1985 Chicago Bears season

1985 Chicago Bears season
OwnerThe McCaskey Family
General managerJerry Vainisi
Head coachMike Ditka
Home fieldSoldier Field
Results
Record15–1
Division place1st NFC Central
Playoff finishWon Divisional Playoffs 
(vs. Giants) 21–0
Won NFC Championship
(vs. Rams) 24–0
Won Super Bowl XX
(vs. Patriots) 46–10
Pro Bowlers
AP All-Pros
10[2]

The 1985 season was the Chicago Bears' 66th in the National Football League (NFL) and their fourth under head coach Mike Ditka.

The Bears entered 1985 looking to improve on their 10–6 record from 1984 and advance further than the NFC Championship Game, where they lost to the 15–1 San Francisco 49ers. The Bears did improve on that record, and put together what would be considered by many football historians one of the greatest seasons in NFL history.

The Bears making a rushing play in the end zone against the Patriots during Super Bowl XX

The Bears won their first twelve games of the season before losing to the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football. The loss to the Dolphins would be the only loss the Bears would suffer that season, as they finished with a 15–1 record. This matched the 49ers' mark from the year before and tied the then-record for most wins in a regular season; the record would be reached twice more in 1998 (Minnesota Vikings) and 2004 (Pittsburgh Steelers) before the New England Patriots ended the 2007 NFL season with a 16–0 regular season record.

The Bears' defense was ranked first in the league and only allowed 198 total points (an average of 12.4 points per game).[3] The Bears won the NFC Central Division by seven games over the second-place Green Bay Packers and earned the NFC's top seed and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs at Soldier Field. In their two playoff games against the New York Giants and Los Angeles Rams, the Bears outscored their opponents 45–0 and became the first team to record back-to-back playoff shutouts.

Then, in Super Bowl XX at the Louisiana Superdome against the New England Patriots, the Bears set several more records. First, their 46 points broke the previous record of 38 that had been scored by the Los Angeles Raiders in Super Bowl XVIII and again by the 49ers in Super Bowl XIX. Their 36-point margin of victory also topped the 29-point margin of victory that the Raiders recorded over the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XVIII. Both of those records would stand until Super Bowl XXIV in New Orleans four years later, when the 49ers defeated the Denver Broncos by 45 points, 55–10.

It was the Bears' first NFL Championship title since 1963 and their most recent championship.

The 1985 Chicago Bears are one of the few teams to consistently challenge the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins for the title of the greatest NFL team of all time.[4][5] In 2007, the 1985 Bears were ranked as the second greatest Super Bowl championship team on the NFL Network's documentary series America's Game: The Super Bowl Champions, ranking behind only the 1972 Dolphins. They also ranked #2 behind only the Dolphins on the 100 greatest teams of all time presented by the NFL on its 100th anniversary.[6][7] Other sources rate the 1985 Chicago Bears as the greatest NFL team ever.[4][8]

The defense led the league in points allowed (198), yards allowed (4,135) and takeaways (54), a feat that wasn't accomplished again until the 2013 Seattle Seahawks defense.[9]

  1. ^ "1985 NFL Pro Bowlers". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Archived from the original on February 3, 2012. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  2. ^ "1985 NFL All-Pros". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Archived from the original on August 18, 2012. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  3. ^ Lewis, Brian (January 20, 2014). "10 best teams in Super Bowl history". New York Post. Archived from the original on January 22, 2014. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  4. ^ a b "ESPN.com – Page2 – Greatest NFL teams of all time". Espn.go.com. August 14, 2002. Archived from the original on August 19, 2012. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  5. ^ "Greatest NFL Teams of All Time". ESPN. February 22, 1999. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  6. ^ "NFL Top 100 Teams". Pro Football Reference.
  7. ^ "100 Greatest Teams: Numbers 100-1 SUPERCUT". NFL.com.
  8. ^ "1985 Bears Voted Best Super Bowl Winner". ESPN. February 1, 2007. Archived from the original on January 18, 2016. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  9. ^ Mayer, Larry (February 4, 2014). "Comparing Seahawks to '85 Bears". Chicago Bears. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved February 5, 2014.