Chicago Bears: The 9 Defining Plays in Franchise History

The Chicago Bears have such a long and storied history that to try and consolidate all the years into just nine plays is kind of crazy. But I have been called much worse things, so here I go.

Anyone who knows the Bears fight song will relate to the first slide, and some of the other plays are more for fun, yet helped define a period of time in Bears history that lives on in the hearts and minds of Bears fans everywhere.

So come along with me on this journey through time and feel free to let me know what I may have missed.  

They Thrill the Nation with the T-Formation

The "T" formation is not an offensive weapon greatly in use today but when it was first introduced, it was hugely successful. First made famous by the University of Minnesota in the 1930s and 1940s, it became historic for its use by the Bears.

It was  the key weapon used by the Bears to defeat the Washington Redskins 73–0, in the 1940 NFL Championship Game.

This offensive formation has three running backs line up in a row about five yards behind the quarterback, forming the shape of a "T".

The Fridge Carries the Load

Yep, and what a load William Perry did carry in those days! One of the first 300 pound defensemen in pro football, he was very large but also very agile.

Defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan was against drafting Perry, who he thought was fat and worthless. But head coach Mike Ditka went ahead and picked him anyway and the rest is history.

Frustrated by Perry's lack of play early on, Ditka had a plan to use the big linebacker as a ball carrier, first using him as a decoy, blocking out of the backfield for Walter Payton.

Since Payton was perhaps the most well loved of all the Bears, this play had significance for the team because it involved Sweetness in several ways. And not all of them positive, unfortunately.

First, the sight of Fridge trying to carry Payton over the goal line is hysterical and also illegal, by the way.

But the sad part was that Fridge scored a touchdown in Super Bowl XX while Payton did not. The sight of Walter sitting on the sidelines late in the game knowing he would not score was the only downer of that historic season for the Bears.

Hey, "when we kick and pass we'll have more fun..."

Walter Payton Breaks the NFL Rushing Record

Walter Payton broke the legendary Jim Brown's career, all-time NFL rushing record on October 7, 1984 in a game against the New Orleans Saints.

Payton's 12, 313th yard rushing that day set the new mark. He finished with 16,726 yards, and that mark stood as the record until broken by the Cowboys' Emmitt Smith 

An interesting fact is that although Walter set the all-time rushing mark, he only led the NFL in rushing one time in a season.

Payton died at an early age in 1999 of bile duct cancer. He will always be remembered for his child-like enthusiasm, pranks and always popping right up after a play. He gave his all and Mike Ditka said he was the best football player he ever saw.

Brian Urlacher Tackles Everything

In a game against the Cardinals in 2006, Brian Urlacher was given credit for an amazing 25 tackles. Listen to what teammate Devin Hester had to say about his historic performance:

"He was killing them, just running around and tackling anyone with the ball. It was probably one of the greatest games anyone has ever played." (quote from www.amazon.com, from the book titled "The 50 Greatest Plays in Chicago Bears Football History")

Urlacher finished the season with 93 tackles and three forced fumbles. He was elected to the 2006 All-Pro Team and 2007 Pro Bowl, while also earning consideration for the League's Defensive Player of the Year award (source: en.wikipedia.org).

The Bears surprised the league that year with a 13-3 record and made it to the Super Bowl for just the second time in team history, losing to the Colts.

Linebacker has been perhaps the most dominant position for the Bears throughout their history and Urlacher leads yet another generation of great middle linebackers, following such greats as Mike Singletary and Bill George.

Gale Sayers Scores Six Touchdowns

On December 12, 1965, Bears great and Hall of Famer Gale Sayers scored six touchdowns with an 85 yard punt return being perhaps the biggest thrill.

He was a rookie that year, and his 22 TDs is still an NFL rookie mark.

How good was Sayers? He was named the top halfback in the NFL's first 50 years in 1969 and made the Hall of Fame despite just four-and-one-half seasons of full-time football.

On the fateful day he scored the six TDs, it was a muddy field yet that didn't slow him down. The Bears went on to destroy the 49ers 61-20.

"His TDs came on an 80-yard pass reception, rushes of 21, 7, 50, and 1 yards, and an 85-yard punt return. For the day, the Bears ace amassed 336 combined yards. It was the greatest performance I have ever seen on the football field," an exuberant Halas, who had been watching NFL play for 46 seasons, proclaimed. (quote from www.chicagobears.com)

Bears "Razzle Dazzle" Play Leads to First-Ever Title

December 17, 1933 was significant because it was the first NFL championship game ever, a game won by the Bears over the Giants 23-21. There were six lead changes and a lot of razzle dazzle.

"Massive (for the time - he was 225 pounds) Bears running back Bronko Nagurski faked a dive into the line, then hit tight end Bill Hewitt on a cross pattern. Hewitt found right end Bill Karr on a lateral, an instant before being tackled, and Karr carried the ball the final 19 yards for a touchdown, and a 23-21 lead. The game wasn't settled until the last play of the game, when Red Grange made a chest-high, game-saving, open field tackle on Giant halfback Dale Burnett, preventing him from lateraling to a trailing Mel Hein." (source: http://www.baseball-statistics.com/Greats/Century/football.htm).

The NFL had relaxed some of its offensive rules that season, opening up the league for a more inventive offense and the Bears certainly took notice. It was also the first introduction of hashmarks. 

Photo: http://www.profootballhof.com/history/story.aspx?story_id=2087

Sid Luckman's Surprise Bootleg Wins Another Title

On December 15, 1946, the Bears won another title on a bootleg that fooled the Giants. Luckman had a great arm but he did not run.

But the score was tied at 14 in the fourth quarter when Luckman made his surprise sneak. It went for a 19 yard touchdown and the Bears had won their seventh title.

It was the first time that Luckman had carried the ball all year.

Luckman had played in his last championship game and George Halas had coached his last one for a long time.

Although the winning continued, the 1946 season marked the end of the Bears dominance.  

Jim McMahon Leads the Bears to the Super Bowl

In a series of plays that best defined the Bears only Super Bowl season in history, Jim McMahon came off the bench, injured, to lead the Bears to a 33-24 comeback win on a Thursday night on national TV, legitimizing the team as contenders for the title.

Jim McMahon had been released from the hospital only two days before the game, and nobody expected him to play. But he ran onto the field at 7:22 of the third quarter after the Vikings had scored to take a 17-9 lead, and suddenly despair turned to hope.

McMahon's first, second and seventh passes went for touchdowns over the next seven minutes to lead the Bears to a 33-24 victory in what remains one of the most dramatic performances in team history.

"He was driving me crazy; 'Put me in, put me in,'" Ditka recalled to ESPN. "I said, 'You didn't practice all week, you're hurt, it's a short week. I think we can win the game with the team we have out there.' But after I found out we couldn't, you can say what you want, but he made the plays and energized the football team."

"No question that game gave us a lot of confidence; it really did," center Jay Hilgenberg said. "That was one when everybody started thinking, 'OK, we may have something special here."

Bears Win "Tom Thumb" Game

The Portsmouth Times called it "a sham battle on a Tom Thumb gridiron." But, while the field may have been small, the impact of the game on the National Football League was huge. It was the strangest game in NFL history, a fitting climax to one of the league's oddest finishes.

Late in the 1932 season, it looked as if the Green Bay Packers were headed for their fourth straight NFL championship. They had an 10-1-1 record while their closest pursuers, the Chicago Bears and Portsmouth Spartans, had only nine victories between them. But the Bears and Spartans had just one loss apiece, to go with a whole bunch of ties.

On December 4, the Packers played their sixth straight game on the road, at Portsmouth. The Spartans had a 5-1-4 record going into the game. In Chicago, the Bears (4-1-6) were hosting the Giants, who had handed the Packers their only loss in New York three weeks earlier.

Under today's method of figuring the standings, the Packers would have had the championship wrapped up. A tie now counts as a half-loss, half-win. But in 1932 a tie simply didn't count; it was as if the game had never been played.

After Portsmouth beat Green Bay, 19-0, and the Bears beat the Giants, 6-0, the Packers were suddenly out of the running. Portsmouth's season was over, but the Packers had one game left, against the Bears in Chicago. If the Packers won that game, the Spartans would be the new champions. If the Bears won, they'd be tied with Portsmouth for first place.

And that's what happened. The Bears took a 9-0 victory on a snowy field with the temperature around zero. And the play that won the game was when Bronco Nagurski was stopped short of the goal line but as he was falling back he threw a pass for a TD that won the game.

But with bad weather and the teams needing the money, George Halas made arrangements to play the championship game indoors at the Chicago Stadium. The field was only 60 yards end to end and 45 yards wide.

This game introduced several rules changes as a result, including the adoption of a formal championship game now known as the Super Bowl.

It was the greatest play and game in Bears and perhaps NFL history.  (Accounts of the game quotes used and the photo are from 'A Tom Thumb Gridiron,'Brobdingnagian Impact The 1932 NFL Championship Game' by Ralph Hickok).