Read The '85 Bears: We Were the Greatest Online
Authors: Mike Ditka,Rick Telander
The '85 Bears: We Were the Greatest (38 page)
Knocked Cold
A
fter shutting down the defending champion 49ers in the wild-card playoff game, the New York Giants believed they had a chance against the Bears in the NFC semifinals at Soldier Field. Fat chance.
Sean Landeta whiffed on a punt when a gust of wind blew the ball off his foot in the first quarter, and Shaun Gayle ran it in for a bizarre five-yard touchdown. Then Jim McMahon threw two third-quarter touchdown passes to Dennis McKinnon, and the Bears won comfortably 21–0.
But the story of the game—the story of the season—was the Bears’ defense, as cold-hearted as the weather that chilled 62,076 delighted spectators. The Giants went three-and-out on nine of their first 11 possessions. Running back Joe Morris managed just 32 yards on 12 carries, 14 of those yards on his first attempt. Phil Simms was sacked six times. Before piling up 129 yards on their final two garbage-time drives, the Giants averaged less than two yards per play, and they were 0-for-12 on third-down conversions.
Buddy Ryan had promised a shutout, and his players delivered.
“We believe every thought Buddy shares with us,” safety Dave Duerson said.
Defensive tackle William Perry set the tone, nailing Morris behind the line with a brutal hit that forced the 5-foot-7-inch running back from the game for a time with a mild concussion. “I got him with everything I had,” Perry said.
The Giants came into the game with the No. 2-ranked defense in the NFL but left knowing the chasm separating them from the Bears was substantial. “Our defense—you’ve got to love them,” coach Mike Ditka said. “Buddy did a great job coaching them.”
With Jay Hilgenberg leading the interference, Walter Payton picks up some of his 93 yards against the Giants.
After Sean Landeta’s phantom punt results in a five-yard touchdown for Shaun Gayle (23) in the NFC semifinal, Bears players and fans go wild.
Richard Dent led that defense with six tackles and 3½ sacks, spending the entire afternoon in Simms’ face.
“They didn’t know who to block,” linebacker Wilber Marshall said. “That’s what makes this defense so exciting. It’s so complicated nobody can figure it out.” Gayle became the ninth Bears defender to score this season with “my first touchdown since high school.”
Meanwhile, the offensive line did not allow a sack to a Giants pass rush that led the league in sacks, completely neutralizing All-Pro linebacker Lawrence Taylor, who spent most of the fourth quarter on the sideline screaming in frustration.
McKinnon, who had three catches for 52 yards, first roused Taylor’s ire with a devastating but legal crackback block on a first-quarter running play. He later mixed it up with Giants cornerback Elvis Patterson, whom he beat for both his touchdown catches.
“They call him Toast because he gets burned so often, right?” McKinnon said. “I didn’t have toast for breakfast, but I had it for dinner.”
The Bears’ offense had no penalties or turnovers. With Walter Payton running for 93 yards, the Bears amassed 363 yards, which was 93 more than the Giants had been allowing.
“It wasn’t easy,” Ditka said. “Nothing in life is easy, but our players were on a mission. We beat a good football team.”
No, they completely manhandled a good football team. What does that say about the Bears?
Chicago 21, NewYork 0
JAN. 5, 1986, AT SOLDIER FIELD
Stout defense as nasty as weather in demolition of Giants
After Sean Landeta whiffed on a first-quarter punt, Shaun Gayle’s five-yard return gave the Bears a 7–0 lead that was more than enough.
The Giants went three-and-out on nine of their first 11 possessions and were 0-for-12 on third-down conversions.
Mike Singletary closes in on New York’s Phil Simms, who was sacked six times.
KEVIN BUTLER
No. 6, kicker
“S
teve Kazor picked me up at the airport and we walked up to Halas Hall, and the first guy that walked up to me was Buddy Ryan. He goes, ‘Hey, Steve, who’s this?’ Steve says, ‘This is Kevin Butler.’ Buddy looked at me and said, ‘Oh, God, we wasted a pick on him.’ All of a sudden I get a hand on my shoulder, and it was Ditka. Mike’s like, ‘Hey, don’t listen to this guy. Come with me.’”
“If you didn’t know where you stood with Mike, all you had to do was read the paper.”
“I remember my first meeting and sitting next to Mike Hartenstine and thinking, this guy’s probably killed people. He had that demeanor—stone face. As I got to know Mike, there probably wasn’t a nicer guy on the team.”
“The first mini-camp, I go up there after I’m drafted. I’m engaged to be married January 25. I walk out of that meeting, I get on the phone to Cathy and I say, ‘Hey, we’ve got to change our wedding.’ She’s like, ‘My God, you’ve been up there four hours and you’ve already met somebody.’ I’m like, ‘No, I’m going to make the team and we’re going to the Super Bowl.’”
“First of all, I hear ‘Butthead.’ That’s my name for the rest of my life. I enjoy it. Every day in the mail, I’m still signing football cards.”
“Bear fans, they’re true and blue. They’ve been through some lean years in the past. Until they carry the Lombardi Trophy off, we’ll still be their favorite kids.”
The first thing that comes to my mind: I did contribute to that Super Bowl season. Two games: San Francisco and the New York Jets. I hit four field goals in each game. The Jets was a tighter game than the Frisco game, but the Frisco game
was a big game for me because the year before, that’s where the Bears’ season came to a halt in the NFC Championship Game. It was a big hump for us. To go out there and to make four field goals and to contribute to the win gave my teammates a lot of confidence in me.”
“You get into the first playoff game that year, and it’s the famous Sean Landeta missed punt. I’m thanking the Lord Landeta missed then because people forget I missed three that game.”
“I made three in the Super Bowl. That was big momentum for us.”
“The one thing the guys dug about me is that in 11 years, I never had a kickoff returned on me. I would get grief sometimes that I wasn’t kicking the ball out of the end zone the way I did in college. If the other 10 guys aren’t making the tackle, well, I’m going to make it. One year I was second in special-teams tackles with 11 solos.”
“I’ve got a Super Bowl ring and trophy I love that’s a great showpiece, and they can never take it away. But what football gave to me and Cathy, and what the Bears gave to me, is a tremendous head start in life. Hey, give me my health and give me my family, and I can get through anything.”
