The TRUE Chicago Bears of 1985!

“Memories may be beautiful and yet
What’s too painful to remember
We simply choose to forget”

"The Way We Were" recorded by Barbera Streisand.

Among the greatest purchases I have ever made was from eBay when I bought THE COMPLETE 1985 SEASON OF THE CHICAGO BEARS on DVD. Every play—every single play on 29 DVDs! It is a treasure-trove of fun. It includes all 1985 REGULAR SEASON Games; PLAYOFF GAME vs. The New York Giants; DIVISIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP vs. The Los Angeles Rams, and SUPER BOWL XX vs. The New England Patriots. There is only one game I will not watch—some Monday night affair against the Miami Dolphins.

Having relived them in the nervous nights before and the sub-conscious nights after heart surgery, I have watched them all, with the exception of the Super Bowl, which I have previously seen twelve times, but I will watch again. Having noted that—there are some criticisms.

I am surprised we did not think of this in college when watching the Bears games (which is where I was in 1985) but if you want some drunken fun, you have to drink an ounce of beer everytime Johnny Morris makes a mistake or something irrelevant. If doing this, you will be BOMBED by the third quarter. He was simply a lousy broadcaster. Now Bear fans, relax, I know; I never would have said that before viewing these games, but there is a very valid reason why he was taken off the CBS schedule.

Johnny makes comments like “Here comes the Refrigerator Man” in reference to Perry. He says “That was Wilbur Marshall on the tackle—he has been everywhere…as you see in the replay, Marshall…oh…wait…that was Singletary, sorry…it was Singletary, but that’s not to take away that Marshall has had some good moments this game,” followed by repeating the same sentence and correction shortly later. He “objectively” refers to the Bears as “We” and “Us” for example “We scored pretty quickly there…” or “they tried to get by us…” Imagine a Packer fan watching when Morris says "we" or "us" in reference to the Bears. Johnny also interrupts Tim Ryan (who does a more than decent job) when Ryan talks to add an irrelevant point: (Ryan) The Packers have them lined up in a two back” (Johnny shouts as he interrupts) “That’s the 46 Defense!” followed by Ryan “uh…as I was saying a two back set for the Packers.” I am a homer, but come on.

He also starts each sentence with a drawn out “Allright….” or “Okay…” (which kind of has an “h” sound employed at the beginning or something similar like they just woke him up. He also runs about six sentences together often, makes points that are wrong as the replay shows and continues to think his initial reaction is right (Ex: “Bears were drawn off sides, as we look at replay—well….that angle does not show it, but "we" were drawn off by the guard moving” even though the replay clearly shows the guard has not moved at all), and calls many players “happy young man” (Example: Tampa Wide Out “is a happy young man as not only did he just catch a twelve yard pass, but he and his wife just gave birth to a new baby, Gerrard. Baby Gerrard is a boy.”) I swear to you, in the second Buc game, this was said.

Yeesh—if one can sit through Morris, it is great, but he is truly a distraction. The Ryan/Morris team was replaced towards the end of the season because the Bears were hot and a top market draw and their last few games were also on NBC. The NBC crew took over two or three games and then Pat Summeral and John Madden took over the CBS games. Thank God. They were also on Monday or Thursday Night football three times that year. Dallas, Atlanta, and the Jets were Madden games (I think the last Lions game was a Ryan/Morris game) and the Colts and another were NBC.

HOkaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy (for all you Johnny Morris fans)…

What I have learned as I watched these games is the best player on that team really was Richard Dent. He did just about everything that season. He was strong and formidable in his position and had 17 sacks. Unbelievable. Otis Wilson (who signed my Bear History Book) was equally incredible and often unheralded as a great linebacker. That man was half of the reason the “46” worked because he had the speed and strength to not only blitz well, but to cover when showing a blitz. Watch the games, Wilson was more than a factor. Offensively, and this may be taken wrong, but Walter was slowing a bit and finally had a great line to play behind as Jay Hilgenberg was a genius and Jimbo Covert was probably the best offensive lineman on the roster. I have watched these games and have only seen one penalty against Covert—singularly—one. Hilgenberg—three but I do not count some of the roughing stuff. Walter was a force, do not misunderstand, he was a fantastic player during this season, and it was during this time his actions as a runner, a blocker, a passing outlet, a passer, and a decoy enabled them to win more games than almost any other team. What I also learned was McMahon was "average" at best as he threw a lot of wretched balls that McKinnon had to come back to; Kenny Margerum was a bust from an injury the season before, and Willie "STONE HANDS" Gault (as my college roomate Keith referred to him) was a threat only half of the time because he dropped McMahon's best passes. I also learned that LA Mike Richardson was not as bad as I once thought he was, and Gary Fencik was dominant as the leading hitter and second leading cheap shot artist--Marshall clearly earning that prize. The defense was incredible, even by today's standards.

Best games of the season: Bears 44--Dallas 0; Bears 36--Atlanta 0; Both Vikings games; Second Lions game—the Marshall hit on Joe Ferguson was a thing of beauty; the Giants and Rams and Patriots post-season games. Worst games—Miami and the second Bucs game.

And this may surprise you, but The Bears played some weaker teams very closely: The Bucs, The Colts, even to a degree the Jets. And the San Francisco game was much closer than you may have remembered; much closer.

So, here are some 1985 Chicago Bears Trivia for you and let’s see how your memory serves you—Answers follow immediately. For those who play, let me know your score in the comments. Ready--here you go (by the way, I would have failed this had I not watched these games--those Stroh's thirty packs in college affected my memory):

1.) Who ran back the majority of punt returns?
2.) Name the starting Offensive line at the beginning of the season
3.) Name the starting Defensive line at the beginning of the season
4.) True or false, Perry was a special teams player?
5.) Name the wide receiver who had the most yards AFTER the catch.
6.) True or False Jim McMahon came off the bench and threw three touchdown passes in a row against the Vikings.
7.) Tight end Tim Wrightman and Offensive Guard Tom Thayer share what in common?
8.) True or False: Now Coach Jeff Fisher was a member of the Bears Coaching staff in 1985.
9.) What back-up player had a safety in each of the two games he played?
10.)Why did Dave Duerson and Wilbur Marshall and get an opportunity to play?

Answers: 1—Ken Taylor Rookie Defensive back, he was replaced by Keith Ortego by the end of the season.2—Covert, Bortz, Hilgenburg, Becker, Van Horne—Thayer replaced Becker after the third week when Becker was injured. 3—McMichael, Hampton, Hartenstein, and Dent—Perry replaced Hartenstein as the starter but not until the ninth game. 4—True he ran down the ball carriers on punts and kickoffs. 5—Dennis McKinnon—not Willie Gault. McKinnon was probably the true most valuable player in the offense. 6—False, he threw three touchdown passes, the first two were touchdown passes, but the third was after two series. 7—Both played more games than any other player that season as they were also players of the recently defunct USFL—in fact, Wrightman was the first player ever drafted in the USFL. 8—False, he was a defensive back, but never played a down as he was injured all season from a pre-season game and on sidelines, you can see him standing next to Buddy signaling in plays. 9—Henry Waeschter—he was Steve McMichael’s back-up on the defensive line—he got one in the second Lion’s game when McMichael was rested for knee problem and one in the Super Bowl when the game was well in hand--in fact that safety was the last two points scored by the Bears. 10—Duerson played for Todd Bell and Marshall played for Al Harris; Bell and Harris were Pro-Bowlers who sat out the year for contract issues--Harris came back as a Defensive lineman and not sure how many games Bell came back and played for--both lost the momentum that they once had; proven football is a team sport and not to screw with Ditka! I hope you had fun!