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[Barack Obama speaking...] Making your mark on the

world is hard.

If it were easy, everybody would do it.

But its not.

It takes commitment.

And you experience plenty of failure along the way.

So the real test is not whether you avoid this failure..

because you won't.

Its whether you let it harden you or shame you

into inaction.

Or whether instead you learn from it and choose

to persevere.

Well, I had just moved to Chicago.

At the time Chicago was really divided.

Harold Washington, a black mayor, had just been

elected.

The city, at least the city council, was divided

along racial lines.

and a lot of people felt as if this was the city

that no longer worked.

It'd been called the city that worked, but now

things seemed full of gridlock and division and

argument.

Our entire sports experience in Chicago was,

they were terrible.

It was one failure after another.

As a sports fan it was really forbidden because

your season would end very prematurely.

Our sports experience in Chicago was defined by The

Cubs losing in 1969.

If you were a cubs fan you would be mathematically

eliminated from the pennant race.

Sometimes AS early as late July.

In 1967 the White Sox had to just be alive to cross

the finish line, and they couldn't do it and lost to

cinders and by the Blackhawks blowing a

2-nothing lead in game 7 at the Chicago stadium

against Montreal...

By the White Sox in '83 losing to the Orioles when

they were in the playoffs.

To be a Chicago fan was...

you really had to struggle, you know?

The White Sox won once in '59, The Blackhawks in

'61, The Bears in '63 and then that was pretty much it.

One embarrassing collapse after another of Chicago sports.

The early 80s, even a little before that, the

Bears just weren't relevant.

Not nationally and I don't really even think locally.

Even the diehards looked the other way.

And those Bears...

those Chicago football teams were often a bunch

of jokes.

They were a team in kind of a disarray.

The late 60s weren't good, the 70s were kind of bad

and they were coming into the 80s starting to build things.

Well I mean, being a Cubs fan I'm very used to

disappointment. [laughs]

You felt like you wanted to deck somebody just

because we got eliminated already.

So you know, you follow 'em, you see who the new

squad was,who the new coach was, and who the

players were and you just hope for the best.

When I came to town in '81 the bears were just coming

out of another season that wasn't very good.

You know, I came to Chicago in 1980.

They were actually booing us.

I said "Walter, aren't we the whole team?"

And Walter said "Well, you know, this is what happens

in Chicago when you don't win."

They weren't winning.

So everybody literally outside of Payton was not

on an equal footing.

The fans were booing and our coach got fired, and

everybody hated us.

Everybody had to earn their strides.

And Ditka had only gotten here in '82 as the new

head coach, so winning wasn't really happening in

Chicago at that point.

Well I got here in '82

we weren't very good.

Thank God that was only a strike year that year...

I only had to play 9 games.

Our own fans would dump beers on your head.

They were brutal.

I mean, they would pour beer on us as we were

going to the locker room.

My first couple of years there they were brutal in

the papers.

You'd go to the restaurant, they were

brutal.

Well sure, the fans were unbelievable.

There were as angry as The Bears football team.

It's because we were bad.

So we'd leave our helmets on.

So then they built a canvas cover over the

tunnel.

And I remember walking from a game we lost...

the fans lit the canvas tarp on fire, so that they

then could throw things at our heads.

You know, burn a hole.

And so they then put a steel one up, and then you

just hear stuff bouncing off of it.

I couldn't look myself in the mirror and walk

around, and be alright with being mediocre.

That's who you're letting down.

The old man you're gonna see in the mirror when its

all said and done.

What did you do?

Guys that would say 'Oh I'd love to go back and

play one more game,' those were the guys that look

in the mirror knowing they didn't do it

right the first time.

You'd come out of church in the state of grace,

you'd had communion and The Bears were already

down 13, 14 points, and you're like daamn!

They lost in such dramatic fashion.

Like, they were terrible!

They were the worst team you've ever seen.

God?

Whats the deal.

And it was '84, I think we lost to the 49ers in the

championship game.

On the plane trip back Dan Hampton walked up and down

saying "this ain't gonna happen again."

"We're not gonna lose like this again."

How many years of failure?

From 1963 to 1985.

22 years of failure in sports and this team

exorcised all the demons.

The fans, I think, for The Bears have always been the

same - so passionate.

Everybody in the city loves The Bears so the

fans are very passionate but they were also

starting to get a little jaded perhaps, thinking

okay were tired of seeing all these other teams win.

There were some good talent.

Walter Payton was there.

This guy was in place since the mid 70s and he

was just a phenomenal player and people were

recognizing that.

And you thought, okay you got him, you got some

other good draft picks, Jim Covert, Willie Gault...

this seems like elite athletes.

When I got here it was almost like The Bears were

a second class citizen.

Jim Finks who was the general manager at that

time was putting up a plan together.

Hampton came in, I came in in '80 and

Mike Singletary, Keith Van Horne, Jim McMahon...

they started putting this thing together.

A lot of the guys that were coming in...

we were winners.

And we like winning, and we didn't wanna accept

losing.

[narrator] Neil Armstrong had taken

on head coaching duties in 1978.

Posting a win/loss tally of 30 and 34 after four

seasons.

After Armstrong led Chicago to a disappointing

6 and 10 record in 1981, Bears, Brass and fans

alike hoped change at the top would be a catalyst

for much needed progress.

In the early days it was tough.

I mean, getting up to come to work, there wasn't

really nothing to come to.

I mean, some guys literally had their truck

or car packed at the last game in Soldier Stadium.

[Bryan McKaskey] Coach Ditka was a special teams coach with the

Dallas Cowboys at the time, and he wrote a

handwritten letter to my grandfather and said,

"I'd like to be the next head coach of the Chicago Bears."

I thought really that I left here under not

the best circumstances and kinna unfinished

business...

and thats what I told them in the letter.

I said I wanna come back and I said I wanna coach

The Bears.

You'd be proud of what I do.

You put Mike Ditka at the head of it.

And its like oh boy if somebody can chorale all

this energy and these different kinds of

personalities, man you might have something just

unbelievable.

[narrator] In January of 1982, Mike Ditka

became only the 10th head coach in Chicago Bears history.

There was so much talent on the team, but sometimes

talent collides unless it's coached with discipline.

Mike Ditka was the 12th man on that team.

I noticed an immediate change when coach Ditka came.

[Steve McMichael] The practice...

he came out as the head coach.

You know what he told us after the practice was over?

'Boys I've got some good news and I've got some bad

news.

The good news is, give me 3 years, we're going to be

in the Super Bowl. The only thing is...Half of

you guys won't be there when we get there. Some

of you guys in this room are not gonna be here.

The bad news is half of you ain't gonna be here to

see it.' They'd never heard that.

They were playing football and my job was to win the

Super Bowl.

A lot of guys started looking around and...

wow, that was a powerful day.

And I remember that because I checked that

roster, and boy, there were a lot of guys who

heard that first speech and they weren't in the

locker room down in New Orleans.

I felt very good because I felt that okay there is a

guy that sort of gets whats best about The

Bears.

I though to myself, 'I don't know coach Ditka,

but I like him.' And I was very confident that he was

going to make a difference.

You only have one goal when you coach or you

play, and that's to be the champion.

To be the best you can be.

And you can do that as a team.

Its really a rewarding feeling.

And when you can be the architect of that team

that is even more significant than when I played.

And you could just feel the vibe from 1982 on that

we were gonna get going in the right direction.

Guys started going in and out of that door real fast.

He'd probably like nothing more than smashing you in

the face and getting 4 yards.

Thats who he was, thats how he coached, and it fit

the personality of their talent all around the team

so well.

He was all pro and he came in as a rookie, so you

thought okay here we go.

Now we got a guy that's really that good but he

was unusual and he had that single bar, you know,

his first year as a Bear he broke some kind of

record as it tied in.

When you see the footage, you know, the famous

footage of him just not getting knocked down -

thats pretty much who he was.

If you sit around and laugh and you worry about

the people who resent what you're doing, you're not

gonna do very much.

Ditka was tough and you could tell that that

toughness was what they needed.

I say this all the time...'apologies to

everybody I've offended.

But hell thats too many people.' And we started

acquiring the guys that really made a difference.

The guys that wanted to win, wanted to do the

extra work, wanted to be there, and wanted to be a

part of something very special.

And I think the '83 draft... if you look at the amount of

guys that played and made an impact on the team,

I think it was pretty good.

Overall I think it was the '83 draft that kinda

brought in the nuclear 17.

Ditka was exactly what the doctor ordered.

When Ditka showed up I was like okay he's sort of in

the same through-line of talent and integrity and

bareness as George Allen was, you know?

He was like that.

So it felt really good with Ditka right away.

And he came and from day one he just said, 'guys,

its gonna be blood, sweat and tears.

Your blood, my tears, and its gonna be one way.

Its gonna be my way.'

[ominous music in background]

[narrator] Buddy Ryan had long since

won the respect and loyalty of his players.

And While Ditka's arrival in Chicago brought new

hope to Bears fans, with it came concern from the

Bears defensive unit over their leader's future and

the fate of what they had built together.

When a coach comes in he brings in his own staff -

offensively and defensively.

So we got a petition together on the defensive

end to keep Buddy Ryan in place.

Back when Mike first got with us the defense had

written a letter to coach Halas asking that they

retain Buddy Ryan.

He was their coach at the time.

[narrator] George Papa Bear Halas, or

'Mr. Everything' as he was also known, was a player,

coach, and the iconic owner of the Chicago Bears.

He was a respected cofounder of the National

Football League, and was swayed in 1982 to make a

key decision for the Bears.

So that was certainly an endorsement and I know my

grandfather came out to address the team - which

was very unusual.

Everybody was going woooh...

and we looked at the door and there's George Halas.

Little George Halas in his overcoat.

He came in and he went to the front of the room and

Neil armstrong got out of the way and he said, 'can

I have all the coaches leave the room.' And we

were all like 'Holy shit.

What's going on here?'

And so the doors closed and he basically started

talking and he pulled the letter out and said, 'you

know, when I started this league 70 years ago I

dreamed that it would be filled with men of

integrity and vision...

and I never thought that my team would be so

worried and caught up with the goodness of the team

to write a letter to demand that their coach be

retained.' I mean, it was fantastic.

And Halas came to Halas Hall and said yes, we'll

keep him.

So Mike had to accept Buddy Ryan.

And he said I'm gonna sign Buddy to a new 3 year

contract with all the assistants, and I want you

to know that I'm proud of you as a team for what

you've done.

[Otis Wilson] I don't want to make it

seem like it was two teams going on, but the offense was the

offense. Buddy Ryan set the tone for everybody.

Defensively we go on into the field and we stay

there till Buddy is like 'hey,this is our game

plan, and if you don't know what you're doing,

you're going to be standing here on the

sideline next to me.' Buddy was in the army in

the Korean war...

so you had to earn the respect of Buddy Ryan.

"And if you're standing here too long, that little

grocery bags job back there in Lake Forest

grocery store...

you're gonna have that job." After that, when you

were part of the team - part of the defense - then

he was very protective of his players.

[coaches howling]

[narrator] While Buddy Ryan fathered his

players as if they were family, he also worked them relentlessly

as any drill sergeant would their troops.

[Dennis McKinnon] But there was fighting

every single day. Offensive line, defensive line.

Offensive period, you're supposed to let the

offense do what they do and not really respond.

The defense didn't go for that.

They were bringing it in every play.

So it was intense.

Thats all we did was hit and do our practice.

The first couple years, until he got the right

people in place, a lot of hitting, a lot of sorting

things out.

[narrator] Chicago Bears practices meant

running further and hitting harder than other

NFL clubs of the time. There was no lollygagging

around there was no ass-kissing, there was no brother-in-law

as I used to call it in practice.

When its my period you make me look good so when

its your period i'll make you look good.

That don't happen on Sunday during the game.

So you better practice how the game is gonna be.

And thats how you learned how the game is gonna go.

I think there was a lot of animosity between Buddy

and Mike because I think Buddy thought he was gonna

get the head job.

No, I never saw them go after each other although

the sort of understanding was that they were two

separate teams.

It was like having two head coaches.

Buddy was in charge of the defense and Ditka was in

charge of the offense and sometimes they would cross

on the field and wave each other.

The Buddy Ryan - Mike Ditka conflict was a real

one and a huge one.

Its the best... Its the best story.

Its almost Shakespearean.

We don't agree on everything but hell I

don't agree on everything with my wife either.

Your offense and defense have to match.

He don't have to listen but I tell him.

You know what it is?

It really is Jagger and Keith Richards...

And they had the perfect head coach.

He run the offense to fit defense and Mike Ditka was

the guy that run that offense also.

Ditka is Jagger.

He's kind of the more vocal, the more famous,

the more moody...

[both laughing] - [Ike] Right?

During practice he'd be yelling back and forth.

I get along with everybody. As long as

they do things my way. [laughter in background]

We would sit there during the games and kind of

laugh - because they'd be nose-to-nose yelling at

each other.

'And we were like 'these are our two leaders?' and

we're still winning.

Buddy Ryan is Keith Richards.

Hes the more nitty-gritty nuts and bolts designer of

the group.

Buddy Ryan had been grandfathered in.

He came along with the team and he was a great

defensive coordinator.' - [Bill Murray] They were both

supremely confident in their own skin, you know.

And they didn't need one more friend.

They needed someone to run the defense and the

offense and to run the show.

You know, Buddy had certain privileges that

most coaches wouldn't have.

I don't think any of us would ever really know how

Mike Ditka felt about Buddy or how Buddy felt

about Mike Ditka.

I think underneath it all they really respected each

other and thats about all you could ask.

Mike Ditka was the offensive guy and there

were times where Buddy's team was so separate from

Ditka's team that you might have as well had

different uniforms for these guys.

They might have as well been in different cities.

If we didn't do something right or if somebody did

something wrong, Ditka would come down there and

say something to Buddy and Buddy was like "hell,

well go score some points and leave me alone."

"I'm in the heat of the battle right now"

Buddy Ryan had 46 defense - something new, something

creative, hard to understand, and then you

put great talent with it...?

Thats when you get total unbelievable production.

[crowd cheering]

The defense was even greater than anybody

anticipated.

I mean, maybe Buddy?

Maybe they knew.

But there's no way you could think that a team is

going to literally make opposing players afraid.

I guarantee you yo cant argue this fact...

We were the defense that struck the most fear into

the opposing team before the game had even started.

And then we learnt really what the spark was among

them.

They were competing with one another - not the other team.

It was Richard Dent competing with Otis Wilson

They wanted to get there first and to get the cheers.

Dean and Michaels normally got it started up...

'I got a 100 on the first one to get to the quarterback.

[referee whistles] [groans on impact]

'That's all you got? That's all you got?

Hey, I got 200' We wanted to take the quarterback out.

I'm not supposed to say that, but that was our mission.

I got 500! That's Ham...

'I have 500. What if I get two - thousand baby. Thousand!'

You know, I'd sit at the meetings and they'd be

talking about all this stuff but I just kept

hearing this name - Richard Dent.

All the time.

And that was the main focus of our offensive line.

And I said oh, I hear this Dent a lot...

let's make sure to take care of Dent.

[groans on impact]

It got to the point where you could see quarterbacks

that were terrified and you understood why they

were terrified.

They should've been.

Dave Duerson used to come up from the safety

position, get close to the center and bark like a dog

at me as I was calling signals.

They've always been like a defensive specialist team

because when its cold weather you gotta smash

the other guys, you know?

Smashing the other guys keeps your blood flowing.

And when you're outdoors it keeps your feet warm.

Shame on the offensive coaches for telling them

to make this little...

pat the ball, drop back.

You're gonna get annihilated.

I mean he'd really go hur-hur-hur-hurh!

That barking... [barking]

The head-butting...

It was insane.

They were just crazy.

They were so athletic - Wilber Marshal and Otis

and Singletary...

It was terrifying to another team.

I wouldn't warm up with the team before the game,

but when the teams go against each other run

plays, I would go stand at the 50 yard line and stand

there and just stare at the other team.

That kinda explains all the things about their

personalities.

They got to a point where they were invincible.

They were invincible.

There wasn't any...

We were dominant than anybody in NFL history.

They were just about as good a defense than I'd

ever played against - and maybe that ever played the game.

I think every body knew and nobody even argued the

fact that it was a unique scheme but the physical

abilities of the players was unbelievable too.

It was hard to focus on one particular guy because

there were truly so many outstanding athletic people.

The Bears have the best athletic defense of all time.

No one could touch them.

Every one on that team was an absolute beast.

We had 3 all pros rushing and passing, we had 3 all

pros line backers, and then we had a couple of

all pros at safety.

And then we had two very good corners.

So what are you gonna do as an offense?

Where are you gonna go?

It's gonna be harder for the other team to beat you

if they don't have the ball.

So we had the ball a lot

because our defense gave it to us...

and then we kept it when we got it.

I don't think they were cocky at all.

I mean, they just get after the quarterback and

put pressure on the quarterback, knock him

down, take the ball away and that was their style

of play.

My guess is that we could probably control the

football 35 minutes to 36/37 minutes a game.

No one knew that Ron Rivera was a line backer

back then because you had guys like Mike Singletary,

and Otis Wilson, Richard Dent and Dan Hampton

picking guys up and just tossing them aside.

They were the best defense which made them a hard

hitting team and our politics at that time as

you remember - because of the city council wars, as

we were known then if you go back to our politics -

we were the Beirut-on-the-lake.

And so here they are, hard hitting, just like our

politics which were also capturing the nations

attention at that time.

You know when you have that many leaders on a

football team sometimes its going to be fragmented.

But it kinda unified the whole thing on the

defensive side of the ball.

When I came here the cabaret wasn't bare.

Don't think the cabaret was bare at all.

There were a lot of good football players on this

team, and there were a lot of guys who didn't belong

on this football team.

And my job was to figure out who was who.

So the one thing we didn't have after I found out

after my first year of going 2, 3 or 4

quarterbacks - we needed a quarterback.

[triumphant music]

[narrator] Jim McMahon was not considered a

prototypical NFL quarterback, free from BYU's restrictive

culture Jim McMahon would immediately challenge the

Bear bras and stretch the boundaries of player decorum.

[Jim McMahon] I just remember sitting

outside Halas' office waiting for hours...

just sitting there.

And I'd just flown for 3 hours and now I'm sitting

in this guy's office for a couple of hours doing

nothing and I finally ask the secretary what's going on.

She said 'oh Mr. Halas is taking a nap'.

So I said 'well wake him up.'

I've got shit to do.' You know?

With the NFL and rules he was kinda one of those

anti-establishment type of guys.

That first meeting with him wasn't all that fun.

I just got drafted 3-4 hrs before that.

He'd already had a contract for me saying

this is the most we've offered a rookie, and this and that.

He told me I was too short, I had a bad arm,

couldn't see very well...

that I should go to Canada.

That was his words to me.

I looked at it and just kinda watered up and I

said 'I'm not signing this.' So I said 'why the

hell did you even draft me then?'

And I got up and walked out.

You know a head band and advertising something...

I think he was toying with the NFL and rules.

And then I ended up signing that same little

piece of paper that I wrinkled up and threw back

at him so...

Love him. He's crazy!

Certainly he's crazy but I had a great relationship

with him and he was very loyal to his teammates.

McMahon, you know, a quarterback who looks like

he came out of some teen movie. Like he's Sean Penn

in Fast times at Ridgemont High.

[laughs]

Jim McMahon was almost like some kind of movie

star that was the quarterback.

Everybody wanted to be with the cool guy and that

was Jimmy.

He was dizzy with confidence.

What quarterback has acted and played like Jim McMahon.

There's not many of 'em, you know.

Man, he was different.

No team in the NFL had a quarterback like Jim McMahon.

If I called a running play to Payne, there was a

reason I called it.

I wasn't trying to throw a touchdown pass.

We were notorious, you know.

We're gonna run Walter to death and every team in

the league knew it so they'd crowd the box.

So I said "why run into a brick wall when you don't have to?"

People don't realize now most quarterbacks' helmets have

microphones - so they're talking upstairs.

In our day we had runners that run into the game with the play.

But by the time the 3rd got to the huddle, the

defense might've changed their front.

So Jim Mac would normally go to the line with the either or...

Two plays - not the play he was called from the sideline.

He thought I was doing things just to piss him off.

I told him...

I said "look I'm trying to win the ball game."

Sometimes he'd aggravate me when you called play

and then he'd change it all the time.

...stuff you said it ain't right sometimes.

8, 9 times out of 10 Ditka has sent the plan and he's

change the play.

And so a lot of times I wouldn't call it.

And he's be right.

Sometimes he changed it right, sometimes he changed it wrong.

he changed it wrong up in Minnesota, went for

touchdown the other way. And he'd get pissed off

and you know...

play would work though. He changed a lot of them

right that went for touchdowns our way...

so I didn't profess every call I made was perfect,

but we did it for a reason.

He got frustrated with Mike a little bit because

he wanted him to be like Roger Staubach.

You know he'd watch 20 hours of film a week and

Jim wouldn't like that.

So we'd be in film sessions and then he

would say you see that news and Jim would say 'I

got it, I got it' He tried to give you this idea that

he wasn't studying film but he knew what.... he

knew he excited a lot - he knew it was going on.

He had no fear in his eyes and I think the other team

didn't know what to do with him.

The highlight of the season for me was the game

where McMahon came in and threw three touchdown

passes one after another I can still see it now and

it was as if the message went out...

these guys have it.

Something big is going to happen.

He was like no other One of the smartest guys I

ever played with.

I've seen some quarterbacks who could

throw the spiral thinking around like a halfback.

I think he was the last of a dying breed.

...but they were not in their heart of hearts winners.

You could tell McMahon wobble down in the field

but he was a winner and the guys were magnets to

McMahon's leadership.

I know that feeling of kind of being vulnerable

and like you just can't possibly get in trouble.

It's like you can't get arrested at your uncle the

sheriff's wedding...

you know that kind of feeling it's like we can

do anything we want here.

He has an innate ability to lead men know he's a

leader.

Well he's all I wanted in a quarterback maybe he

wasn't Johnny Unitas but he was our guy.

Jim was a great quarterback, here...

He didn't have all the physical skills.

He didn't have the build that you want but he knew

football and he was a competitor.

I just loved it man...

- ...anybody got headbutts at the offensive line like he did.

-[Mantegna]It's the team play... -[Wendt] Yeah.

-[Mantegna]that's what made them -[Wendt] Yeah.

[Joe] so great

Somehow he was the right fit for that for that Bears team.

He was a quirky personality.

He was she was very very different and for a guy

who you think plays the quarterback in lead

position maybe that's why it worked with a head

coach like Ditka and a defense like the Bears.

[narrator] For the first time in years

football fans in Chicago

had realistic Superbowl hopes.

To this day I think he's you know, barefoot on the

golf course somewhere...

in like overalls, cackling.

Cut to a picture of him doing that please...

[Applause and cheers] [Drumbeat Music]

The Bears have always been about tough defense well

okay you can beat up the other team and still lose.

This was starting to look like a team that maybe

could beat up the other team and also win.

We were learning how good we could be that year.

The Bears hadn't won a division in a long time

but I didn't realize it and almost every guy

rededicated themselves at offseason to be ready.

Like in the five minutes left in the fourth quarter I'm

cutting my tape off my hands, I'm excited - can't

wait to get on the plane have a beer celebrate and

I look over and Jim Osbourne a guy that was in

his fourteenth year was over there.

And he had tears in his eyes and I'm thinking hey

Ozzy are you hurt?

I think finding the right guys who could make this

offense run make this defense now become intimidating.

And I said 'what are you crying for?'

He goes 'man I'm happy.' He goes, 'this is the

first time we ever won the division. We were very

young. We didn't expect to be in a conference

championship in '84.

So not expecting and then believing that you

belong...

there's a transition that took place that year.

And I thought to myself holy shit...

he's played here 14 years and they've never won the

division?

And I look and there's the Gatorade thing.

And I said 'hey here's what we're gonna do...'

And he goes 'okay you get it and I'll run up and

I'll hold Ditka so you can come up behind him and

dump it on him.

And the reason we did it the first ever Gatorade

dump was because we wanted to commemorate something

that hadn't happened in a long time.

I'm gonna go getting the story how that started

with us I'm not sure Harry started it with us...

it could have been another player and Harry took it over.

The year after we won the Super Bowl when the Giants

won it, well at the end of the game they did it to

Parcells and so the whole world thinks they started

it.

So it doesn't matter if the Bears did start it...

we're getting credit for doing it there's no

question.

But we have documented proof that we did it two

years prior up in Minnesota and you know

what, I think our deal was probably just as big as

the Giants' win in the Super Bowl.

[narrator] Chicago capped off a

hope-filled season with an

embarrassing loss to the eventual Super Bowl

champion 49ers.

After the 23-0 shutout, safety Ronnie Lott

remarked 'next time bring an offense' as the

Bears exited the playing fields.

That sardonic advice would not soon be forgotten by

Ditka or his players.

I took that personally I really did.

I thought when we went out to play San Francisco that we could

beat him with our defense. I really did. And I was wrong.

It's a real blemish for that team and...

it's not the score, it's just...

losing.

You can make an excuse and say Jim McMahon was hurt

but we needed to have way more production than what

we did so I know a lot of the offensive players

especially the offensive line took that as personal insult.

On the plane back from San Francisco I went up to

everybody look them in the eye...

come July make your mind up right now.

And we can't wait till then to say okay we're

going to do it we got to start them right now and

and everybody to a man looked me in the eye and

said 'yeah, let's do it.'

He was fired up.

And he got the rest of them fired up.

So the off-season after that game was terrific.

Our whole goal in that training camp was to get

to the Super Bowl.

And I told them in the locker room.

After that game I said 'this one's on me'.

I said 'this was my fault.' That was our

focus.

An entire training camp our entire focus going

into the preseason games and then into the season

is that we're going to the Super Bowl and we're gonna win it.

I said 'the next time we played these guys,

we will be ready.

And coach Ditka made sure that we knew that.

...in '85 everybody had to have that goal, and when

we came up one game short of the Super Bowl we

decided that we're gonna get there this year.

♪♪

[Mike Singletary] When I first got to Chicago

I really didn't know running backs at all.

Everybody told me "man wait till you meet this guy Sweetness."

I wasn't enamored, I wasn't excited because

I only wanted to hear about some of the guys on the defense.

we had the greatest player in the game.

the greatest running back of all time.

There will never ever ever ever be a better running back

than Walter Payton.

Every little kid who want to play the game that's

what they wanted to be was Walter Payton.

Guys at a certain point were kind of shying away

from hitting him.

He was a barker, he's lower his head and hit you

so hard...

he was a great receiver, a great teammate one of the

toughest guys that I ever played with.

I've never seen anybody like.

The guy doesn't quit.

Everybody should realize like the Greeks did about

Hercules that Walter Payton was a demigod.

One time I come in and Walter was doing

repetition deadlifts at 525 pounds...

and I said 'Walter!'

He had a little hamstring problem and I said you got

a hamstring problem.

That muscle is involved in that exercise.

He said 'ah its okay I don't feel nothing'.

Born here on earth to do exactly what he did.

They listed him at five ten and a half he was

probably five nine 205 he had the vertical of

Michael Jordan.

When it was time to score they gave him the ball he

shot up through the roof and landed on his head.

No one has ever done that since.

He's got a motor that never stops.

I mean not only is he talented but you know,

he's got a heart.

Walter Payton one of the great gentlemen of the game.

And so sweet and soft-spoken but

unbelievably tough and just a beautiful running back.

My rookie year watching him in a game and I was

blown away by how fantastic he was.

How tough he was.

I think it was my rookie year - might have been my

first start - I had called a play that wasn't in the

game plan that week.

and I gave it to Suhey and it was I think it was

third and seven...

he got nine yards and Walter pulled me aside and

he says 'keep doing what you're doing.

You're making us better.

That's really the only thing he ever said to me

on the field.

He had a resolve that he wasn't gonna be beaten, he

wasn't gonna be tackled, and you know, that's

impossible - you are gonna be.

but he felt like he couldn't be.

I remember he was in a contest with OJ Simpson to

win the title running.

And OJ won that Sunday in Chicago and Walter Payton

cried. He was that into his art.

Anytime I meet a running back whether it's Tony

Dorsett, Eric Dickerson, who was the best?

They all say Walter Payton.

Just a legend among the players even while he

played.

There's not many guys that are legends while they

play...

he was one of them.

You know, he missed one game in 13 years so that's

a football player.

He either spanked you on the ass, which is good, or

he'd give you a look which was not good.

So you didn't want the look.

Walter with the calming force on that team.

Period.

People in Chicago in love Walter.

Walter was the heart and soul of the Bears for

10-15 years.

He worked really hard.

He exemplified what Chicago was all about.

Blue-collar hard worker.

And I think the end of the day it was really about

highlighting who 34 was.

Sweetness was so well liked and appreciated for

all his skill and effort when the Bears weren't

winning, that there was a sense of hey this is

great, he's got a team around him.

The total package of the great athlete the great

[crowd cheering] mentality and a great brother.

And if you weren't rooting for your own team you were

rooting for him so you took notice of the things

on a winner now...

and he might get that Super Bowl he might get to

the big game.

[narrator] Walter Payton was a respected

community activist, a team leader and one of the most

prolific running backs the NFL had ever seen.

He obtained legendary status even prior to his

retirement from the sport in 1987.

[ominous drumline music]

Here comes refrigerator.

Just the name carried an impression.

...blocking out the sky as the defenders tried to

stop him as he dove into the line.

The fridge was this brilliant athlete.

We had fun watch him use his weight in the way we

played good defense calls and run the ball every now

and then.

There are very few guys at that time that were, you

know, as they said a biscuit over 300 pounds

and yet had a vertical and they could move anywhere

on the field.

-[Barinholt] So to see a big -[Stassen] Yeah.

[Barinholt] young guy out there just throwing guys around and

laughing and smiling.

A guy who looks like he shouldn't be able to move

but has these feet that allow him not just to be a

great defensive player but also start to run stuff

into the goal line.

I always related to him because I always had a

- big gap in my tooth. - big gap? yeah.

I was watching him run sprints.

And man, the first five yards he came out and that dirt

will fly out behind his feet and he'd boooom...

Jeez what if I put him in the back field in front of

Walter?

He was a bulldozer.

I said well if he can block, why can't he run?

So then I say okay we'll give him the ball.

Same thing, bulldozer.

So what I said is if he can block and if he can

run, I said maybe he can catch.

So we threw him a touchdown pass...

we did all of that.

then finally I said well if he can run, he can

block and he can catch, maybe he can throw!

He couldn't throw.

[laughs]

The first time he ran that touchdown in, I lost my

mind.

He really was a refrigerator and he would

just...

it would take two or three guys to stop him just

pushing forwards.

They put him in the backfield and that was

kind of unheard of at that time.

It was so pervasive I remember my parents they

went to England for a vacation and they had a

cab driver and he was like 'where are you from?'

And they're like Chicago.

He goes 'oh, The Fridge.' Did you realize American

football is popular in England now?

Oh yes we've heard you talk about the Fridge, right sir?

[all laugh]

Like not Reagan or Al Capone or Babe Ruth but

the one person he knew was the fridge.

In the beginning it was very simple...

I'm putting this guy in.

I mean, I had a great fullback in Matt Suhey

are you kidding me? he'll block anybody.

This guy weighed 300 pounds - with that kind of

force it didn't matter...

he can move three people out of there.

Just put Walter behind him, it was good.

Maybe it was just another way to use a talent that

we had.

[narrator] William 'The Refrigerator' Perry

was lampooned by the

press and used as a pawn in his own coach's

battles.

At the end of the day he was just another capable

athlete who would make his impact felt throughout the

'85 season.

Get out of here...!

They took a fun orthodox

approach with a very hard-nosed old-school coach.

Mike Ditka was...

he was he was the most interesting man in the

world before there was the most interesting man in

the world.

On a national scale he was Chuck Norris, Walker Texas

Ranger and he was broth and he was grouchy and he

was mean but he was lovable that embodied all

of the other personalities.

You can take this to the bank my friends...

"Live from New York, its Saturday night."

[Wendt] This Bears team has given us so many

memories, 310 sports bars, 289 DUIs.

-[Mantegna] That's right... -[Wendt] and the night is young.

- [Mantegna] Yeah that's right and I'm only on my

eleventh beer.

Like my third day in Chicago I went to Wrigley

Field by myself and I think I'm having a great

time Those SNL guys that George Wendt and Smigel

and Michael Myers did...

they exist in the parking lot outside Soldier Field.

So I would go to other Chicago games...

I started noticing a look.

A lot of the intense fans they've all got the

aviator shades and then they have these really

thick walrus mustache.

Mike Ditka is responsible for so many mustaches in

the Chicagoland area.

You know from a comedic perspective it's fun to

look at them as crazy and sports obsessed but it was

all a part of what makes Chicago great.

Conan O'Brien and Bob Odenkirk and Robert Smigel

kept trying to pitch it and it just laid there and

never really worked.

Joe was interested and so Lauren goes okay if he

wants to do it.

Bob said what if we did something sort of parodied

the sports writers on TV.

I figured well I'm from Chicago, maybe people in

Chicago will get a kick out of it...

Hello, welcome to another edition of Bill Swerski's

super-fans.

I'm Bob Swerski sitting in for my brother Phil...

...and we did it and it was great but what I found

out the next day was, you know, people were calling

from Chicago said you can't believe it - on the

radio it got cut, they're re-running the skit constantly.

[Stassen] The superfans sketch felt like the first

time Saturday Night Live did something like provincial

outside of the New York area. - [Barinholt] Yeah...

[Stassen] You know, and it was cool it was Chicago and...

[Barinholt] It was cool they were showing us as were are.

kielbasa, inhaling... having a hard time.

You okay Ted?

Hey hey he's just having a heart attack..

If the Greeks had tailgating this is what it would have

sounded like...

'Oh golly we're gonna have some lamb here today.'

That sort of temperate kind of casual voice and

the love and respect they have for their meats and

their sausages...

We thank Ditka and God...

- alright, is that okay? I mean - All that sausage...

[studio audience laughs]

- it's a family thing i think... - Ditka

So when the explosion of the game occurs,

[crowd cheering]

the ribs rip open, you see the real warrior inside that

person that it's only domesticated bison, fine

sausage bison, fine grill, you know?

There was this arrogance to the fans they like to

drink they like to strut around cocky even though

their teams really sucked.

Listen if they're your team they're your team,

you know, when they suck and then when they're

great and I feel like, you know, the Chicago fans are

very loyal.

There was this one guy in particular he not only had

the shades and the stache but he was wearing a hula

skirt and a coconut bra everybody else is going

Bears Bears...! Whatever - they're just you know

yelling at the camera the way all sports fans do

this guy's not saying a word she's just completely

focused, just... it's like a mission he's on.

He's got a hula. I'm just writing dialogue in

my head the only thing I could imagine him doing is

bears, bears, bears, bears...

There were so many characters on the team and

I think Chicago is one of these towns where you have

hard-working people they look you in the eyes and

they aren't afraid to be exactly who they are and I

think the Bears took on that identity.

I can't think of it came they had more disparate

personalities than that group.

Guys who did things that were unusual in that you

couldn't understand how they all got along, how

they all were together, guys who were half-crazy,

bookish guys who were conmen, guys who were...

everything in the world and its like whoa!

this is crazy.

The Bears all contributed to a kind of theatrical

production where everybody has a solo part.

A cast of characters who, first things first is

football but then they turn the joy of football

into a kind of... they spread the joy around.

It could have been a reality show just

following this team around the arguments, the

personalities that came out.

I can't imagine the reality show based on the

Chicago Bears it would have been incredible.

It would have been x-rated, it would have

been attended and watched by everybody.

When were we going to see something like that?

They worked hard they played hard and they just

truly weren't afraid to be who they were.

They were crazy I was crazy when I was a player

off the field too.

They were crazy, but that's okay.

That's a team that to pull one guy out is probably one of

the most difficult thing to do.

It made for interesting route because everyone was

on their toes and we wanted to win in spite of

each other sometimes.

We wanted to win in spite of the coaches sometimes.

They let their hair down but that's fine...

there's no problem.

But when they came back to work they were ready

to go to work.

And they knew it because we practiced hard.

We probably practiced harder than anybody in

football probably in the last 20 years.

They were so original in their own way and yet they

blended together to have such great success.

It was not only great players on the field but

great personalities off the field and that's what

made 'em kind of Chicago's team and they became

America's team.

We all felt better because it was the one thing...

In church on Sunday, locker room on Monday morning...

It was the best.

Now do you and Mike Ditka have that agreement

whereby if you choose to, you can override his?

We have a lot of agreements.

[audience laughs]

Is Jim McMahon nuts?

[audience laughs]

We had people coming from all over the world to

watch us practice from China, from Russia, from

Japan, from Germany, all over the United States,

everyone wanted to see us practice and I think it

became like a huge circus.

We were truly a carnival act on the road.

We'd go in to Indianapolis, we'd go in

to Miami and there'd be 2,000 people in the hotel

lobby.

Couldn't walk around town it was like you were

chum in the water and the Sharks were friends of

you. We were rock stars, really.

I mean we were the biggest rock stars.

You're gonna put us on the stage with U2 or fucking

dellux or whoever you wanted to.

And as a family we couldn't even really go

out to eat.

We couldn't do a lot in the public because the

people would run up to my dad it would become like

this big huge scene.

When I first came to town you were anonymous.

There was internet back then - none of these

social media platforms.

Now your Instagram baby.

They went somewhere and they would shut the place down.

They call them fanatics that's where fan comes from.

They were in full flourish and I loved every minute of it.

reasoning went through the roof everytime we were on TV

We were so loud anywhere we went even on the road

and majority people in the stance weren't home team

fans - they were visiting fans from Chicago cheering

the Bears on.

I made a lot of money on merchandise and sold.

We were the number one in every sport.

Understand the impact.

Well I don't think anybody minds getting endorsements.

[all singing] 'come on in... its playoff time-

We are here to win.' Walter Payton obviously

had a lot of different endorsements including

those Roos shoes.

Fridge was doing Cadillac commercials.

I like the headroom.

I got a Nike poster on a billboard and then it was

right at O'Hare and so anytime I came back from my

parents at Barrington I'd see myself.

People were ecstatic...

bring on this party.

we've got something the world has never seen.

At least the world of the NFL and it's Chicago with

the miserable winners and all...

it was just there was this joyous feeling...

Hey look at me I look good out there...

- What about this... - Oh wait a minute.

My mom's gonna be proud.

...Crain's Chicago business had this cartoon where I

was driving the Cadillac, Walter's throwing out

chicken bones because he was doing Kentucky Fried

Chicken and in The Fridge was just down in this

position.

So it's kind of like hey these guys are a little

out of control... Is it getting to their head?

[dramatic music]

[Ditka] You know, there's no question

we were the better football team.

You can analyze it any way you want to.

We are the better football team and we created the

things that happened for all of you...

Our defense created turnovers, our special

teams created turnovers.

We don't have to apologize to anybody for that.

We were 12 and 0, already clinched the division and

home field advantage throughout the playoffs...

you know, and our goal was to go undefeated.

[commentator] It's off to the Orange Bowl

where the Dolphins

were desperately trying to protect Miami's perfect

record of 17 and O set back in 1972.

Coach Shula didn't talk all week about the fact that

they were the '72 team and we needed to beat the Bears

to preserve that record so it really didn't come up

much but we knew it as players.

Give Miami credit, you know... they were certainly

fired up because they didn't want to lose the

title of the undefeated team.

I knew going into that game that they could be a

tough one.

[narrator] Although the '85 Bears

enjoyed more than their

fair share of success and limelight the season

wasn't always fun and games.

[crowd cheering] [thumps and groans from impact]

Into every life a little rain must fall, and for

the '85 Bears at downpour landed on the turf Miami's

historic Orange Bowl.

[SIngletary] Miami was a wake-up call.

It was a wake up call that we had the privilege of

receiving.

We really did not play well that game.

They said no matter who you are, no matter how

great do you think you are, blink and you're

done.

I was sobbing like a grandmother on my hands

and knees in a bar.

It was a tragic moment.

It was a long ride back to Chicago.

I think that that kind of reset some egos.

There's a lot of things that went their way.

Dan Marino is a great player, quick release, the whole

works and all...

Going into that game I knew they were they were

going to come after us and I felt like we matched up

really well.

Jim Covert and Dan Marino were roommates in

Pittsburgh I remember Jim talking to Buddy saying

'Dan Morino when he lets the ball go on three

steps, five steps, your linebackers are gonna have

trouble covering his receivers and you're gonna

need to maybe change some things up -but Buddy

wasn't gonna do that.

Now I'm not trying to to be humble or anything...

I'm just telling you, we were out-coached that day

and they spread our defense out, which was

what you had to do if you're gonna try to be

successful against it.

I give the Dolphins all the credit they just were

prepared, they played a great game.

Marino was awesome.

My take on Miami was...

It was a gift.

All of us were a little bit cocky because we were

pretty good and that kind of brought us back to

earth.

I think if we win in Miami we lose in New Orleans.

Every team of destiny that has won the big game will

tell you there is a point during the season that

refocused them.

They're authentic champions and they had

that special something even when they were down

they got up again...

because on the ground, there's no place for a

champion.

♪ groovy music

"we are the best, shuffling crew.

Shuffle on down, do it for you."

The Super Bowl shuffle.

Well it's pretty it's pretty great groove.

I thought they were crazy.

you know, and if you get in your head you're in

trouble.

The reason I thought they were crazy because it was

pretty you know, egotistical to say that you were

going to the Super Bowl and we hadn't gotten to

the Super Bowl yet.

They had scheduled to film the Super Bowl freaking

shuffle the day after we got back from Monday night.

Now we get in at 3 o'clock in the morning on Tuesday

and they start filming that thing at 7:00.

After we got our tail whipped.

They're gonna be bragging about 'we're going to the

Super Bowl...' Oh I was mad at 'em.

Willie Gault was the spearhead guy behind that.

I worked with Dick Meyers to come up with lyrics of

each guy, told 'em what each guy's nickname was

and everything else and got the lyrics turned in

and then went to Mr. Myers' house which he

had a studio in his house.

He was trying to do something to raise money

in Chicago the proceeds of the rap video go to the charity.

And then I had to do this job of trying to convince

these guys to do a video.

On the plane, tried to talk to everyone in the video

and tried to make sure they got there on Tuesday

because if we didn't do it we had the facility

already paid for, all the crew already there, and

you know, we had to do it then.

If we didn't do it then it'd never take place.

We had no idea that we even had a commitment to do

a video.

Ten of us were in, a lot of them said let's put in the

car the Florida whores - they wanted no part of that.

They asked me to be in it and I said I can't be in it.

When he approached me about it, you know, being in

it in some way shape or form I don't think in a

rapping part but I just didn't believe in it.

I was not really invited to do that, it wasn't

really my style.

I wasn't asked to participate, if I had been

I would have said no.

Who didn't go? McMichael didn't do it?

Because he's like...

[squeaky impression] "yes I'm not gonna do it -

because its stupid!"

Mad at them, they went ahead and did it.

Some of the guys did it at the Park West and then

McMahon and Payton did it at that household.

They didn't think that they should do it because

we had lost and they thought maybe its bad luck

if we do it.

You know they later got mad again...

So in the afternoon Walter could see the rest of the

guys what they did the morning.

He called me up on the phone, he goes 'are you in

this' I said 'no i'm not in that' He goes 'good'.

We were embarrassed, we were frustrated, we were

searching for answers and sometimes in life there

are no answers.

sometimes you just got to go out there and start

swinging again.

The dance and the Super Bowl video was a

statement.

When we shot on Sunday we didn't go home as victors

on Monday morning.

I mean winning is what we do.

It wasn't even arrogant.

it was just cool.

it was so cool.

My school had multiple assemblies during this

season where just every grade got up and formed a

-[Stassen] Super Bowl shuffle... -[Barinholt] yeah i did it...

[Stassen] this wasn't decided to be more important than

education.

[Stassen] It was like, "now first grade go!"

- [Barinholt] Yeah yeah yeah.

[Stassen] second grade... More of you, Fred.

[Barinholt] We won't be learning geography today.

Do Otis Wilson's verse, go!

Jeremy, go!

I think it shows their clarity of intent I think

they knew what they needed to do when they were ready

to do it. Anybody with the audacity had to either be

knocked out and slapped down or win it all.

It's just, everything about it was unique

because yes at the root of it was an incredible

amount of arrogance that's what they had.

You almost saw it in their faces.

you saw it in their arrogance that we're not

gonna, you know, we're not gonna walk away

embarrassed like we made this video and then

couldn't back it out we are going to back it up.

If confidence is there and you're not the best

it's really just foolishness, but the Bears

knew they were better than anybody.

They knew that and they weren't wrong.

And they backed that up.

They believed that they were going to the Super

Bowl if you don't believe you're going super you

aren't going to the Super Bowl.

it's not complicated.

Other teams didn't even react really poorly to it.

They didn't even go like 'these guys a bunch of

jerks.' There was a calm about it.

A confidence about it where you went oh my

jeez...

they really are going to kill us.

They knew they had the right players the right

chemistry and the right coaching.

People say oh that was egotistical I don't give a

damn what people think.

It was the ultimate intimidation I thought

We were nominated for Grammy.We gave money to charity,

we helped a lot of people and we became

rockstars in a sense.

So... we came back that very next day and did the Super

Bowl shuffle that was a gift.

You see guys are actually trying their dance steps.

I didn't know what we had to do. First off I can't

dance anyway and it was obvious that neither could

Gary Fencik or Steve fuller.

we're listening to guys singing that can't sing, guys

trying to dance that couldn't dance we're

laughing we're having a ball...

Fencik had a little bit of an American Bandstand

move to it but he was vicious in it too.

[crowd cheers and whistles] [players rumbling]

We weren't searching for answers we just got back

to doing what we do.

And we let things go we didn't try to over analyze

or emphasize anything and then let it go guys we

still got each other let's go get.

♪ music

What it created was a lot more resolve on our

football team that we weren't gonna let it happen again.

It allowed us to kind of take a step back and say

guys if we don't go to the Super Bowl and we've

created this thing here in a tenth game of the season

we gotta make this thing now become a reality.

After the loss to Miami our football team

really...

the confidence grew and grew and grew.

So week in week out you know, we were on it.

And then boom boom boom.

[crowd cheers and whistles]

[players rustling against each other]

I noticed through the grindstone..

[crowd cheering]

We were chopping it...

we were rocking!

[crowd cheering] There was purpose...

[crowd cheering]

They just picked the town up and...

I never really thought anyone would ever put a

Bears helmet on those lions and in front of the

Art Institute, you know?

I never thought that would happen in my lifetime.

Both personally and I think for the city as a whole,

suddenly we start seeing this team that not only is

great, not only has this defense that can shut

everybody down but is full of these personalities.

That was pretty special for the city of Chicago

and the Bears and football.

Everyone had a sort of, 'you know we're getting

ready for war here, you know, this is it.

Here they come.' It was almost like we were

fighting like Sparta against you know, Athens

or something like that it was us against the giant.

The pregame warmups were over the field and here in

time for the opening kickoff.

The weather was trying to get really nasty and it

was starting to become Bear weather...

[players groan and grunt from impact]

[crowd cheers]

woooooooo...! I think what stands out was that they

thought the Bears might stumble on offense...

would Jim McMahon be enough..

[crowd cheering] And then LA...

how great was it to be LA in the playoffs...? Many

people thought that the Rams and then the running

game of the Rams with Eric Dickerson could break

through anything.

And we prided ourselves on the run game.

The heart of the defense...

in the middle - Steve McMichael, Dan Hampton and

myself - we're facing a team that could come to

our home and they're saying, we're hearing, that

they're going to run up and down the field.

It ain't happening.

They had Dickerson and they didn't just stop them

- they stunned them stone cold and then it was as if

they turned a superstar Hall of Fame running back

into an average back.

It was like an animal kill it really was like actual

bears mauling smaller beings like a ram.

Like a bear mauling a ram.

To this day no team has shut out division and

conference championship in the same year.

I mean it was ridiculous.

It just really was the law of the jungle you know...

when the ball was stamped.

I mean those were like an ode to everything that the

Bears had come to stand for in their time.

We're not gonna be stopped we're gonna win the

Super Bowl.

That's how the Bears should win - the way they

won those two playoff games.

Late in the game it starts snowing and it's just like

a storybook ending to the season.

That sent an impressive message and then you just

figured nobody could stop the Bears.

[players rumbling over each other]

As a Bear fan we expected it...

[laughs] of course they should uphold us.

They're the best defense ever.

For four years I've been waiting to go and it was

finally a reality.

so we knew were headed to the Super Bowl.

Those games, those shutouts against Los

Angeles and New York to Giants and Rams...

they were basically... those were art.

They were football art!

These were good teams, quality teams.

The defense had given up no points.

People were ecstatic.

To be in LA and New York back-to-back in the

playoffs and shut 'em out...

shut 'em out and beat 'em up you know, that was...

that was livid.

It was bring on the Super Bowl, bring on New Orleans

bring on this party we've got something the world

has never seen.

[crowd cheering]

John, tonight Bourbon Street is being renamed

Bear Street...

There was one story.

The Bears were going to the Super Bowl.

It was going to be in New Orleans and we were gonna

marshal an army. - The next five days is Bear

country. And when Sunday comes and we win, we'll give back

the city of New Orleans and we'll go back to

Chicago to party...

yeaaah....! [cheers]

People were excited but they couldn't get enough

of the Bears.

I'm from Chicagoooooo!

[indistinct yelling in background]

Home of the Bears!

Bozooo!

There's probably no team in history that had as much

fun as those guys playing football, winning and

interacting with the fans.

I mean they were great.

I think Chicago fans are greatest fans in the

world.

So far Ditka's playing it right. The last 10 pages of

the sports section was all Bears.

It was just, you know, they couldn't get enough

of it.

So it was just like a big circus leading up to the

fireworks at the end of the week.

How do you feel about being out here with all

these Chicago fans?

- Good party crowd... - Okay.

We love it.

Yeaaaahhh...

[cheers]

You'd have 12 storylines.

Every one of those personalities - where

they're going, how they like Bourbon Street oh

look at the crazy people.

We'd just, you know, tell all the fans to come to

our spot so they all come up to the bar at the hotel

and it was like, you know, free for all.

you you you you.

Let's go.

New Orleans is perfect because that's a 24 hour

party scene on Bourbon Street to French Square,

they like firstly insist you take a cup of liquor

on your way out of the bar.

you're supposed to carry them around, nothing ever

closes...

you're putting the Bears, the Chicago Bears down there?

I think in New Orleans there might have been

20,000 fans who didn't have a ticket.

They just wanted to be with the team.

These meatballs, homemade potato salad...

down here, roast beef, I'm telling you the Fridge

would love the place...

I could just see like McMichael on Bourbon

Street on his 15th hurricane saying "all right let's

take it over to the blues bar." We'd go all the way

to the end of the street and start...

and have a drink at every bar before the week is

over.

I would've hated the New England Patriots to be in

New Orleans and feel like you know they're like step

kids at a wedding or something.

Patriot and former University of Illinois

quarterback Tony Eason was eating Italian with some

of his teammates here at Tony's pizza within

earshot of the Bears hoopla.

I've never seen so many people on Bourbon Street.

I've never seen so many people in Chicago on

Bourbon Street.

Nobody wanted them there, nobody cared about 'em,

every bar had Bears stuff up.

Every bar had the Super Bowl shuffle play.

Well the first night my mother's waiting...

I'd say we're going all the way down to the end of

the street there's a bar on the left, we're going in.

I didn't know it was a transvestite bar...

[laughs]

We walked in and she saw what was going on she said

"you gotta get me out of here I'm a school teacher"

- so we went to the next one.

It was like Friday night before the game and it's

like midnight, one o'clock in one of those bars you

know on Bourbon Street and I'm in there with a bunch

of like esteemed NFL players from around the

league and they were all in there asking 'what

about this McMahon he seems like he's insane and

this and that.' I was having fun...

we got to thinking got in on Monday afternoon and

Monday Tuesday Wednesday we didn't have any curfews

- It was quite fun down on Bourbon Street.

And he would ricochet through, and then he'd

ricochet back through and he would bounced off

different people and you would see other people

that he had crashed into or bounced off of.

And I said no no no no he's okay. He's really kind

of sly like a cat you know?

And as I'm telling this group of guys, this story,

unbeknownst to me McMahon is walking in the bar at

one o'clock with these eyeballs on springs that

are going in and out like this and he's got two

beers in each hand and I look around behind me and

I see him and I go, 'okay forget it he is insane...

[laughs]

Nothing I can do to change your opinion about that.'

They're all having a fantastic fantastic time

and they knew what they were going to do.

Most of us for the most part stayed out of trouble.

We have an update on what Mr. McMahon said in an

interview today.

I understand he said most of the ladies he ran into

were sluts, he said most of the people he ran into

were stupid.

And the punk EQB who's outspoken, who's brash is

rumored to have dissed the women of New Orleans

Thursday morning I got woken up by some irate

fans screaming yelling they're gonna kill me.

And the local sportscaster Buddy Diliberto was the

one who broke the story.

I didn't know who it was.

I slammed the phone down.

It rang two minutes later and my roommate Kurt

Backer saying who keeps calling?

I said well there's a bunch of fans and they're

pissed off of me for something.

So in the restaurant Buddy Diliberto said it was

overheard that Jim McMahon made comments about you

know how the city was not very clean how the people

weren't very smart and how the women were were loose.

And Dick finally came up to me said did you really

call all the women sluts? I said what are you talking

about, Mike?

And he said well supposedly you were on a

radio station this morning calling all the women of

New Orleans sluts and this and that.

You're here for the biggest game of your life...

let's just stay focused on what our goal is and win

the Super Bowl and that's what I told him.

And I said what time was this?

And he said 6 o'clock.

I said dude I didn't get back to my room till 5.

I said I was not waking up at 6 to talk to no reporter.

He came and told me...

I thought it was a decent answer.

But if they want to believe it let 'em...

I don't care...

If it's not true...

but suddenly the rumors spread.

So the rest of the week I was getting death threats

and our practice field was the old Saints facility

which there was a big apartment complex that

overlooked the field...

so I couldn't wear my own Jersey, the guys didn't

want to stand by because they thought I was gonna get shot.

So that was my whole focus the rest of the week was

to not get killed...

It wasn't what, you know,the Super Bowl should

have been like the Super Bowl week...

it was for the first three days but after that it

sucked.

Management of WDSU TV has reviewed the facts

surrounding comments made by our sports director and

certain comments attributed to Chicago

Bears quarterback Jim McMahon last night.

We have no basis to believe the statements

about New Orleans attributed to Mr. McMahon

were ever made.

The night before the game we have a team meeting and

Buddy would always say a few words and then he

would leave and then we would have to watch one

reel of film...

we always did it.

Buddy Ryan that night...

something was different in his speech, there were

tears in his eyes and he said no matter what

happens tommorrow you guys will always being my heroes.

That's when I knew but he was leaving.

I was like oh gosh and I started crying a little bit and

next to Singletary I go, 'I can't believe he's

leaving .'

And Singletary's eyes got like this and he looked at

me and goes 'oh my god he doesn't know.' I tell

people that it enraged me so bad he was leaving that

I got up and threw the chair into the blackboard

and like a movie special effect that stuck in

it...booow!

I mean it was unbelievable.

Well that fired up Dan Hampton he got up and clubbed the

projector...

the old millimeter projector just broke and

shattered.

The jig is up all these years...

you know why I threw that chair?

why it pissed me off and I threw that chair in that blackboard?

I turned around and the meanest guys you're ever

gonna see on a football field... there wasn't a dry

eye in the house...

they were all squalid.

You know it's cathartic in a way I was sad because I

knew in less than 24 hours it was gonna be the most

important game of my life and I knew that you know,

we were gonna have a different defensive

coordinator the following year.

So I remember being with Dan Hampton and Steve

McMichael the night before the game and the whole

event with the projector had just happened and they

said they were they saying 'well here's what just

happened - they told me was happening...' I

thought, 'well that's focus.' Monsters of the

Midway had tears in their eyes.

I stood up and I look back at him and this is how the

jig is up...

I said 'we got the biggest game of my life tomorrow

you bunch of crybabies...'

...and threw the chair into the blackboard in

that rage.

[cheers] [marching band music]

Before the circus leaves town you're gonna see the

three-ring thing that's right in front of

everybody and sure enough that's what it was.

...the singing in New Orleans, it was electric.

[crowd cheering]

[players rumbling against each other]

[screams and cheers]

It's funny the game to me is an actual blur.

It was as if it was over before it started.

Mutilation.

[crowd cheering]

We weren't gonna be denied.

It didn't matter who we played, we weren't gonna

lose that game.

We felt that from the newspapers to the sports

casters to the politicians, we were all

one...

from battle ground to common ground.

New England, tough luck, better luck next year...

That's the way it is.

The Patriots had no chance.

I mean the Bears was an avalanche of Chicago doing

whatever they wanted to do.

We were the better football team.

if they kept playing this forward it would've been

about 200 to 10.

Well usually when that happens the better

football team wins.

I think the greatest thing about the Super Bowl,

every guy on that squad got a chance to play.

Everybody.

They were good, don't get me wrong...

but our defense took all the starch out of their offense.

Coach took out all the starters in the third

quarter, you know, because we don't get there without

each other and that's what it's really all about.

Like I said it's been a long time coming and we're

gonna celebrate.

it's over, we've finally done it, we're at the top

of the hill and congratulations Chicago

you deserve it.

cheers in background] [speaking indistinctly]

You're always the second fiddle...

[fans roaring]

So now he's got a weird little frontpage story

around the world and that was by a tremendous

amount of hard work and dedication and an

organization that deserves some credit.

Who's left? London?

you know, whatever, we'll take on anybody.

You looked up and they were celebrating and

carrying off on the shoulder.

Buddy was just a great coach that did a great job

and he did a great job for us then.

He really did.

Greatness to me is when you are able to bring

desire to play for one another.

That kind of pride and love it's a very difficult

thing to find and so it really comes unfair

because there's so much in sync and there's so much

chemistry when they get together it's an explosion

and I think when you look at the '85 Bears that's

what you see...

that's what was in the huddle.

...that's what took us from one game to the other...

that's what took us to the Super Bowl.

Look I think we're one of the best teams to have

ever played in this game before.

We gotta admit.

[Reporter] How does it feel in your hands?

Notice how I sort of...I keep hefting it?

That's a beautiful trophy and it feels just good...

When champions win...

the people put the champions on their

shoulders - he is the champion - but you're just

a champion until the next ball game...

but heroes put the people on their shoulders...

we were on the shoulders of the Bears It's a great

time in America.

The Bears won the Super Bowl.

[crowd cheers and whistles]

As a fan watching the game and as somebody who

watches football for a living, I remember thinking

as the score crept up...

Walter hasn't scored.

At that time I don't think anybody even thought about it.

You know, I mean it wasn't like if we would have

thought about it all the offensive line would have

said give me the ball thirty times in a row.

That still stings We realized very quickly

afterwards it was a huge deal to him, a huge deal.

Walter had a child's pride and a child's ego and a

child's drive in a good way.

Not childish, but a childlike...

and it really hurt him and I know that might be Mike

Ditka's biggest regret.

It was kind of my fault in a sense.

I didn't think it was that important.

I mean when you put 46 points on the board, to a

lot of people...

I didn't think it was that important and I found out

it was to Walter and that bothered me afterward.

You know I was at the game it didn't seem like a big

deal at all to me as an observer. We all know who

Walter Payton was we all knew he was an instant

hall-of-famer...

...and the best running back in NFL history never

scored in a Super Bowl.

I mean, to me that was a tragedy.

I don't think...

at the time we're just doing our job and we're

just trying to get the job done and bought for

whatever, but I think there were so many

opportunities for him to score touchdowns.

I don't know who masterminded that but you

know, that should have never happened.

Later on in life it was one of the things I had to

say to him that you're the greatest running back in

the NFL but I just caught a touchdown in the Super

Bowl and you didn't.

And his response wasn't very nice.

I just hated that that attached itself to Walter.

If you look at it on film when we watched the film

afterwards, it's interesting because you

know when when Walter would...

when we'd fake it to Walter on a play action,

half the defense would go over there and their

number one game plan was to stop Walter Payton.

And we all knew he was a decoy too.

You know if Matt Suhey was going to take the ball

because there's five guys watching Payton so be it.

You know, appreciate just your role there Walter.

There's nothing I could have done about it, I

really couldn't.

I guess yeah there's something I could have

done about it - I could have called the the

running play to him four or five times once we got

down there...

I just wish I could think what I'm feel now but I

can't I just want the fans to know that I really

appreciate them standing by me and all the love

that they've given me and showed me through getting here.

He was sad, you know he wanted that for himself

and I wish he would have told us that, that he

wanted that but he was such a private person that

he never would have said anything.

I'm so glad and proud of him that he came out and

he talked even though he was upset because things

aren't always gonna go your way and he taught me that.

Walter Payton had done so much to get the Bears

there and he'd done so much to condition players

to win.

He conditioned players to play and his point was

when you get knocked down you're measured up by how

fast you run, by how fast get up and even though you're down

sometimes, the ground is no place for a champion.

Still some people aren't over the touchdown in the

Super Bowl.

To me that's not, you know, that big a deal I

mean he is great a player as he was, he finally got

the ultimate team prize in winning the Super Bowl and

and he has his teammates and Ditka and the '85

Bears to thank for it.

I wish I could have been a little better and

understood it a little better because of course I

would've handed it to him.

It didn't matter to me.

And you could just sort of see his face and it

just...

I sort of never got over it.

By me being a perfectionist, didn't take

away from the game, something else takes away

from it.

But like I said, I don't wanna talk about it right

now because we won. I wanna be happy.

..and my son here got the chance to see me play in my first

Super Bowl and we won it.

That's all that matters.

[interviewer] Did you and him discuss it

afterwards? - Yeah we talked about it.

[interviewer] What was that discussion?

- Well he was hurt by it, because I think it means

something to score a touchdown in the Super Bowl.

I mean it does and you know, I scored one when I

was a player so I gave it to Walter so he had his.

♪ Music fades out

[cheers] [marching band]

There was 45,000 people lined up in the streets at

a parade in a sub-zero weather.

It showed you how dedicated those people

were.. how our fans were and how excited they were

and they'd do the same thing this year.

If the Bears won the Super Bowl and it were 20-30

below zero, they would be there.

because that's who they are.

This is a big deal for Chicago and it was really

big.

I was one of the guys doing the pro ball and we

didn't go back for the parade and that's one of

my biggest regrets.

[loud cheers] It's been a great day!

We're number one! We're number one!

We're number oooone!

And I just wish we would have said we're going back

for the parade and we'll get there when we gotta

get there.

[Applause] Hey you just make your plans

for Pasadena 'cos that's where we're

stopping next year. On more time...

[loud cheers and screams]

would just like to say thank you for your support, its a whole

team at city effort.

[Applause and cheers]

We brought the championship home to Chicago.

Thank you.

[narrator] The Bears had won the

Super Bowl, a proud city

had paraded their victors and two decades of sports

failure was replaced in an instant with newfound

pride and swagger.

[news reporter 1] This is a live picture...

let me repeat because this story is a breaking story.

This is launch control at t-minus 2 hours 28 minutes and

counting, here comes the 51 all flight crew boarding the

elevator.

[news reporter 2] You can finally hear the

excitement here at the Kennedy Space center...

[narrator] On January 28 1986 just two days

after Chicago's heralded victory

-[radio] 3,2,1 and liftoff!

Liftoff of the 25th space shuttle mission...

[narrator] ...NASA launched its space

shuttle Challenger.

[indistinct radio announcement]

[indistinct radio announcement] Challenger, go at throttle up.

[blowout]

[crowd screaming]

[President Ronald Reagan] Today is a day for mourning

and remembrance.

Nancy and I are in pain to the core about the tragedy

of the shuttle Challenge.

We know we share this pain with all of the

people of our country.

This is truly a national loss. It's all part of the

process of exploration and discovery - taking a

chance and expanding man's horizons.

The future doesn't belong to the faint-hearted.

[newscaster 1] There are two separate

fumes of smoke in the shuttle uh...

we can't tell which one the shuttle is now.

They've separated...

[radio broadcaster] ...flight controllers here

looking very carefully at the

situation. Obviously a major malfunction...

[radio broadcaster 2] Flight's auto.

our SO reports vehicle exploded.

[radio broadcaster 3] There's absolutely no

sign of the Challenger.

[President Reagan] ..their dedication was complete.

The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored

us for the manner in which they lived their lives.

We will never forget them nor the last time we saw

them as they prepared for their journey and waved

goodbye, and slipped the surly bonds of Earth to

touch the face of God.

[narrator] Chicago's Super Bowl celebration

was understandably cut short as Bears fans joined

fellow Americans in mourning the tragedy that

fell upon our seven brave astronauts.

♪ Music fades out

The Bears somewhat epitomized our sense of

coming together and just the city coming together

around ultimately, where black, white, brown found

common ground.

The Bears is the common ground and that's the

thing about athletics that's

so magnetic.

They all came from different backgrounds

perfect example of what a team should be.

Different backgrounds, different schools, love of

the game that had to join together in one purpose,

one focus and when theball was snapped...

they were all one and they were bigger than life.

The team has been back to Super Bowl one time but it

hasn't won so that triumphant, defiant team

coming back to the city after winning something

like that...

we haven't seen with the Bears.

I don't think there is a member of that team that

that people don't celebrate.

Their memory is going to be exalted until something

else comes along to take its place and nothing

really has come close.

We weren't just football players - we were

entertainers too.

We were all over this town, radio, TV, gaffing

and making jokes...

And it was one of the first times that you saw

people off the field.

you know, we didn't have our helmets on and you saw

these characters and they were real and they were

interesting and they were fun.

Hail the damn Super Bowl shuffle.

I still have people to this day come up to tell

me I loved you in the Super Bowl shuffle...

and I wasn't in the damn thing.

They obviously liked what they did and we had a very

dynamic head coach.

I mean today I know that most Bear fans know the

offensive line for the '85 team and they don't know

the team today.

You know, everybody was just their own individual

person and you know we were lucky enough Mike let

us, for the most part he let us be ourselves.

And so slowly what you saw with these bears was not

only championship caliber football but you also saw

them bring the city together in a way that I

really think had enormous impact on the Renaissance

of Chicago.

You know the myth...

it's the myth that gets larger than life.

♪ music fades out

[narrator] All teams, all families,

no matter how great must

eventually suffer some loss.

While a defeat on the playing field can be

difficult to accept, nothing is harder to

absorb than the loss of a brother, a teammate, a friend.

The football world has been rocked this week by

the sad death of a former star.

The Super Bowl-winning safety Dave Duerson took

his own life convinced that the despair he faced

was caused in part by the damage he suffered on the

football field...

and as Sharon Alfonze reports he wanted other

football players to think hard about the dangers

they face.

I think when people look back on this Bears team

with all the personalities and players who gave their

heart and soul and their bodies to the success of

this team that the tragedy is Dave Duerson and how

his life later ended.

Dave was a very bright player.

Dave was from Indiana - a rural town in Indiana.

Notre Dame, all-american, all-pro defensive back...

and a series of forces began to collide on him.

[commentator] ...the first four.

This one's for Giles... intercepted by Duerson.

[reporter] Teammates say Dave Duerson was

also exceptionally smart and kind

which is why they were shocked when

last week the 50 year old killed himself with a

gunshot to the chest.

And I think at the time when you think of the

80s we didn't have the advances in medicine

and science that that we have now for players.

I think when a member of this greatest team ever,

arguably, all the sudden decides to kill himself

and you know doctors say this is what he had I

think it just crystallizes the problem even more.

Mr. Duerson committed suicide on February 17th

2011 he left a note and text message asking for

his brain to be studied reading, "please see that

my brain is given to the NFL's brain Bank." He had

expressed concerns about his mental health and he

shot himself in the chest presumably to preserve his

brain for studies.

so yet another '85 Bear making a

contribution beyond the playing field to science

and to longevity and Dave Duerson would be a big

factor in changing the nature of the game.

No more bell ringing, no more playing this and no more

playing out of your head...

all of this kind of goes back to how Dave Duerson's

situation has been handled.

Buddy Ryan was laid to rest today in Lawrenceburg Kentucky.

The man who invented the 46 defense and helped the

Chicago Bears win the 1985 Super Bowl.

You know there were so many great parts of that

team you know... sure the defense, Walter Payton,

Mike Ditka, the Fridge...

but I said you cannot tell the story that they're the

greatest team of all time without starting at Buddy Ryan.

Buddy was a big 'ol team wall.

He knew that no matter how much of a genius he was, he knew

that no matter how strong Hampton was, he knew that

no matter how smart Fencik was, it really did

not matter if we did not come together and played

as a team.

If you ask each and every one of these players

they'll all echo the same sentiment that no matter

what success they were able to have, not only in

football but in the walk of life, so much of it was

drawn from their experiences with Buddy Ryan.

[narrator] James David Buddy Ryan

changed the defensive end of the game forever.

He will be missed by many on and off the field.

There's a moment where we were sitting at his office

and we're sitting there and we're opening up these

bags of a mail from all over the world. And I

turned and looked at him and he was just...

had this look on his face like, 'I had no clue...'

I go 'what do you mean you had no clue?'

He goes, 'I had no clue that I impacted all these people.'

You know, Walter meant so much to me

throughout my life.

I always remember the picture he took of my

grandmother. Payton's just got this big genuine smile

and I was like I always look at that thing...

that's probably the 50,000th picture that man

has taken and he just it couldn't have been happier

to be with my bubby and be...

so when I recently had my second daughter

we named her after him and just because he really

does represent hard work and you know kindness and

he just reminds me of one of the happiest times in

my life which is watching him play when I was a kid.

So yeah we named my daughter Walter, Payton.

We named her Payton.

The kind of blue collar mentality of Walter Payton

that was so Chicago.

Even before they got the great team he was the guy

bucking the Oz and I knew he was a real winner.

I knew what getting to the Hall-of-Fame meant to him

and for him to have his son induct him into the

Hall-of-Fame and that moment that we shared on

the stage after I got done and he hugged me... it was a

different type of hard.

Our top story is the health of Walter Payton.

His friends, his teammates, fans all call him 'Sweetness'

but there is no sugarcoating the fact

that Payton is now facing the challenge of his life.

At a news conference today Walter and his doctor

explained that the Bear great has been placed on

the waiting list for a liver transplant.

To people that really care about me, just continue to

pray. And for those who're gonna say what they wanna

say, may God be with you also.

[Jarret Payton] He was an unbelievable dad and I

actually get really upset because I only got 19 years.

That's why life is so sweet that you have to

kind of cherish every single moment that you

have with people that you love.

In some ways that team was like a comet across the sky.

It's a sports tragedy that the Bears didn't repeat

when you think about how long the city of Chicago

and fans had to wait for them to finally get a

Super Bowl title, they do that seems like they have

all the pieces in place to repeat or at least be back

for more and it doesn't happen.

Even today if Buddy was here I would say 'Buddy,

why don't you just sacrifice being a head coach

for like two more years.' We were just hoping

that team could have stayed together a couple

more years because they had all the right stuff.

I think it's one of the great disappointments

in the history of Chicago sports after one of the

greatest successes.

I guarantee you we would have had three

championships in a row.

But in my opinion yeah if Buddy Ryan had hung around

I think the Bears would have been back.

We didn't look long-term as an organization on an

investment on some great group of guys that you

would never see together again and because of that

our reign was short.

You never followed a guy for trying to go to a head

coaching position from an assistant position.

I'm very disappointed that there was no dynasty in

'85, '86 when we won...

because at the time we won the Super Bowl we were the

youngest team ever to win a Super Bowl.

We averaged 24.5 years of age which had never been

done before.

Why didn't we win more Super Bowls? you know I...

I scratch my head and wonder that myself.

The first thing we did wrong was we dismantled a

lot of our football team.

When we won that first one you figured we were going

to win two or three or four more.

When you start taking key pieces of the puzzle that

we put in the win and you start getting rid of them...

We'd end up being like the Steelers or the Patriots

in the sense of putting together just a series of

great teams.

I wasn't for that, I've said that and I'll say it again.

I think it's simple we didn't have Jim McMahon

And we played three or four games a week and our

practices were not easy.. [thumps on the ground]

We had pads on all the time we were doing live

drills, live hitting drills I mean it was... it was

just like a game.

If Jim McMahon would have stayed healthy and

answered the bow every game we would've

definitely won a couple more Super Bowls.

It wears you out...

I think that's why we didn't win anymore ball

games. You know a bunch of stuff happened that you know

happens in sports sometimes, a little bit of

bad luck.

I think the reality is everybody wants a little

more, a little bigger piece of the pie, a little more

money and you have to try to control it - the guys

are out writing books or doing shows and not focusing

on what got him there in the first place.

We built that team around those people and all of a

sudden they're not there there...?

There was nothing like salary caps so there was a group

of teams that could dominate... so to me that's

the number one reason.

There's no other single-season team that

you're like... that you think of as a dynasty but the

'85 Bears you're like, to the casual observer I'm

like 'they won a couple Super Bowls right?'

well no we just won the one but we were really good.

It was unfortunate that it went away so quickly and

there were injuries and Buddy left and you know

stuff kind of...

it just kind of went away but that thing glowed for

years it still glows well what are we talking about.

Sometimes things are like a magnesium flare.

In other words they ignite and it burns red-hot for a brief

period and then like a flare it just kind of

tends to then disappear.

Just as David did with Goliath and Samson did with the

Philistines they had that special almost a

spiritual quality.

It's a shame that team didn't win more.

It's inexplicable that team didn't win more,

didn't win a playoff game.

What we could do was still out there and I don't

think we ever accomplished it.

It's inexplicable, but the way they just laid waste

to people - it's a source of pride, it's a source of

pride for anybody who grew up here during the lean years.

We really thought we had the dynasty in the making.

They traded off some players and the next year that did not

sit well for us but it's a great team.

I think it makes you appreciate when a team

does come together how they have the kind of

success that that '85 Bears team had.

If the Bears couldn't... that's part of their tragic

and beautiful flaw

that they... it was like this flower just boom boom and

that was it.

It wasn't coming back to next year but for that

moment it was the most amazing flower, the most

amazing display, most amazing NFL team that I've

ever seen and the best.

[narrator] The Bears had fallen short

in their quest for a dynasty.

While some of the '85 team moved on, the pride of

their historic accomplishments had earned

a permanent home in the second city.

It was a great experience to play here in Chicago

and finally win the Super Bowl and how we did it was

pretty unique.

I think they're the greatest team of all time

because of the way they dominated.

Well the 1985 Bears were a unique team for a lot of

different reasons.

I would say that the Bears of '85 '86 are number 1, 2, 3...

1 through 8 all-time best teams.

The team was so good.

It was so good - 91 to 10 was the score in the playoffs.

...because you have to consider the Bears of

December, you have to consider the Super Bowl

shuffle Bears...

It was like fighting Mike Tyson back in his heyday.

The fight was over before it even started.

In the month of November they outscored their

opponents 120 to 13.

Gotta consider the preseason Bears...

They just beat 'em to a pole...

and we went through offenses like that.

They all gotta be included.

These guys stand there alone like kind of

monuments to a great past that literally has not been

duplicated.

Who says who's the greatest? I mean you can't

say it but to be one of the great teams that

played in NFL history yeah I could agree with that.

I would say that.

On the biggest stage in the world there's been no

other team that has won by that many points - no one

even comes close to them.

They have arguably the best defense and the best

running back of all time.

When I look at the Bears I look at greatness from a

whole 'nother level.

They were like the worst team you've ever seen and

then they became the best team of all time.

Not the greatest team. I'm not gonna say the greatest team...

all the years I've been associated with the NFL

just that '85 Bears defense was the best unit

on the defensive side without question in my

eyes - without question.

I know there's numbers that support other ones,

no no no no. The Bears.

When you went out there you could get embarrassed.

They could win the game by themselves for real.

Whether or not we were the best or the greatest, who knows?

That's for everybody else to decide.

When I see John Madden he always said...

gives a little smile and says 'you guys are the

greatest team we ever saw.'

And so if he says we're the greatest, who am I to

argue with him?

I'll do it like the president...

[Obama impression] 'It is a bid deal.'

[laughter in background] 'I love that team...'

'I was growing up in Hopper Arkansas.'

'We used to watch them all the time.'

'I love the Chicago Bears.' I absolutely do I agree

with President Obama.

Single best team to play football.

The Bears won games in a dominant fashion I mean

they didn't just squeak by...

they trashed, they beat you up, they stomped on

you, they walked away, we're the Chicago Bears,

we're that good.

That's how they won games.

So whether they would beat the '72 dolphins or not...

on head-to-head I don't know but I think the Bears

defense would shine above everything else in that

matchup and you would say that's the best thing in

this football game.

I can say without equivocation that the 1985

Bears, the Super Bowl champs, the one in January

of '86 were the best single-season team that I

think has ever been in the NFL.

President Obama welcomed the Chicago Bears Super

Bowl 20 championship team to the White House today.

They won the title 25 years ago but weren't able

to visit the White House because the space shuttle

Challenger exploded just days after their victory.

[President Obama] Ladies and gentlemen

the greatest team in NFL history, the 1985 Chicago Bears.

[audience applause and cheers] [barking in background]

Richard dent told me hey you know I've been talking

to Barack Obama you know we're gonna get to the

White House and I was like 'what?'

This is as much fun as I will have as president the

United States right here.

This is one of the perks of the job right here.

After this team won the Super Bowl, it never had a

chance to celebrate here in the White House.

The moment for the Bears to visit the White House

was postponed and the years went by but shortly

after I took office someone at the NFL

realized hey there's a Bears fan living in the

White House. And so today I'm proud to say to the

players, to the coaches, to the staff of the 1985

Bears, welcome to the White House for this

well-deserved and long overdue recognition.

[applause]

The fact that Walter Payton wasn't there, Dave Duerson

wasn't there, I think made it a little

melancholy but I think everybody who was there

was reminded of what a cultural force they had been.

To be able to hear President of the United States

talk passionately about your team and then

looking out over, you know, towards the

Washington Monument - it was a gorgeous day -

it was just a great experience.

To work in the White House, you know you'll run

into world leaders, four-star generals, whoever,

just on your way to the restroom so you try to act

like you've been through it before, you act professional -

but you know when the '85 Bears came to town I just

kind of dropped all that and I ran across to the

White House gift shop, bought this ball grabbed

this sharpie for my assistant I went outside

and just started asking all the guys they would sign this.

We were excited because he really welcomed us with

open arms he told us the entire house was ours, we

could do what we want to - just don't tear things up.

With zero pretense of being professional

whatsoever and they were all super nice and they did.

And he's talking about aw I know Richard, I know Otis...

and he looked at me and he goes...

and I thought he forgot my name. Oh gosh.

And we were just taking pictures of everything and

pictures near this painting and pictures in

this library and pictures...

I mean it was a lot of fun - and he goes I know Fencik

and I go alright!

If the white house goes up in flames this will be the

one thing that I save out of my office.

Some of you may remember that back in 2004 when I

was running for the Senate some people were trying to

draft Ditka to run against me.

I will admit I was a little worried.

He was very comical, had a good time meeting him and

he knew who I was he said 'Willie Gault man you

lucky you still could run and you were one of the

fastest men ever...' so it was great.

We had a great time it was great just to see all the

people there and get together with the guys again.

You know by the time we visited I think one of the

moving things was the fact that you know Buddy Ryan came...

Coach Ryan's 46 defense changed football forever.

Nobody had ever seen anything like it, nobody knew

what to do with it, and with the talent he had

on the defensive side of the ball there wasn't

anything other teams could do about it.

Buddy Ryan was in pretty bad shape at that point

but he had really been the engineer of that defense

and you could tell how moved he was to be able to

participate.

This was the defense that set the standard and it is

still the standard.

This team changed everything for every team

that came on after, on and off the field.

They changed the laws of football.

They were gritty, they were gutsy, they were

hard-working, they were fun-loving, sort of how

Chicagoans like to think of themselves.

I think everybody who was there was reminded of what

what a cultural force they had been not just for

Chicago but ultimately for the country as a whole.

And Chicago has always been a die-hard football

town but this team did something to our city that

we've never gotten over. We love the Bears.

At the end of that trip wow we really appreciated

the moment a lot more than we would have if we had

done that six months after the original Super Bowl.

Knowing that my grandparents were farmers

and their parents were slaves, to be able to get

to a white house and meet that first

African-American president I was proud beyond belief

and even though you know how busy the man is and

within a very tight window...

just proud to be at the white house

Congratulations to all of you, thank you for helping

to bring our city together.

Stick around guys and enjoy yourselves but as I

mentioned back there don't break anything and keep

your eyes on McMahon.

[laughter]

Better teams come along that had better talent,

but none had had the heart of the '85 Bears.

It had been great for football and I think it'd

been great for the city of Chicago.

It was good for the country and for, you know,

a young kid who was just starting off in a career of

public service it was a great diversion and a way

to keep me going and so I sure expressed how much I

appreciated them.

I think it just made the city, you know, the whole

second city thing I don't think he ever heard of it

anymore after that.

I think people used to believe that that was true

and I think that that was such a dominant event that

I've never thought of Chicago as a second city ever again.

I don't think a lot of people ever did again.

I think what they did said, 'be careful, because

we can do anything. Anything.'

[interviewer] If the team had stayed together,

do you think you would have

won more championships?

[laughs] There's no doubt about it.

Absolutely no doubt about it. None.

♪ music fades out

♪♪

♪ Upon big shoulders Chicago rise ♪

♪ They are the south league crew from '85 ♪

♪ They are the champions * They got the stuff

♪ To win the Super Bowl * You gotta be tough

♪ Gonna go from town to town...

♪ You just can't keep a great team down...♪

♪ You gotta shuffle on * You gotta shuffle on

♪ The shuffling crew, is on the attack ♪

♪ The Bears are back * The Bears are back

♪ You gotta shuffle on * You gotta shuffle on

♪ In every tackle, In every set ♪

♪ The Bears are back * The Bears are back

♪ It's a party * Played just for you

♪ Like in the colors of waltz and blue ♪

♪ That Chicago spirit just can't be tamed ♪

♪ With you the force of will at every game ♪

♪ On the rise and glory bound

♪ They're gonna shuffle in to your town... ♪

♪ You gotta shuffle on * You gotta shuffle on

♪ The shuffling crew, is on the attack ♪

♪ The Bears are back * The Bears are back

♪ You gotta shuffle on * You gotta shuffle on