'85 Bears: Circus with a purpose on target

The circus packed its tents, herded the giraffes and tigers onto the flatcars, rousted up the fat man, the bearded ladies, the jugglers and the strongmen and headed down to New Orleans. There had been other eccentric and entertaining -- even evil or nearly sanctified -- teams in the 19 previous Super Bowls, but there had never been a carnival like the Chicago Bears. And in the end, it was all because there had never been a head coach like Mike Ditka.

The truth is we were nervous and concerned, but we also were confident as hell. As Dennis McKinnon told the media, ''If we don't make mistakes, there's no way in hell the Patriots can beat us.'' That was just the plain truth. Hampton said we didn't want to squeak by, we wanted to beat them soundly. And we did want to. We were favored by 10 points or something, but I thought that if we did what we were capable of, we could win big, really make a statement.

Otis Wilson even said we wanted a shutout. Fine. We did. But let's not talk too much. Their guy Raymond Clayborn said he thought Wilson ''was crazy,'' and he added, ''Obviously, it will be an incentive for our offense to prove them wrong. And I know they will.'' Clayborn played defensive back. I don't think he knew much about our defense. He'd never played against it. I think he should have asked, oh, let's say the Giants or Rams about it. But that was fine. Who cared about Raymond Clayborn? It was all just talk.

There were people telling me they saw McMahon out on Bourbon Street at 2:30 in the morning. And, no, I didn't have a curfew until Saturday, the night before the game. But we had wake-up calls at 6:30 in the morning, and if the guys didn't know what was really important just now, they were pretty messed up.

Chicago teams always seemed to crumble when they were close to winning it all. The 1969 Cubs had done it, then the 1984 Cubs did. The White Sox blew the Series in 1959. The Bears had that 1963 NFL championship, the one I played on, but that was 22 years ago, and it wasn't the Super Bowl. Getting close didn't mean jack to me. You practice and work so you can get close. Then you take close and kick its carcass to hell. You want the top, the championship. You smell it. You taste it. You get it. That's all there is.

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 from the publisher by calling (877) 424-BOOK or online at www.sportspublishingllc.com.