December 2, 1985: The Chicago Bears' Monday Night Stumble

December 2, 1985: The Miami Dolphins defeat the Chicago Bears, 38-24 at the Orange Bowl. This turns out to be the only game the Bears lose all season long, the one bump on their "Super Bowl Shuffle."

Jim McMahon, the Bears' usual starting quarterback, was injured, and had to be replaced by Steve Fuller, previously the starting quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs. Until now, that hadn't been a problem.

But Fuller was held to 11 completions in 21 passes for 169 yards, a touchdown and 2 interceptions by the Dolphins' defense, know as the Killer B's for their players with names starting with B: Bob Baumhower, Bob Brudzinski, Doug Betters, Kim Bokamper, and the brothers Glenn and Kyle Blackwood.

Bears coach Mike Ditka, hoping to bring McMahon back the next week, sent him in to save the game, and he couldn't, going 3-for-6 for 42 yards and an interception. Walter Payton rushed for 121 yards, but the rest of the Bears combined ran for only 46.

In contrast, Dan Marino, who so often failed in the postseason, came through for the Dolphins, going 14-for-27 for 270 yards, 3 touchdowns and an interception. His "Mark II" receivers came through for him: Mark Duper had 107 receiving yards, and Mark Clayton had 88.

Revisionist history now says that this loss shook Da Bears out of their complacency, and allowed them to focus on the main thing, winning the Super Bowl, rather than concentrating on going undefeated.

The Dolphins took special pride in ruining the Bears' unbeaten season, as the 1972 Dolphins were then, and still are now, the only team in the NFL's 106-season history to go unbeaten and untied in the regular season and then win the league championship. Then again, neither the Dolphins nor the Bears have won the title since the 1985 season. Indeed, the Dolphins, defending AFC Champions at the time, haven't even been to the Super Bowl since; the Bears, only once.

It remains the most-watched game in Monday Night Football history. Which must have really burned up Howard Cosell: The biggest audience in MNF history, and they weren't listening to him. The announcers were Frank Gifford, Joe Namath and... O.J. Simpson. (If you're not old enough to remember before June 1994 when he was charged with murder, let me tell you: This man was beloved in America.)

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December 2, 1985 was, as stated, a Monday. So this was the only football game on the day. Baseball was out of season. There was 1 game in the NBA: The Utah Jazz beat the Golden State Warriors, 103-100 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah.

And there were 2 games in the NHL. The New York Rangers got embarrassed by the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-0 at Madison Square Garden. At least when the Vancouver Canucks got beat 7-0 by the Montreal Canadiens, they could console themselves with the fact that they were on the road, at the Montreal Forum; and, later, also with the fact that the Canadiens went on to win the 1986 Stanley Cup.