Nos. 20-11
20. The first MLB
Before there was Brian Urlacher there was Mike Singletary. Before there was Singletary there was Dick Butkus. Before there was Butkus there was Bill George. George, an eight-time Pro Bowl selection and one of the driving forces behind the run to the 1963 NFL championship, is the genesis of the Bears middle linebacking tradition. In fact, George is widely credited as the man who invented the position in a game against the Eagles in 1953 when he had the responsibility of bumping the center and then dropping into coverage. It was an innovative new twist on the five-man defensive fronts that were prevalent in the NFL. George became the first star middle linebacker in NFL history.
19. The Class of ’83
Bill Tobin had a second-round grade on Tennessee State pass rusher Richard Dent. So imagine the Bears scout’s delight when general manager Jim Finks and owner George Halas greenlit the selection of Dent in Round 8. With selection No. 203. That was the steal of the 1983 NFL draft. But Dent, the eventual MVP of Super Bowl XX, wasn’t the only valuable piece the Bears wound up with in that class. In total, Finks landed seven starters for the 1985 Super Bowl championship team, including offensive tackle Jimbo Covert, safety Dave Duerson, guards Mark Bortz and Tom Thayer, wide receiver Willie Gault and cornerback Mike Richardson.
18. 44-0
Ask enough members of the vaunted ’85 Bears defense what their signature performance was and a consensus forms. Week 11, Texas Stadium. The Bears improved to 11-0 and clinched the NFC Central with a 44-0 throttling of Tom Landry’s Cowboys. That’s the game, according to Gary Fencik, that he truly believed the Super Bowl was within reach. The way many Bears players remember it, Cowboys defensive back Everson Walls had questioned whether the Bears were as good as their undefeated record. Walls, Otis Wilson insists, made a comment leading up to the game that the Bears hadn’t played anybody. “And after the game,” Wilson recalls, “(Dan) Hampton said, ‘Yeah, we still haven’t played anybody.’” The six-sack, five-takeaway, two-defensive-touchdown masterpiece made the cover of Sports Illustrated. The story inside called the game “an assault wave that made it look as if the Bears were playing 15 men against 11.”
17. ‘Crown their @$$’
“The Bears are who we thought they were! And that’s why we took the damn field! Now if you want to crown ’em, then crown their ass! But they are who we thought they were! And we let ’em off the hook!” Poor Denny Green. Those poor Arizona Cardinals. On that night in Glendale, Ariz. — and for most of the 2006 season — the Bears were a unified, never-say-die bunch that dug as deep as they could to find a way to win. Down by 20 points deep into the second half, the Bears completed the most remarkable comeback in franchise history without scoring an offensive touchdown. The offense, in fact, had twice as many turnovers (six) as points scored. But Mike Brown returned a fumble for a touchdown. Brian Urlacher stripped Edgerrin James and Charles Tillman took that loose ball to the end zone. And to cap it all off, All-Pro rookie sensation Devin Hester delivered a game-winning 83-yard punt return score with 2:58 left. Bears 24, Cardinals 23. Poor Denny Green.
16. The draft of all drafts
With the third pick in the NFL draft, the Chicago Bears selected running back Gale Sayers out of Kansas. With the fourth pick in that same draft, the Bears selected linebacker Dick Butkus out of Illinois. That was Nov. 28, 1964. It remains the only time in history that a team has selected two eventual Hall of Famers in the same round of the same draft. Dave Douglas produced the NFL Network’s “A Football Life” documentary on Sayers and Butkus. Said Douglas: “Sayers still is the yardstick for elusiveness. Butkus still is the yardstick for toughness.”
15. Another championship
Sid Luckman came up with two interceptions and threw five touchdown passes as the Bears hammered the Redskins 41-21 at Wrigley Field to win the 1943 NFL championship. Said the star quarterback years later: “Humbly I say that was probably the best game I ever played.” But Luckman wasn’t alone in propelling the Bears to a title. Fullback Bronko Nagurski, who had returned to the undermanned Bears during World War II, scored the go-ahead touchdown in the second quarter, the final score of his career.
14. A game of ‘Bingo’
The Bears’ dominance of the 1940s continued with another NFL title in 1946, this one a 24-14 defeat of the Giants at the Polo Grounds. Sid Luckman scored the winning touchdown in the fourth quarter with a 19-yard run on a bootleg play called “Bingo Keep It.” It was the Bears’ fourth championship of the decade.
13. 73-0
A month after a frustrating and penalty-filled 7-3 loss to the Redskins, the Bears exacted revenge in the most emphatic way possible in the 1940 NFL championship game. Using the T-formation and rolling behind the efforts of Sid Luckman, George McAfee and “Bulldog” Turner, the Bears defeated the Redskins 73-0 in front of more than 37,000 people at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. “It should have been 77-0,” said Bob Snyder, a quarterback on that team. “We scored 11 touchdowns, but the referee asked if we’d begin running for the extra point. People were ringing the field and every time a pass or kick went into the crowd, they kept the ball. They were out of footballs.” The 73 points set an NFL record that has yet to be broken. The 73-point blowout remains the largest margin of victory by any team in any game of any major American team sport.
12. Dear Mr. Halas
Toward the end of a disappointing 6-10 season in 1981, coaching changes were inevitable for the Bears. Neill Armstrong was on his way out, later replaced by brash 41-year-old firestarter Mike Ditka. Da Coach’s arrival came with Super Bowl promises and a push to instill more toughness and belief in the team. (Ditka backed up his talk with six division titles, seven playoff appearances and a Lombardi Trophy in his 11 seasons.) But as significant as that hiring was, the retention of defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan was arguably a more meaningful moment in Bears history. Defensive players were enamored with Ryan’s leadership style and vision and lobbied George Halas to keep Ryan around. Their plea came in a passionate letter to the franchise’s founder, owner and chief decision- maker. It read in part, “If Buddy and his staff are replaced it will set our defensive team back a minimum of two years and possibly more.” Halas listened. Ryan stayed. The rest is history.
11. Red Grange’s barnstorming tour
Once upon a time, professional football was dying to attract a larger audience. And so once upon a time, George Halas took one of the sport’s most entertaining stars across the country. Running back Red Grange was that good. Grange signed with the Bears the day after finishing a brilliant college career at Illinois. And not long after, he was on a train. Several trains. Grange, Halas and the Bears were off on their one-of-a-kind barnstorming tour. Seventeen games in 61 days over the winter of 1925-26. Grange drew a crowd of 73,000 to the Polo Grounds in New York that December as the Bears beat the Giants 19-7. Babe Ruth was there that day. So, too, were close to 100 sports writers. The next month 75,000 fans packed into the Los Angeles Coliseum to watch Grange score two touchdowns in a 17-7 Bears win. The popularity of pro football was taking off.
Next: The top 10.