'85 Bears: Team, weather prove
This week: The Bears open their Super Bowl run by dominating the Giants.
The Bears have finished the season 15-1, full of energy. The lone loss to the Miami Dolphins, in Game 13, has only made them meaner and more determined to win Super Bowl XX. ''Global warming'' is not a common phrase in the winter of 1985, and the thing known as ''Bear weather'' has arrived. It's Jan. 5, and the New York Giants are in for a frozen surprise.
We go back to Chicago for the game, and the city is really cranked up. The lions in front of the Art Institute have Bears helmets on, and all you hear every second of the day is that ''Super Bowl Shuffle'' thing going on and on. Me, I would rather hear some Sinatra or Nat King Cole, but what the hell. The Fridge rapping, ''I'm no dumb cookie,'' is entertaining, I suppose.
At Soldier Field, it's cold and windy, like you'd expect on a January day. People who don't know about the Midwest and the Great Lakes may not have a clue about wind coming in off Lake Michigan or the wind swirling around in places like Cleveland or Buffalo off Lake Erie. In Chicago, Soldier Field is right next to the lake, and the cold wind will come in and do whatever it wants. Sometimes you'll see flags blowing in all four directions. So kickers and quarterbacks better be prepared for it.
Early in the game, we back the Giants up toward their own goal at the north end, and it's fourth down. The wind is gusting, and it's something like 14-below-zero wind chill, but this is Chicago in the winter, in the playoffs. Get your skirts off. Focus. Forget the damn cold.
The snap comes back for Sean Landeta, their punter, and we've got a punt-block rush on from the left side with Shaun Gayle and Dennis Gentry. They pick up the rushers, but Landeta is worried or hurried or something, and he goes to punt the ball and swings his leg as hard as he can and misses it. He misses the freaking ball. Maybe he gets a tiny piece of it, but the wind just moves the ball to the side, and it looked like Charlie Brown trying to kick the ball after Lucy yanks it away. Gayle picks up the thing at the 5 and runs it in for a touchdown. We're ahead 7-0, and on this day, that's all we're going to need.
Our defense is back in its full attack mode. The Giants will rush for a total of 32 yards. And Richard Dent himself will have 3½ sacks for minus-38 yards. Do the math on that one. McMahon is wearing gloves, which is something I'm not sure I've seen a lot of quarterbacks do, but he throws two touchdown passes to McKinnon. The funny thing was, Mac is throwing better spirals than ever. Usually, he threw a ball that wobbled around like a wounded duck, but these were almost the way a pro quarterback was supposed to throw.
Yeah, there's wind like in a tornado in the stadium, and Kevin Butler misses every one of his field-goal attempts. So I understand how Landeta could screw up like that. But other guys have to step up in these kind of conditions. I told Butthead after the game not to kill himself, to throw the gun away if he had one.
Of course, I was feeling pretty good because we had whipped the Giants and their outstanding coach, Bill Parcells, 21-0. Talk about defense. The Giants never converted a third down the entire game. Oh-for-12. How could they possibly win? I do recall that Fridge was playing on defense and hit their little running back, Joe Morris, like a runaway cement truck. Kind of sad when that happens. Otis Wilson had a funny line about it. He said he looked down at Morris, ''and I thought it was a poster of him.''
Excerpted from In Life, First You Kick Ass: Reflections on the 1985 Bears and Wisdom from Da Coach by Mike Ditka with Rick Telander. It can be found in bookstores everywhere. The hardcover book can be purchased directly from the publisher by calling (877) 424-BOOK (2665) or online at www.SportsPublishingLLC.com.