The Chicago Bears were only two years removed from the end of the Mike Ditka era, and just three years removed from that era’s last playoff appearance. In the mid-1990s, this was still a fan base that was accustomed to success. Dave Wannstedt had been hired to replace Ditka. And in Wannstedt’s second year, he […]
The Chicago Bears were the gold standard of the NFC Central from 1984 thru 1991. In that eight-year stretch, the Bears made the playoffs seven times, won the division six times and were a memorable Super Bowl champion in 1985. With Mike Ditka at the helm, the franchise was colorful and successful. The 1992 Chicago […]
For eight seasons, Mike Ditka produced the best run of football Chicago has seen during the Super Bowl era. It started with a division title in 1984, continued on through five more division crowns and a memorable run to a Super Bowl championship in 1985. The 1991 Chicago Bears were the last of that era, […]
The 1990 Chicago Bears came into the season looking to show they were still the same team who had dominated the old NFC Central from 1984-88. The 1989 season had been marked by calamitous collapse, where a 4-0 start turned into a stunning 6-10 finish. Mike Ditka handed the reins to a new quarterback and […]
The Chicago Bears of Mike Ditka were as good as it got in the NFL from 1984-88. In that five-year stretch they won the NFC Central each year. They played in three NFC Championship Games, including 1988. And their 1985 Super Bowl championship team was one of the most iconic squads of its generation. That’s […]
The 1987 Chicago Bears were a part of the 1984-90 high point of the franchise’s modern history, an era that included the 1985 run to a Super Bowl trophy. In the 1987 the Bears won a fourth consecutive division title and were a 2-seed in the playoffs. But they were also a part of an […]
The talk of a dynasty was freely in the air for the 1986 Chicago Bears as the season began. They were coming off a 1985 season where they simply demolished the NFL and won the Super Bowl. The ’86 Bears were awfully good in their own right, but quarterback instability proved to be their undoing […]
The 1979 Chicago Bears were in the second year of the coaching regime of Neill Armstrong. After a playoff trip in 1977, the Bears had lost Jack Pardee to the Washington Redskins. Armstrong, the defensive coordinator for a Super Bowl team in Minnesota, got the job and slipped to 7-9 in his first season in […]
The Chicago Bears were one of the NFL’s consistently outstanding teams in the late 1980s under head coach Mike Ditka. But after winning the Super Bowl in 1985, they had suffered disappointing home playoff losses in the second round to the Washington Redskins. The 1988 Chicago Bears made it all the way to the NFC Championship Game, but another home playoff loss gave a great season a sour ending.
Chicago was led by running back Walter Payton, the dynamic 24-year old running back who rolled up 1,852 yards in what was still a 14-game schedule (the league went to 16 games in 1978). Payton won the MVP award as he carried an offense that ranked 13th in the NFL in points scored.
The 2005 Chicago Bears were a team that had been terrible for the better part of a decade—a 2001 NFC North title and quick playoff exit was the only bright spot over the previous nine seasons that had otherwise seen sub-.500 campaigns. Chicago had to live with the fact that it was the hated Green Bay Packers and Brett Favre that had otherwise owned the NFC North.
The 1985 Chicago Bears came off their 1984 run to the NFC Championship Game knowing they needed to keep quarterback Jim McMahon mostly healthy. They not only did that, but their already great defense rose to new levels of dominance and the Bears absolutely owned the 1985 NFL season from start to finish