Bears Blitz

Published by Michael de los Reyes on May 13, 2009
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

It’s easy to be a fan of the 1985 Chicago Bears. They were a dominant Super Bowl champion that had a devastating defense, a dynamic offense, plenty of personalities, and a smash-mouth mentality. There are plenty of statistics—points scored, yardage allowed, Pro Bowl selections, etc.—to explain the team’s greatness. Most people use those reasons to define their favorite team. 

But fans that were born, raised, and lived in Chicago prior to the 1985 NFL season have a different reason why the 1985 Bears are our favorite team. Yes, we savor the NFL Championship, every statistic associated with that season, colors of the uniforms, the come-from-behind wins, and the craziness of it all. 

But as native Chicagoans, we don’t consider the ’85 Bears our favorite team because they were winners or because of how they won the games. It was because there was a connection between the players and the people living in Chicago. We saw a little bit of ourselves in the players. And, finally, we prevailed.

Underdogs

Mike Singletary was probably the best example of that connection with the people of Chicago. Few remember that NFL scouts regarded Singletary as too small—­at 6’0″ tall and weighing 230 pounds—to be a professional linebacker.

In other words, there were low expectations of Mike Singletary when he was drafted in 1981. But in his career, Singletary was selected as a 10 time Pro Bowl starter by his peers, won a Super Bowl in 1985, and earned NFL Defensive MVP honors in 1985 and 1988, and was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1998.

Grabowskis

Projected to be a second-string NFL player, at best, it was ironic that Singletary was a second-round draft choice by the Bears, a team in the Second City. Chicagoans knew the meaning behind the term second city. It meant second-rate. And it meant that Chicagoans were regarded as second-class citizens and that little was expected of us. 

“We’re the Grabowskis, we’re the working class,” former Bears head coach Mike Ditka said about his team in the NFL documentary America’s Game: The 1985 Chicago Bears.  “We’re the guys that take the lunch bucket to work, the wives make the sandwiches, and we come home.” The coach knew the people of Chicago. 

This was before Barack Obama became president of the United States, before Millennium Park was built over a downtown abyss that overlooked noisy commuter railroads, and before the Cabrini Green public housing project was bulldozed to make $500,000 red-brick condos for transplanted MBAs.

This was before the Olympic bid, the 2005 White Sox World Series Championship, the Chicago Bulls’ six NBA championships during the 1990s, and Michael Jordan’s dominance over basketball in the late ’80s. Before the 1985 Bears, sports fans in the city only had the Chicago Cubs and the slogan “Wait ’til next year.”

We cheered for a handful of sports heroes who played on losing teams, but who shared our blue-collar work ethic. When those individual players did well, each Chicagoan had a moral victory. Work hard, dedicate yourself to a profession and a team, and maybe you will receive an award. 

San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles had the first-class citizens. Those cities were known for culture, beautiful people, success, fame, and fortune.

The fans of the San Francisco 49ers reminded Chicagoans of the difference between the two cities. After the Bears lost 23-0 in the 1984 NFC Championship game, the last game prior to the Super Bowl, 49ers fans jeered “Next time, bring your offense.”

“I remembered the (49ers) fans chanting and how happy they were,” Singletary said about the game in the NFL documentary. “And I remember standing on the bench, facing (those) fans, and saying ‘We’ll be back, we’ll be back.’ ”

Prior to the 1985 season, the Bears weren’t supposed to win the Super Bowl.  They weren’t even expected to be in the playoffs.

In Week One, Chicagoans felt fortunate that the Bears had a come-from-behind win against the orange-clad Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In Week Three, we felt lucky after oft-injured Bears quarterback Jim McMahon came off the bench to complete two touchdown passes—in his first two throws—in another come-from-behind win against the Minnesota Vikings.

Finally

As the season progressed and the Bears won, Chicagoans started to believe that it was possible to overcome our personal limitations. 

From weak-armed QB McMahon, we learned that brains would beat brawn. 

From defensive end Dan Hampton, we learned that character would overwhelm physical pain.

From Singletary, we learned that preparation would defeat talent. 

As the Bears rampaged through the NFL, Chicagoans learned that we could conquer “the establishment.”

Former Super Bowl XVII Champion, the Washington Redskins, fell 45-10 in Week Four. The San Francisco 49ers lost 26-10 in Week Six, and America’s Team, the Dallas Cowboys, were obliterated 44-0 in Week 11.

In the 1985 Playoffs, we taught the first-class to respect second-class, blue-collar workers.

The New York Giants fell 21-0 in the divisional game. The Los Angeles Rams were shut out 24-0 in the conference game.

By the time we won the Super Bowl, with a 46-10 embarrassment of the New England Patriots, Chicagoans realized that we had created the new standard. 

“We were overachievers,” Singletary explained in his raspy, authoritative voice when he described a former Bears teammate during an interview this past April. “When you say anyone is an overachiever, it always tells me that they just play hard, that they just finish.”

“And it’s the highest compliment I can pay a person,” Singletary said. 

Chicagoans agree.  And it’s the standard by which we base their lives and our sports teams.