December 29, 1963: Two Old Men and a Football

George Halas and John Johnson

December 29, 1963: The NFL Championship Game is played at a frigid Wrigley Field in Chicago. As with the 1st official title game, 30 years earlier, the opposing teams were the Chicago Bears and the New York Giants.

Coached, run, and owned by the man who founded the NFL, George Halas, the Bears had a relatively ordinary offense, led by quarterback Bill Wade and running backs Willie Galimore and Ronnie Bull. But they had Mike Ditka, who practically invented the position of tight end. Only once all season did they score more than 27 points, although that was in a 52-14 clobbering of the Los Angeles Rams in Los Angeles.

It was on defense where they were truly dominant. End Doug Atkins, tackle Stan Jones and middle linebacker Bill George -- described after his death by Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly as "the meanest Bear ever," and that's saying something -- would be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. End Ed O'Bradovich, linebackers Joe Fortunato and Larry Morris, cornerback J.C. Caroline and safety Richie Petitbon were also All-Pros. Not once all season did the Bears allow more than 21 points in a game, and only twice more than 17.

They also had an unexpected advantage: Two key players from other teams in the Western Division, running back Paul Hornung of the Green Bay Packers and defensive tackle Alex Karras of the Detroit Lions, had been suspended for the season due to gambling (on sports other than football, which is why they only got one year).

As a result, it was neither the two-time defending NFL Champion Packers or the Lions, who had dealt the Packers their only loss the season before, who put any blemishes on the Bears' record. The Bears jumped out to a 5-0 start before losing 20-14 away to the San Francisco 49ers. They got up to 9-1, then faced back-to-back 17-17 ties, away to the Pittsburgh Steelers and at home to the Minnesota Vikings, before closing by avenging their loss to the 49ers and completing their sweep of the Lions.

The Bears were the NFL's founding team. But its flagship team, as is usually the case in sports, was in New York. The Giants had half of the "Million Dollar Backfield" of the 1950s San Francisco 49ers: Quarterback Yelberton Abraham (Y.A.) Tittle and running back Hugh McElhenny. The other two, Joe "the Jet" Perry and John Henry Johnson, never appeared in an NFL Championship Game, and this was one last chance for Y.A. and Hugh. All 4 would be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Y.A. Tittle

They also still had the NFL's biggest glamour boy of the 1950s, Frank Gifford, hanging on. And they still had some members of the defense, including Hall-of-Famers Andy Robustelli at defensive end and Sam Huff at middle linebacker, who allowed them to reach the Championship Game 6 times in 8 years. But they had only won in 1956, beating the Bears. They had lost to the Baltimore Colts in 1958 and '59, and, with Allie Sherman taking over from Jim Lee Howell as coach, to the Packers in '61 and '62.

Tittle was 37 years old, bald, and what little hair he had left was already gray, so he looked even older. Halas was 68, at the time the oldest head coach in NFL history. It was looking like the last chance for either of them, which it did turn out to be.

Wrigley Field is known to baseball fans for, among other things, its lack of lights until 1988, and the Chicago Cubs' continuation of scheduling as many day games as they can, so fans can sit in the bleachers and soak up the Summer sun. But this was between Christmas and New Year's, and the temperature was in the single digits, Fahrenheit. The field was frozen.

It would have been frozen at the much larger Soldier Field, but NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle asked Halas to move the game there, so the lights could be used. Halas refused. So, in order to avoid the game ending in darkness, the starting time was moved up to 12:05 PM, Central Time (1:05 Eastern).

With extra bleachers running north-to-south from left field to the right-field foul line, seating capacity was 45,801. Despite the cold, every seat was filled. Chicago fans may be divided between the Cubs and the White Sox when it comes to baseball, but the NFL's Chicago Cardinals had moved, and locals had given up on them before that. No team is more popular in Chicago than the Bears -- not the Cubs, not the White Sox, not the Bulls even in their Michael Jordan years, not the Blackhawks, not even Notre Dame. It was true then, and it is true now.

With the kind of drive that would have pleased later coach Bill Parcells, the Giants methodically moved down the field on the game's opening drive, eating the clock, taking up the 1st half of the 1st quarter, until Tittle threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Gifford. Just before the end of the quarter, Wade tied things with a 2-yard run.

Don Chandler, later to be the kicker and punter for the Packer teams that won the 1st 2 Super Bowls, kicked a field goal in the 2nd quarter, putting the Giants up, 10-7. But on their next drive, Morris hit Tittle and reinjured a knee that had been hurt earlier in the year. Sherman took Tittle out and replaced him with Glynn Griffing, but showed so little confidence him him that he ordered a punt on a 3rd down.

Much like New York Yankees star Mickey Mantle, with whom he shared a home stadium, Tittle tried to play through his pain. He got shots of cortisone and Novocaine, and threw off his back foot, normally unwise for a quarterback, but with his collected know-how, he thought he could lead the Giants to victory.

But late in the 3rd quarter, Tittle tried a screen pass, and O'Bradovich intercepted it, setting up a Bears drive that ended with a quarterback sneak by Wade. The Bears led, 14-10. Tittle gamely trudged through the 4th quarter, trying to get one more touchdown. But with 10 seconds left, in range of the end zone, Tittle threw, and was intercepted in the end zone by Petitbon.

It was the Bears' 5th interception of the day. With the country watching on CBS, seeing him limp off the field, Tittle had won the hearts of millions of fans, but the Bears had won the NFL Championship. It was their 1st since the last of the Sid Luckman titles in 1946.

Halas was ecstatic, but the players knew better than to lift the aging "Papa Bear" onto their shoulders and carry him off the field in triumph. So the defensive players picked up Halas' defensive coordinator, and carried him, and gave him the game ball in the locker room. He had been nearly as responsible for this title as Halas. His name was George Allen, and he would later coach the Rams into the Playoffs, and the Washington Redskins to the 1972 NFC Championship, and be elected to the Hall of Fame.

It was the 8th and last Championship for Halas as owner, his 6th as head coach, each a record that has never been matched. (Bill Belichick has coached 6 title winners, but he cheated.)

It also made Chicago the 1st city to win both the NFL Championship and the NCAA Basketball Tournament in the same calendar year. Loyola University had won the title in March. It's only happened once since, in 2018, with the Super Bowl by then played in February: Philadelphia did it with the Eagles and Villanova.

The following year would be a bad one for both teams, starting eras of mediocrity. During the Summer, Willie Galimore and fellow Bear running back Bo Farrington were killed in a car crash outside the team's Indiana training camp. This led them to draft Gale Sayers in 1965. They also drafted Dick Butkus, to shore up their aging defense. In spite of having 2 of the top 5 players in the game in the late 1960s, the Bears didn't reach the Playoffs again until 1977, by which point both Sayers and Butkus were retired.

And, just as the Yankees got old in a hurry in the 1964-65 off-season, so, too, did the Giants suddenly look very old in Autumn 1964. Huff had been traded to Washington, and 1964 would be the last season for both Tittle and Gifford. Hall of Fame offensive tackle Roosevelt Brown only lasted one year after that. The Giants didn't make the Playoffs again until 1981.

Halas' reasons for not moving the Bears to Soldier Field have been debated. Finally, the AFL-NFL merger of 1970 forced his hand: NFL stadiums now had to have both lights and a seating capacity of over 50,000, and Wrigley Field then had neither. In 1971, Halas moved the Bears to Soldier Field. Given his love of football, and his love of making money, he must have been very happy being able to play Monday Night Football, and the Bears did so 14 times, 7 at Soldier Field, before his death in 1983.

The Giants and the Bears have met to decide the NFL Championship 6 times, more than any other pairing. The Bears won in 1933, 1941, 1946 and 1963; the Giants, in 1934 and 1956. With the realignment of the NFL, they cannot face each other in the Super Bowl. But they have faced each other in the NFC Playoffs again in the seasons of 1985, when the Bears won; and 1990, when the Giants won. On each of those occasions, the winner did go on to win the title.

The Bears are the founding franchise of the NFL. Yet they’ve won only one title since, Super Bowl XX in the 1985-86 season. That’s just 2 titles in the last 77 years.

But consider this: The Bears won 8 World Championships in their 50 seasons playing at Wrigley Field. It took the Cubs 101 seasons playing there to win one.

In 2019, in connection with their 100th Season (not their 100th Anniversary, which was the next year), the Bears did fan balloting for their 100 Greatest Players. From this 1963 title team, they chose quarterback Billy Wade, running backs Willie Galimore, Rick Casares, receiver Johnny Morris, tight end Mike Ditka, center Mike Pyle, guard Stan Jones, tackles Herm Lee and Bob Wetoska; defensive ends Doug Atkins and Ed O'Bradovich, linebackers Joe Fortunato and Larry Morris (no relation to Johnny; cornerbacks J.C. Caroline, Roosevelt Taylor and Bennie McRae; safety Richie Petibon, and punter Bobby Joe Green.

From the period between the 1963 and 1985 titles, they chose running back Gale Sayers, linebackers Dick Butkus and Doug Buffone, receiver Dick Gordon, defensive tackles Jim Osborne and Wally Chambers, cornerback Allan Ellis and safety Doug Plank.

*

December 29, 1963 was a Sunday. Sean Payton, who would coach the New Orleans Saints to their 1st World Championship, was born.

Baseball was out of season. There were 2 games played in the NBA. The New York Knicks lost to the Cincinnati Royals, 105-99 at the Cincinnati Gardens. And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Detroit Pistons, 140-128 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit. Jerry West scored 39 points.

And the NHL's entire "Original Six" were in action:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Montreal Canadiens, 6-2 at the old Madison Square Garden.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Boston Bruins, 2-1 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* And the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-0 at the Chicago Stadium.

October 21, 1985: The Refrigerator Is Unleashed

October 21, 1985: In one of the coldest moves in the history of the NFL, the Chicago Bears unleash a man known as "The Refrigerator."

William Anthony Perry was a 22-year-old native of Aiken, South Carolina, who had been an All-American defensive tackle at nearby Clemson University. According to the 1984 College Football Preview issue of Sports Illustrated, he was 6-foot-2, and preferred to play at a weight of 320 pounds. He was so full of food, his nickname was "The Refrigerator." (Later, one of his Bear teammates would nickname him "Biscuit," because he was "a biscuit short of 400 pounds.")

That same article on Clemson that featured Perry, including him posing in his Number 66 jersey next to a refrigerator, said that, in spite of his weight, he was a good athlete: He could run the 40-yard dash in 5.2 seconds, not at all a bad time for a defensive lineman at the time; and he could also jump high enough to dunk a basketball.

He was told he would be a legitimate pro prospect if he could drop his weight to 290 pounds. Perhaps more so than ever: The United States Football League was still playing at the time, so he wasn't looking to join 1 of 28 teams, or even 1 of 37 if you counted the Canadian Football League: It was 1 of 55.

The 1 turned out to be the Chicago Bears, who took him in the 1st round of the 1985 NFL Draft. Head coach Mike Ditka, once a Hall of Fame tight end for the team, asked general manager Jerry Vainisi to select him, against the advice of his own assistant coaches, including defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan.

When previous head coach Neill Armstrong (no relation to the similarly-named Moonwalker) was fired after the 1981 season, the Bears' defensive players all signed a letter to George Halas, the team's founding owner, asking him to keep Ryan. So when Halas made Ditka his last hire -- "Papa Bear" died in 1983 -- Ryan was the only holdover on the coaching staff. And they never got along.

Not even on Perry: Ryan called him a "wasted draft pick." Ryan refused to include Perry, now wearing Number 72, in the starting lineup of his "46 Defense." Never had an NFL team been so good with such a deep divide within it: It was the offense and Perry standing behind Ditka, and the rest of the defense standing behind Ryan.

But Ditka remembered something. The Bears had gone 10-6 in 1984, winning the NFC Central Division, their 1st 1st-place finish since their 1963 NFL Championship. They beat the Washington Redskins in the Divisional Playoff. But in the NFC Championship Game, not only did the San Francisco 49ers beat them 23-0, but they rubbed it in: Head coach Bill Walsh had guard Guy McIntyre play as a blocking running back.

The teams played each other at Candlestick Park in San Francisco on October 13. The 49ers were 3-2, having stumbled a little, losing by a touchdown to Minnesota and a field goal to New Orleans. The Bears were 5-0. Joe Montana may have been the greatest quarterback who ever lived, but the Bears sacked him 7 times. The Bears won 26-10. Late in the game, Ditka sent Perry in -- as a running back. He even let Perry carry the ball twice, and he rushed for 4 yards. No real effect on the game, but Ditka had sent a message. (This would be the Bears' last win away to the 49ers for 29 years.)

It probably should have ended there: Ditka had made his point to Walsh. But Ditka wanted to make a point to Ryan as well: This guy can play. And the next game, on October 21, on ABC's Monday Night Football, against the Green Bay Packers, the oldest arch-rivalry in the NFL, would have the entire country watching. (Theoretically, the oldest rivalry is between the Bears and the Arizona Cardinals, who played in Chicago from 1920 to 1959, but since the Cards left Chicago, the teams have cared little about each other.)

During what turned out to be a 23-7 victory, the Bears had a 1st and goal on the Packer 1-yard line. Ditka sent out a formation with Perry looking as though he was going to block for the great Walter Payton, already the NFL's all-time leading rusher. Instead, quarterback Jim McMahon handed the ball to Perry, and he broke through the Packer line to get into the end zone.

At 335 pounds, he became the heaviest player ever to score an offensive touchdown in the NFL. That is, there had been heavier defensive players who picked up a fumble and returned it, or recovered a fumble in the end zone. But Perry was the heaviest player who had been sent in for an offensive play to score a touchdown on said play.

The next week, the Bears beat the Minnesota Vikings. Perry played, but did not appear on offense. The next week, on November 3, the Bears went to Lambeau Field for a rematch against the Packers. Perry was sent in for 1st and goal on the Packer 4, and moved out to become an eligible receiver. McMahon threw him the ball, and Perry took it in for a touchdown. It gave the Bears a 7-3 lead in a game they would win 16-10.

Now, the Bears were 9-0, and Perry had become a folk hero. He starred in a commercial for McDonald's, ordering 4 McDLTs, 2 large fries, and a Diet Coke. Yes, a Diet Coke, as if that would have made a difference. The tagline, over Perry's huge smile with one missing front tooth, was, "McDonald's: Where The Refrigerator stocks up."

On November 17, with McMahon injured and Steve Fuller quarterbacking, the Bears went to Texas and beat the Dallas Cowboys 44-0. Perry rushed for 1 yard, but not a touchdown. The next week, they hosted the Atlanta Falcons, and Perry rushed for another 1-yard touchdown.

The 12-0 Bears' bid for an undefeated season was ruined the following week at the Orange Bowl, losing 38-24 to the Miami Dolphins, who in 1972 became the only undefeated Super Bowl Champions to this day. This remains the most-watched game in Monday Night Football history. Perry did not appear on offense.

Timing is everything: That game was played on December 2, the day before the scheduled release of a song and video the Bears, including Perry, Payton and McMahon, had recorded: "The Super Bowl Shuffle." It made the Bears, including "Fridge" (until the video, most people hadn't heard the shortened version of his nickname), bigger stars than any NFL team had ever been.

Their complacency shattered, the Bears went to work, winning their last 3 games to finish 15-1. Perry was not sent in on offense again, but was proving to his critics, including Ryan, that he was a capable defensive lineman. He ended up starting 9 of the 16 regular-season games. He even recovered 2 fumbles and returned them for a total of 66 yards. The Bears beat the New York Giants 21-0 in the Divisional Playoffs, and the Los Angeles Rams 24-0 in the NFC Championship Game.

Super Bowl XX, at the Superdome in New Orleans, should have been the team's crowning achievement. It should have been Payton's crowning achievement, finally playing in the big game after 11 seasons. But he fumbled early in the game, and the New England Patriots shocked the football world by taking a 3-0 lead. Remember: The Bears hadn't allowed so much as a point in their 1st 2 postseason games.

The Bears tied it on a Kevin Butler field goal. Figuring he was going to win the game anyway, Ditka went against his tough-guy "Iron Mike" image, and decided to get cute. At the Patriot 3-yard line, he sent Perry in. McMahon tossed him the ball, and Perry raised his arm for an option pass. NBC announcer Dick Enberg spoke for all of us when he said, "It's Perry, he's gonna throw the ball!"

But, never having done this in an actual game, he hesitated, couldn't find an open receiver, and had to run it himself, and was tackled for a 1-yard loss. The man who had become the biggest name on a defense that included future Hall-of-Famers Mike Singletary, Dan Hampton and Richard Dent, and All-Pros Steve McMichael, Wilber Marshall, Otis Wilson, Dave Duerson and Gary Fencik, had become a sack victim. (UPDATE: McMichael has since been elected to the Hall of Fame.)

But, as with the loss in Miami, the Bears woke up. They punished the Patriots. They humiliated them. (Keep in mind, Bill Belichick was then an assistant coach for the Giants, and Tom Brady was 8 years old. Neither of them could cheat to help the Pats.) It was 37-3 when Ditka sent Perry in again with the ball at the 1. He jumped over the line, and fell into the end zone. Touchdown. 44-3.

The game ended 46-10, and, for the 1st time in 22 seasons, the Chicago Bears were NFL Champions. But, at the end of the game, the resentments in the team began to show. The offensive players picked Ditka up and carried him off the field. They did so quickly, because they saw that the defensive players were running over to do the same for Ryan. And some players were bitter that Ditka chose to give Perry, not Payton, the greatest player in the Bears' proud history, the chance to score the last touchdown.

The average size for a Super Bowl ring is between 10 and 12. Perry got the largest Super Bowl ring ever: A size 25.

Ryan soon quit to become the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, where he failed to understand that he had Randall Cunningham, a man known as "the Ultimate Weapon," as his quarterback. He never saw another Super Bowl except on television.

Not having to deal with Ryan should have been the best thing that could have happened to both Ditka and Perry. It wasn't: The Bears were still one of the best teams in the NFL, but never again were the best team.

They lost in the Divisional Playoffs in the 1986 and 1987 seasons, in the NFC Championship Game (at home, to the 49ers) in 1988, missed the Playoffs in 1989, lost in the Divisional Round in 1990, lost in the Wild Card Round in 1991, and missed the Playoffs in 1992, at which point Ditka was fired. He had won 106 regular-season games, 6 Division titles, and 6 postseason games, but only 1 NFC Championship Game and 1 Super Bowl.

The Bears became the NFL equivalent of the New York Mets: All that talent in the 1980s, all those memorable characters, and all that hype, from both local and national media machines, and they ended up only going to their sport's final once, winning just the once. The Mets won their World Series 9 months after the Bears won their Super Bowl (and each beat the team from the Boston market), and didn't learn the right lessons. Not only did both franchises fail to win another title and eventually get broken up, but neither one has ever won another title. The Bears have only been to 1 more Super Bowl, the Mets to only 2 more World Series, all lost.

As for Perry: He started all 16 games in 1986, but was only sent in for 1 rushing play, and lost a yard. In the strike-shortened 1987 season, 15 games, he played 12, started 11. Injuries limited him to 3 games in 1988. In 1989, he played in 13, starting 9. He started all 16 games in 1990, and again in 1991. In 1992, he played in 15, starting 14. But he didn't get the ball again until 1990, again just once, again losing 1 yard. That would be it for the Refrigerator as an offensive player.

In 1993, under new head coach Dave Wannstedt, he was not started in any of the team's 1st 8 games, although he did play in 7 of them. Then he was traded to the Eagles, who, by this point, had fired Ryan in favor of Rich Kotite, another coach who thought he was a lot smarter than he actually was. He started Perry in all 8 remaining games, and in all 16 games the next year.

But Perry's weight became a problem, and he got close to 400 pounds. By this point, there had been other players who were as heavy as he was, but few of them had anywhere near the kind of athleticism he had at 320. Gilbert Brown of the Packers, known as "the Gravedigger," was an exception, a man weighing 377 pounds, but could really move.

Perry was cut by the Eagles after the 1994 season. He made a comeback with the London Monarchs of the World League of American Football in 1996, but it only lasted the 1 season. He fell victim to diabetes, alcoholism (usually a deadly combination) and Guillain–Barré syndrome. By 2014, he was confined to a wheelchair, and living with his brother, Michael Dean Perry, who had become a star for the Cleveland Browns.

Michael Dean was named his brother's conservator, and says that, since 2016, William has been living in an assisted-living facility in their native South Carolina. Michael Dean thinks William may be one of the many NFL players -- including his Bear teammates, quarterback McMahon, and safety Duerson, who eventually committed suicide over it -- suffering from CTE due to head injuries.

William and Michael Dean Perry

Noticeably, when ESPN aired the film The '85 Bears for its documentary series 30 for 30, while he was the subject of some discussion, "The Refrigerator" was not interviewed. McMahon was, and was able to describe his condition with clarity. Ryan was, and, despite having had a stroke and having trouble speaking, and dying just 4 months after the film's 1st airing, did say a few words. But William Perry did not.

In 2015, Dontari Poe, a defensive tackle who wasn't even born yet in 1985, was put in as a running back by the Kansas City Chiefs. He scored a touchdown. At 346 pounds, he broke, and still holds, the record for the heaviest player ever to score an offensive touchdown in the NFL.

*

October 21, 1985 was a Monday. So there were no other NFL games played that day (or night). The NBA season wouldn't start for another 4 days. And this was the travel day between Games 2 and 3 of the World Series, which the Kansas City Royals would win over the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 7, 7 days later.

Only 1 NHL game was played, but, like Bears vs. Packers, it was a nasty rivalry. Unlike Bears vs. Packers, it no longer exists. The Quebec Nordiques beat the Montreal Canadiens, 3-2 at the Montreal Forum. The previous April, in the Playoffs, they had a nasty fight that became known as "The Good Friday Massacre."

January 26, 1986: The Super Bowl Shuffle

January 26, 1986: Super Bowl XX is played at the Superdome in New Orleans. It was meant to be a coronation for the Chicago Bears, who had put together one of the greatest seasons in NFL history. All they had to do was outscore the New England Patriots for 60 minutes.

Just 1 minute and 19 seconds into the game, the Patriots took the lead. That wasn't in the script.

*

Let's go back to early 1982. George Halas, the 86-year-old founding owner of the Bears, fired head coach Neill Armstrong, no relation to the similarly-named first man on the Moon. The Bears' defensive players all signed a letter to Halas, asking that he keep Armstrong's defensive coordinator, James "Buddy" Ryan.

So when Halas made his last hire -- "Papa Bear" died on October 31, 1983 -- Ryan was the only holdover on the coaching staff. And he and the man Halas hired as head coach never got along.

That man was Mike Ditka. One of the earliest great tight ends in football history, the native of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, a small steel-mill city outside Pittsburgh, had starred with the Bears, making 5 Pro Bowls and helping them win the 1963 NFL Championship -- or, if you prefer, "Super Bowl -III." He later played for the Dallas Cowboys, helping them win Super Bowl VI. Head coach Tom Landry made him assistant head coach, and the Cowboys, with both Landry and Ditka, won Super Bowl XII.

Ditka inherited a team with an already legendary running back, Walter Payton, but not much else. He and general manager Jerry Vainisi began to build a champion. In 1984, his 3rd season in charge, the Bears went 10-6, winning the NFC Central Division, their 1st 1st-place finish since 1963, and their 1st Playoff berth in 7 years.

They beat the Washington Redskins in the Divisional Playoff. But in the NFC Championship Game, not only did the San Francisco 49ers beat them 23-0, but they rubbed it in: Head coach Bill Walsh had guard Guy McIntyre play as a blocking running back. Ditka remembered that.

So the Bears began the 1985 season with this lineup:

* Offense. Quarterback: Jim McMahon. Running backs: Walter Payton and Matt Suhey. Receivers: Willie Gault and Dennis McKinnon. Line: Center Jay Hilgenberg, guards Mark Bortz and Tom Thayer, tackles Jim Covert and Keith Van Horne, and tight end Emery Moorehead.

* Defense. Line: Ends Dan Hampton and Richard Dent, and tackles Steve McMichael and William Perry. Linebackers: Mike Singletary, Otis Wilson and Wilber Marshall. Secondary: Cornerbacks Mike Richardson and Leslie Frazier, and safeties Gary Fencik and Dave Duerson.

* Special Teams: Placekicker Kevin Butler, punter Maury Buford, and whatever players had most impressed Ditka in practice. Ditka had been a great special teams player himself once, and had coached it in Dallas. He liked to say, "A man without fear belongs in an insane asylum. Or on special teams."

The Bears lost their 1st 3 preseason games, before winning the last. It didn't show during the regular season. The 1st 5 games were a home-and-home sweep of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a home win over the Patriots (20-7, which gave no indication as to how the season would end), a win away to the Minnesota Vikings, and a home win over the Redskins.

The next game was against the 49ers, at Candlestick Park in San Francisco on October 13. The 49ers were 3-2, having already lost 1 more game than in all of the previous season. Joe Montana may have been the greatest quarterback who ever lived, but the Bears sacked him 7 times. The Bears won, 26-10. 

Late in the game, Ditka sent the rookie Perry in -- as a running back. With McIntyre the year before in mind, he even let Perry -- so fat and seemingly full of food, his nickname was "The Refrigerator" -- carry the ball twice, and he rushed for 4 yards. This had no real effect on the game, but Ditka had sent a message. (This would be the Bears' last win away to the 49ers for 29 years.)

The Perry experiment probably should have ended there: Ditka had made his point to Walsh. But Ditka wanted to make a point to Ryan as well: Contrary to what Ryan believed, Perry could play. And the next game, on October 21, on ABC's Monday Night Football, against the Green Bay Packers, the oldest arch-rivalry in the NFL, would have the entire country watching. (Theoretically, the oldest rivalry is between the Bears and the Arizona Cardinals, who played in Chicago from 1920 to 1959, but since the Cards left Chicago, the teams have cared little about each other.)

During what turned out to be a 23-7 victory, the Bears had a 1st and goal on the Packer 1-yard line. Ditka sent out a formation with Perry looking as though he was going to block for Payton, already the NFL's all-time leading rusher. Instead, McMahon handed the ball to Perry, and he broke through the Packer line to get into the end zone.

At 335 pounds, he became the heaviest player ever to score an offensive touchdown in the NFL. That is, there had been heavier defensive players who picked up a fumble and returned it, or recovered a fumble in the end zone. But Perry was the heaviest player who had been sent in for an offensive play to score a touchdown on said play.

The next week, the Bears beat the Vikings. Perry played, but did not appear on offense. The next week, on November 3, the Bears went to Lambeau Field for a rematch against the Packers. Perry was sent in for 1st and goal on the Packer 4, and moved out to become an eligible receiver. McMahon threw him the ball, and Perry took it in for a touchdown. It gave the Bears a 7-3 lead in a game they would win 16-10.

Now, the Bears were 9-0, and Perry had become a folk hero. He starred in a commercial for McDonald's, ordering 4 McDLTs, 2 large fries, and a Diet Coke. Yes, a Diet Coke, as if that would have made a difference. The tagline, over Perry's huge smile with one missing front tooth, was, "McDonald's: Where The Refrigerator stocks up."

The Bears beat the Detroit Lions at home, to go 10-0. The next week, with McMahon injured and Steve Fuller quarterbacking, the Bears went to Texas and beat the Dallas Cowboys 44-0. Perry rushed for 1 yard, but not a touchdown. The next week, they hosted the Atlanta Falcons, and Perry rushed for another 1-yard touchdown.

The 12-0 Bears' bid for an undefeated season was ruined the following week at the Orange Bowl, losing 38-24 to the Miami Dolphins, who in 1972 became the only undefeated Super Bowl Champions to this day. This remains the most-watched game in Monday Night Football history. Perry did not appear on offense.

Timing is everything: That game was played on December 2, the day before the scheduled release of a song and video the Bears, including Perry, Payton and McMahon, had recorded: "The Super Bowl Shuffle." It made the Bears, including "Fridge" (until the video, most people hadn't heard the shortened version of his nickname), bigger stars than any NFL team had ever been.

Their complacency shattered, the Bears went to work, winning their last 3 games to finish 15-1: Wins over the Indianapolis Colts at home, the New York Jets at the Meadowlands, and the Lions at the Pontiac Silverdome.

Perry was not sent in on offense again, but was proving to his critics, including Ryan, that he was a capable defensive lineman. He ended up starting 9 of the 16 regular-season games. He even recovered 2 fumbles and returned them for a total of 66 yards.

Having gone 15-1, the Bears had matched the previous year's 49ers for most wins in an NFL regular season. When the Dolphins went undefeated in 1972, it was a 14-game season. But there was still that 1 loss on their record. It wouldn't matter much, though, if they won the Super Bowl.

In the Divisional Round, their opponents were the NFC East Champions, the Giants. Bill Parcells' G-Men had their own devastating defense, led by Lawrence Taylor. But the game would be at Soldier Field, right on Lake Michigan, with a Winter wind blasting in. No problem for the Giants, right? Giants Stadium had a wind that swirled around, and they were used to cold and wind.

They were not used to the '85 Bears, or to their wind. Early in the game, Sean Landeta dropped the ball to punt, and the wind blew it so that it just sort of glanced off the side of his foot. It was a 5-yard punt, and Shaun Gayle was right there to pick it up and take it into the end zone. That touchdown, and Butler's point-after, were the only scoring in the 1st half, but the Giants were already dead. Two touchdown passes from McMahon to McKinnon made it 21-0, with the Giants having only 32 rushing yards. Phil Simms had been sacked 6 times for 60 yards.

Next was the NFC Championship Game, at home, against the NFC West Champions, the Los Angeles Rams. As a Southern California team (by this point, they were playing home games in Anaheim), the Rams were not used to cold weather. They had Eric Dickerson, who, the season before, had set a new NFL record for rushing yards in a season. The Bears limited him to 46 yards, and the Rams' offense as a whole to 130 yards. The Bears won, 24-0. For the 1st time since the NFL Championship Game became known as the Super Bowl, they were in it.

There was controversy. Ditka and Ryan were still feuding. At age 45 and 54, respectively, they should have been well past the need for the verbal equivalent of a dick-waving contest. Rumors were swirling that Ryan would get one of the inevitable head coaching vacancies in the NFL. McMahon was feuding with NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle, over advertising on the headbands he wore under his helmet. And he was feuding with the media, over remarks he allegedly made over the personal lives of the women of New Orleans, site of the game.

But on Super Sunday, January 26, the Bears seemed to be set to be all business, against a Patriots team coached by Raymond Berry, the Hall of Fame receiver for the Baltimore Colts of the 1950s and '60s. The Pats had done something no other team had done in a single postseason: Win 3 Playoff games on the road. The Bears were favored by 10 points, an unusually high point spread, but the Pats looked like, at the least, they belonged on the same field as the franchise once, and again, known as "The Monsters of the Midway."

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This game should have been the Bears' crowning achievement. It should have been Payton's crowning achievement, finally playing in the big game after 11 seasons. But he fumbled in the 1st minute of the game, and the Patriots shocked the football world by taking a 3-0 lead on a field goal by Tony Franklin. Remember: The Bears hadn't allowed so much as a point in their 1st 2 postseason games.

The Bears tied it on a Butler field goal. Figuring he was going to win the game anyway, Ditka went against his tough-guy "Iron Mike" image, and decided to get cute. At the Patriot 3-yard line, he sent Perry in. McMahon tossed the ball back to him, and Perry raised his arm for an option pass. NBC announcer Dick Enberg spoke for all of us when he said, with shock in his voice, "It's Perry, he's gonna throw the ball!"

But, never having done this in an actual game, the Fridge hesitated, couldn't find an open receiver, and had to run it himself, and was tackled for a 1-yard loss. The man who had become the biggest name on a defense that included future Hall-of-Famers Singletary, Hampton and Dent, and All-Pros McMichael, Marshall, Wilson, Duerson and Fencik, had become, for all intents and purposes, a sack victim. And the game was still tied, 3-3. (UPDATE: McMichael was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2024.)

But, as with after the loss in Miami, the Bears woke up. They punished the Patriots. They humiliated them. (Keep in mind, Bill Belichick was then an assistant coach for the Giants, and Tom Brady was 8 years old. Neither of them could cheat to help the Pats.) Butler kicked a field goal, and, in the last minute of the 1st quarter, Suhey ran 11 yards for a touchdown. Chicago 13, New England 3.

Midway through the 2nd quarter, McMahon ran the ball himself, got flipped, and landed on his head. He was not immediately injured. A few plays later, with the ball on the Patriot 2-yard line, he lowered his head, got clobbered, and still took the ball in for a touchdown. On the last play of the 1st half, Butler kicked another field goal. Chicago 23, New England 3.

Midway through the 3rd quarter, McMahon got the ball to the Patriot 1. Instead of giving Payton the ball to give him his Super Bowl touchdown, McMahon took it in himself. A little over a minute later, with Berry having replaced starting quarterback Tony Eason -- who thus became the 1st starting quarterback in a Super Bowl to fail to complete a pass -- with the team's longtime former starter, Steve Grogan, Reggie Phillips intercepted a Grogan pass, returning it 28 yards for a touchdown.

It was 37-3 when Ditka sent Perry in again with the ball at the 1. Ditka could have had Perry block for Payton, to give "Sweetness" his Super Bowl touchdown. Instead, Ditka had McMahon hand the ball to Perry, who jumped over the line, and fell into the end zone. Touchdown. The Bears led, 44-3. With 3:48 left in the 3rd quarter.

With 13 minutes left, Grogan found some consolation, with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Irving Fryar. With 5:36 left, and the "46 Defense" replaced by their reserves, Henry Waechter sacked Grogan in the end zone, for a safety. The Patriots were limited to just 123 yards from scrimmage. 

The game ended 46-10, and, for the 1st time in 22 seasons, the Chicago Bears were NFL Champions. Dent was named the game's Most Valuable Player. They could have given it to McMahon. At least they didn't give it to Perry: For the most part, he did his job, but giving him the MVP would have been a terrible example of pandering.

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At the end of the game, before the Patriots' body was even cold, the resentments in the team began to show. The offensive players picked Ditka up and carried him off the field. They did so quickly, because they saw that the defensive players were running over to do the same for Ryan. And some players were bitter that Ditka chose to give Perry, not Payton, the greatest player in the Bears' proud history, the chance to score the last touchdown, or any touchdown. Payton carried the ball 22 times for 61 yards, but didn't get his touchdown.

The next day, the Bears got a championship parade in Chicago. They were also set to go to the White House, to be honored by President Ronald Reagan. But the day after the parade, the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up shortly after launch, killing all 7 astronauts aboard. The Bears' White House celebration was canceled.

Between the message the defense sent by carrying Ryan off the field, the complaints about Perry and Payton, and the inability to be honored by the President, the 1985 Chicago Bears, one of the greatest teams in football history, foreshadowed a scene from the 1988 baseball-themed movie Bull Durham: A kid is pitching well, and his veteran catcher criticizes him anyway. The pitcher asks, "Can't you just let me enjoy the moment?" And the catcher says, "Moment's over."

Sure enough, just 3 days after the Super Bowl, Ryan quit, and accepted an offer to become the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, where he failed to understand that he had Randall Cunningham, a man known as "the Ultimate Weapon," as his quarterback. He never saw another Super Bowl except on television.

Not having to deal with Ryan should have been the best thing that could have happened to both Ditka and Perry. It wasn't: The Bears were still one of the best teams in the NFL, but never again were they the best team.

They lost in the Divisional Playoffs in the 1986 and 1987 seasons, after which Payton retired. They lost in the NFC Championship Game (at home, to the 49ers) in 1988, missed the Playoffs in 1989, lost in the Divisional Round in 1990, lost in the Wild Card Round in 1991, and missed the Playoffs in 1992, at which point Ditka was fired. He had won 106 regular-season games, 6 Division titles, and 6 postseason games, but only 1 NFC Championship Game and 1 Super Bowl.

The Bears became the NFL equivalent of the New York Mets: All that talent in the 1980s, all those memorable characters, and all that hype, from both local and national media machines; and they ended up only going to their sport's final once, winning just the once. The Mets won their World Series 9 months after the Bears won their Super Bowl, and didn't learn the right lessons.

Not only did both franchises fail to win another title and eventually get broken up, but neither one has ever won another title. The Bears have only been to 1 more Super Bowl, the Mets to only 2 more World Series, all lost.

Still, the '85 Bears became not just a historic team, but an iconic one. They were mentioned in the 1987 film Planes, Trains and Automobiles. From 1991 to 1997, "The Chicago Superfans" was a sketch on Saturday Night Live, with beefy men copying Ditka's look -- caps with the Bears' "Wishbone C" logo, aviator sunglasses, and big bushy mustaches -- and raising their mugs of beer to toast "Da Bearssss!" (Once Michael Jordan started winning titles, "Da Bullssss!" was added to the sketch.) And Chicago native Michael Wilbon frequently drops mentions of the team as co-host of ESPN's Pardon the Interruption.

Singletary later served as head coach of the 49ers, Frazier of the Vikings, backup safety Jeff Fisher took the Tennessee Titans to Super Bowl XXXIV, and backup linebacker Ron Rivera took the Carolina Panthers to Super Bowl 50.

In 2011, on the 25th Anniversary of their win, President Barack Obama, who's lived his adult life in Chicago (but was in the opposing metropolitan area, attending Harvard Law School, when that Super Bowl was played), decided to give the '85 Bears the White House visit they never got from Illinois native and former small-college football player Reagan.

But not all was well. Those Bears suffered for their profession, suffered for their art. Payton, who was both one of the most graceful, and one of the toughest, players of his generation, died of liver disease in 1999. Duerson killed himself in 2011, a few months before the White House visit. He wanted his brain donated to science, to see if his struggles in retirement were caused by brain damage, caused by football. It was determined that they were. McMahon has reported memory issues, and believes he also has CTE. Given some of Ditka's statements the last few years, people have wondered about him, too. And McMichael developed amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the paralytic condition known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

Yes, this Bears team was a lot of fun. But beneath the level of fun was trouble that we never saw coming. And, unlike a lot of troublesome football teams of that era and since, it had little to do with steroids, stickum, or (despite having Ryan as defensive coordinator) "bounties."

There's one other thing to note: The Bears' cheerleaders, the Honey Bears, had their contract run out after that Super Bowl. Team owner Virginia Halas McCaskey, who inherited the team from her father, chose not to negotiate a new one. She didn't like the idea of cheerleaders. The Bears haven't had them since. The Bears have been to just one Super Bowl since, and lost it.

UPDATE: In 2019, in connection with their 100th Season (not their 100th Anniversary, which was the next year), the Bears did fan balloting for their 100 Greatest Players. From this Super Bowl team, they chose running backs Walter Payton and Matt Suhey, quarterback Jim McMahon, receivers Willie Gault, Dennis McKinnon, center Jay Hilgenberg, guards Tom Thayer and Mark Bortz, tackles Keith Van Horne and Jim Covert; defensive ends Richard Dent and Mike Hartenstine, defensive tackles Dan Hampton and Steve McMichael, linebackers Mike Singletary, Otis Wilson and Wilber Marshall; safeties Gary Fencik and Dave Duerson, and placekicker Kevin Butler.

But the Bears have been badly mismanaged since, reaching just 1 of the next 40 Super Bowls. From the 1990s, the fans selected running back Neal Anderson, defensive end Trace Armstrong, cornerback Donnell Woolford, safety Mark Carrier, and offensive tackle James "Big Cat" Williams.

The Patriots have a team Hall of Fame. From their 1985 AFC Champions, they have inducted founding owner Sullivan, quarterback Steve Grogan, guard John Hannah, linebacker Steve Nelson, receiver Stanley Morgan, linebacker Andre Tippett; cheerleading director Tracy Sormanti; and assistant coach Dante Scarnecchia -- but not yet head coach Raymond Berry.

From their 2006 NFC Champions, who lost Super Bowl XLI, the fans selected center Olin Kreutz, safeties Patrick Mannelly and Mike Brown, linebackers Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs, cornerback Charles Tillman, defensive tackle Tommie Harris, kicker Robbie Gould, and receiver-kick returner Devin Hester.

From the years since then, they selected running back Matt Forte, quarterback Jay Cutler, defensive end Julius Peppers, receivers Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery, guard Kyle Long, defensive tackle Akiem Hicks, safety Eddie Jackson, and linebacker Khalil Mack.

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January 26, 1986 was, of course, a Sunday. There were no other football games. Baseball was out of season. The NHL was smart, and didn't schedule any games for Super Sunday.

The NBA only scheduled 2, one a major rivalry. The Boston Celtics beat the the Philadelphia 76ers, 105-103 at the Boston Garden. Like the Mets and the Bears, they would win the World Championship in calendar year 1986. And the Sacramento Kings, in their 1st season since moving from Kansas City, beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 121-116 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.