilgenberg and Dennis McKinnon.
Twenty-two seconds into the second half, cornerback Leslie Frazier read DeBerg’s quick three-step drop and broke before the sideline pass was thrown. At the same time, defensive end Richard Dent detected signs of the play and drifted to his outside, into the path of the throw.
Jim McMahon strolls in for one of his two touchdowns
Dent deflected the pass, Frazier intercepted, and the result was a 29-yard interception return for a touchdown that ignited the Bears. The TD brought them back within 28–24 and shifted all the momentum to them.
They took the lead for good when Matt Suhey made a diving catch of a McMahon pass for a 9-yard score and sealed it when Shaun Gayle blocked a punt to set up a 1-yard McMahon plunge for the final touchdown.
Chicago 38, Tampa Bay 28
SEPT. 8, 1985, AT SOLDIER FIELD
21-point 2nd-half rally rescues season opener
Leslie Frazier’s 29-yard interception return for a touchdown at the start of the third quarter. It trimmed Tampa Bay’s lead to 28–24 and sparked the comeback.
The Bears gained 436 total yards, their second-best showing all season.
Safety and Dave Duerson drops in on Buccaneers running back James Wilder during the Bears’ opening victory.
JIM McMAHON
No. 9, quarterback
“I
t amazes me that we didn’t win four of them. We lost 11 games in four years and only won one Super Bowl.”
“I haven’t watched a game in years. I was a player, that’s it.”
“Like I told Ditka years ago, ‘I don’t care what you call, I just want the freedom when I get to the line of scrimmage, if it’s not a good play, to get out of it.’ That’s what these guys don’t do now. Nobody wants to take it on their shoulders to say, ‘I’m not going to call that play. It’s not going to work.’ They can just go in the locker room after the game and go, ‘Well, the coach called it.’ They don’t want to take any heat. That’s another reason I don’t watch it. A bunch of robots.”
“We had our moments. [Ditka] was a tough coach. Had we played together, I think he would’ve understood me a little bit better, had he been in my huddle. I think he finally figured out that I knew what I was doing.”
“I thought the best player I ever played against was Wilber Marshall, and that was every day in practice until he went to the Redskins.”
“I think the people who meet me and spend some time with me know that I’m not the guy they see in the papers.”
“The fans [in Green Bay and Chicago] are about the same—maybe a little more rabid in Green Bay, because there’s nothing else to do, other than icefish, and I didn’t do that.”
“Bears fans always treated me well, even when I came back in a Green Bay Packers uniform. I got cheered. That’s why I kept living in Chicago.”
“Played with a lot of great people. That’s what I remember—guys I played with, friends I made in the league. I just had a good time.”