1985 Bears: Nobody Did it Better

I’ve lived in Minnesota my entire life. I currently live less than five miles away from Viking headquarters. One of my earliest memories is getting a Vikings NFL Huddle doll for Christmas. Despite all this, I still have to say that my favorite team of all time is the 1985 Chicago Bears. It’s sacrilege, I know. Take some solace Viking fans, at least it’s not the Packers.

I don’t have a good excuse for why I gravitated to that particular team. I know I was supposed to hate them, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I’ll blame that infectious "Super Bowl Shuffle." Just try getting that song out of your head now, I dare you.

The 1985 Bears were more than just a football team. They were a cast of characters so surreal that sometimes you felt you were watching professional wrestling. As Steve “Mongo” McMichael would prove later on, I was kind of right on that one.

The Bears were good. Pure, plain and simple. The defense was solid, Walter Payton was so nimble and Jim McMahon was, well, Jim McMahon.

Despite being such a hated rival for my hometown team, it wasn’t in me as a child to dislike them. Looking back now, I like them more than ever. The ’85 Bears were the perfect storm of everything I love about football. It started at the top with Ditka. Fiery, fierce, and first and foremost, a winner. That glare still gives me chills.

The Bears had a cocky QB, who by most counts had no reason to be all that cocky. He was good, but his numbers weren’t nearly as gaudy as guys like Marino, Montana and Fouts were. He was more of a caretaker QB, but it didn’t matter. He was about winning, and that’s what the Bears did that year.

Walter Payton didn’t really seem to fit on that team, but without him, the Bears wouldn’t have been Super Bowl Champions that year. No way, no how. He wasn’t flashy, he didn’t have a prima donna attitude, his actions spoke so much larger than his words.

The defense was so solid front to back, it’s tough to single out anybody as great. The two that stand out in my mind were Mike Singletary and “The Fridge." Singletary was such a throwback player. Tough, gritty, in-your-face, and always at the bottom of the pile. William “The Refrigerator” Perry was a larger-than-life character, literally. I’ve seen him spike that ball after scoring in the Super Bowl dozens of times. It still makes me smile to this day.

Someday, maybe the long-suffering Viking fan in me will be able to place a Super Bowl winning Viking team at the top of my list. Until then, I’m going to have to begrudgingly keep the 1985 Bears at the top of my list. I know some people will take issue with a Minnesotan pleading his case for the Bears, but really can you blame me? I was a kid and they made a G.I. Joe figure of The Fridge. Off to eBay to look for one of those.