Chicago Bears 2025-2026

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#1,551      
Curbelo Fanboy
Illini in OC said:
Sorry for my hot take to what I saw as your hot take.

Shame on Charles Martin - no place for that. But those Bears were more than McMahon.
Buddy Ryan moved on. Guys wanted $$$ and disfunction grew. Ditka-Harbaugh was nuts.
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Charles Martin was the main reason for no repeat in 86. Tho that wasn't guaranteed cause that Giants team was a load. Without McMahon tho it took that chance away.

But you are right also. By the end of 86, the Bears were returning to their cheap ways. Buddy left after 85, and then after 86 the stream of free agents started to leave & Payton retired at end of 87. Talent left & wasn't replaced with as good a grade of talent. A slow progression to mediocrity that fully took hold by early 90's.

Another factor was the 85 team was a bit of a "lightning in a bottle" effect. The 46 scheme was revolutionary at the time. The "zone blitz" concept was not as much of a thing prior to then. Buddy crafted a scheme & perfected it just at the right time when they had the mix of talent that was perfect for that reckless aggression blitz like crazy style. After 85, the league started to figure out the scheme a bit. Also, in response to that scheme the more pass heavy west coast style started to become more widespread across the league. The offensive geniuses like Bill Walsh, Joe Gibbs, etc devised ways to to neutralize what the Bears were doing. Namely lots & lots of short passes to beat the blitz. All those things combined with the sense of complacency in the organization (including Ditka & many players) caused the steady decline.

As an aside, as someone who remembers that era, the 80's was a real transitional time for how football was played at all levels. The game was a "run heavy" game back then. Most teams had a run/pass breakdown where run was well more than 50% of the plays. Heck New England made the Super Bowl & only threw 12 passes IIRC in the AFC title game. To you younger folks that style would be virtually unrecognizable today. By the late 80's there were some teams (Houston & Buffalo in the NFL, Houston in NCAA) starting to use the run n shoot concept as their base offense. 4 wides, 5 wides QB in the gun all the time. The type of stuff that seems so common place today was revolutionary back then. A real fascinating period of football history.
 
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#1,552      
Battle89
Curbelo Fanboy said:
Charles Martin was the main reason for no repeat in 86. Tho that wasn't guaranteed cause that Giants team was a load. Without McMahon tho it took that chance away.

But you are right also. By the end of 86, the Bears were returning to their cheap ways. Buddy left after 85, and then after 86 the stream of free agents started to leave & Payton retired at end of 87. Talent left & wasn't replaced with as good a grade of talent. A slow progression to mediocrity that fully took hold by early 90's.

Another factor was the 85 team was a bit of a "lightning in a bottle" effect. The 46 scheme was revolutionary at the time. The "zone blitz" concept was not as much of a thing prior to then. Buddy crafted a scheme & perfected it just at the right time when they had the mix of talent that was perfect for that reckless aggression blitz like crazy style. After 85, the league started to figure out the scheme a bit. Also, in response to that scheme the more pass heavy west coast style started to become more widespread across the league. The offensive geniuses like Bill Walsh, Joe Gibbs, etc devised ways to to neutralize what the Bears were doing. Namely lots & lots of short passes to beat the blitz. All those things combined with the sense of complacency in the organization (including Ditka & many players) caused the steady decline.

As an aside, as someone who remembers that era, the 80's was a real transitional time for how football was played at all levels. The game was a "run heavy" game back then. Most teams had a run/pass breakdown where run was well more than 50% of the plays. Heck New England made the Super Bowl & only threw 12 passes IIRC in the AFC title game. To you younger folks that style would be virtually unrecognizable today. By the late 80's there were some teams (Houston & Buffalo in the NFL, Houston in NCAA) starting to use the run n shoot concept as their base offense. 4 wides, 5 wides QB in the gun all the time. The type of stuff that seems so common place today was revolutionary back then. A real fascinating period of football history.
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Well-said and I agree. West Coast offense was a direct answer to the 46 defense.

Though let's not forget the director of those mid-80s NE teams, Champaign Tony.
 
#1,553      
Illiniaaron
Illini in OC said:
Sorry for my hot take to what I saw as your hot take.

Shame on Charles Martin - no place for that. But those Bears were more than McMahon.
Buddy Ryan moved on. Guys wanted $$$ and disfunction grew. Ditka-Harbaugh was nuts.
Click to expand...
If I remember correctly, the Bears defense was statistically better for a few years after Ryan left under Vince Tobin, and was still a great unit. After the Super Bowl it didn't seem like everyone was pulling in the same direction. Ditka's handling of the QB position after '85 was a disaster (his obsession with Flutie :ROFLMAO:). They laid two massive eggs in the playoffs against the Redskins two years after the Super Bowl. Losing Marshall to the Redskins in free agency really signaled it was over. They had their last shot in the '89 NFC Championship Game at home but got drilled by the 49ers 28-3 in "Bear weather."
 
#1,557      
illinifan1987
Going from the Bears having their biggest comeback in playoff history/GB having their biggest choke job, to Aaron Rodgers helping the Steelers to their largest ever playoff loss...what more could you ask for?
Tom Jones Nothing GIF by MASTERPIECE | PBS

Other than winning the Super Bowl ;)
 
#1,558      
2X2L
I don't know nothin'. Just thinking and remembering -

Jan. 12, 1986: Bears 24, Rams O at Soldier Field. Not too cold, mid-30s, gray and a little snow.
 
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#1,559      
Mr. Tibbs
WolfpackIllini said:
NOAA forecast says Sunday Daytime High 19, NIghtime Low 9,
so yeah, pretty cold!
No mention if any wind.
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my weather channel app says
high of 11, low if 6 on Sunday

one would think that favors us from a style of gsme point of view .

I don’t think player or coaching comfort during pre game or in game really matters much
 
#1,561      
Curbelo Fanboy
Illiniaaron said:
If I remember correctly, the Bears defense was statistically better for a few years after Ryan left under Vince Tobin, and was still a great unit. After the Super Bowl it didn't seem like everyone was pulling in the same direction. Ditka's handling of the QB position after '85 was a disaster (his obsession with Flutie :ROFLMAO:). They laid two massive eggs in the playoffs against the Redskins two years after the Super Bowl. Losing Marshall to the Redskins in free agency really signaled it was over. They had their last shot in the '89 NFC Championship Game at home but got drilled by the 49ers 28-3 in "Bear weather."
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The D was still real good thru like the 88 or 89 season. I think they made the playoffs into the 90 & 91 seasons also but were "hanging on by a thread"

The D while real good was never quite the same as they were in 84 & 85. They intimidated the opponents in a way not seen in professional football. Some of the games they played in 85 looked like a mismatch like you might see in college ball when Alabama plays The Citadel. Like the other team just didn't look like they belonged on the same field from a physical standpoint. Look up Bears at Cowboys from 1985 sometime for an example of what I am talking about. Bears won 44-0 and it wasn't that close frankly.

The other part you mention is the QB position. It was as you say a disaster. McMahon just couldn't stay healthy especially after the bodyslam by Martin. Then it was a progression of Flutie, High n Wide Tomczak & the beginnings of the continual revolving door at QB that Bears fans have known for the most part of the last 35 years pre Caleb.

The NFC was also LOADED in that late 80's time frame. Post 85, Super Bowls were won by Giants, Redskins, 49'ers twice & Giants again. The Redskins were a little "flukey" but still good. 49'ers had Montana, Rice, Taylor etc & the Giants had LT. Just a phenomenal run for the upper portion of the NFC.
 
#1,563      
Curbelo Fanboy
Anyone else tired of hearing the criticism of Ben's postgame antics? I sure am. Would it be nice if he didn't use the f bomb & conducted himself as a gentleman in the postgame handshake. Sure.

But frankly his job is to win. And I appreciate his willingness to come right out & say he don't like Green Bay or anything they are about. That's how you should feel about a rival.

Also, it appears he is (aside from a good coach) a bit of a raving lunatic. Sort of a modern day Ditka type of high strung personality. If he tried the goodie two shoes routine, it's gonna come off as fake. He needs to be what he is.

There have been guys that win both ways. Landry, Dungy, Gibbs won a lot & were all pretty mild mannered men of faith. Ditka, Belichek, Parcells, Jimmy Johnnson all won a lot & were varying degrees of psychotic madmen at times. The key is all of these guys were true to what they were at all times. If their teams see them as a fraud they lose respect in the locker room.
 
#1,565      
Curbelo Fanboy
ChiefGritty said:
Nope, I want to read pearl clutching about that all day long.

1*-sarVkF6vNxDLpKpc441pg.jpeg
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Yep - when I was a youngin I used to really care about that stuff. Then I sat thru the Lou Tepper years at Illinois. By all accounts Lou is a great man. Deeply religious & just a really good human being. But man he sucked as a head coach. I'd have taken a George Carlin type that threw 100 f bombs a day if he could coach football.
 
#1,566      
Seppuku
Curbelo Fanboy said:
Anyone else tired of hearing the criticism of Ben's postgame antics? I sure am. Would it be nice if he didn't use the f bomb & conducted himself as a gentleman in the postgame handshake. Sure.

But frankly his job is to win. And I appreciate his willingness to come right out & say he don't like Green Bay or anything they are about. That's how you should feel about a rival.

Also, it appears he is (aside from a good coach) a bit of a raving lunatic. Sort of a modern day Ditka type of high strung personality. If he tried the goodie two shoes routine, it's gonna come off as fake. He needs to be what he is.

There have been guys that win both ways. Landry, Dungy, Gibbs won a lot & were all pretty mild mannered men of faith. Ditka, Belichek, Parcells, Jimmy Johnnson all won a lot & were varying degrees of psychotic madmen at times. The key is all of these guys were true to what they were at all times. If their teams see them as a fraud they lose respect in the locker room.
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I guess he should've done some classy, like pretend to put on a wrestling champion belt... (eye roll).

I may have had a bit of an issue if GB still had a classier coach, like McCarthy, but someone like Matt LaFleur, who is grade A d-bag more than deserved that.
 
#1,567      
mattcoldagelli
Curbelo Fanboy said:
Anyone else tired of hearing the criticism of Ben's postgame antics? I sure am.
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Are you kidding? If there were a streaming channel dedicated only to this, I would subscribe to it post haste and cackle myself to sleep every night. Can I pay somebody to ensure this keeps going throughout the offseason, exposing the Charmin-softness of Packer Nation to the entire country? Let me know if they prefer Venmo or Zelle.

Remember - Aaron Rodgers cursing at opposing fans? "That's just rivalry stuff". Ben Johnson cursing in his own locker room? "This is so unprofessional and offensive."

There is an entire generation of Green Bay fans who took "the Packers will be superior to the Bears in coaching and QB play" as a simple fact of life, as real as the air we breathe, and are responding to it not being true about as well as a child learning the truth about Santa.
 
#1,568      
ChiefGritty
mattcoldagelli said:
Remember - Aaron Rodgers cursing at opposing fans?
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Which, in the name of consistency, I was also wildly entertained by.

Bears Packers is the only actual rivalry in pro football, in the Bama Auburn, Yankees Red Sox, Real Madrid and Barcelona sense. That's a precious and beautiful thing amid the monotonous slop of the NFL, lean into it.
 
#1,569      
Curbelo Fanboy
mattcoldagelli said:
Are you kidding? If there were a streaming channel dedicated only to this, I would subscribe to it post haste and cackle myself to sleep every night. Can I pay somebody to ensure this keeps going throughout the offseason, exposing the Charmin-softness of Packer Nation to the entire country? Let me know if they prefer Venmo or Zelle.
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Oh don't get me wrong, I find it hilarious as well. I just meant tired of it in terms of I find it absurd & as you point out extremely hypocritical from the information police behind the cheese curtain. They have that same dismissive tone that a lot of Cardinal fans had toward the Cubs pre 2015 NLDS & 2016 World Series.
 
#1,571      
Curbelo Fanboy
mattcoldagelli said:
Buddy, if you want to turn this thread into schadenfreude situations that I love with every fiber of my being, you've got my full endorsement.
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I'll give you one more....

I live in a house full of Cardinal fans & perhaps the top moment in my sports fan life is attending game 2 of the 2015 NLDS at Busch. Dealt with trash talk from a 10 year old girl pre game cause I had Cub gear on. That was the game where Jaime Garcia chucked the ball into right field & had some other issues as the Cubs kinda worked them over.

Just a beautiful afternoon in "baseball heaven" as they like to call it down there. I tried to find that girl after the game to pay her & her daddy back but I think they left in the 7th inning.

Rest of the fam was pretty quiet on the ride home after the game.
 
#1,572      
Emerson Bigguns
Curbelo Fanboy said:
Anyone else tired of hearing the criticism of Ben's postgame antics? I sure am. Would it be nice if he didn't use the f bomb & conducted himself as a gentleman in the postgame handshake. Sure.

But frankly his job is to win. And I appreciate his willingness to come right out & say he don't like Green Bay or anything they are about. That's how you should feel about a rival.

Also, it appears he is (aside from a good coach) a bit of a raving lunatic. Sort of a modern day Ditka type of high strung personality. If he tried the goodie two shoes routine, it's gonna come off as fake. He needs to be what he is.

There have been guys that win both ways. Landry, Dungy, Gibbs won a lot & were all pretty mild mannered men of faith. Ditka, Belichek, Parcells, Jimmy Johnnson all won a lot & were varying degrees of psychotic madmen at times. The key is all of these guys were true to what they were at all times. If their teams see them as a fraud they lose respect in the locker room.
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For Anyone truly offended… a briefly history of this handshake.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTYK7nhFMVu/
 
#1,574      
illinoisfootball
Just randomly bored and made my Top 10 list of all time Bears draft busts (1st rounders only)

10. Stan Thomas, OT,1991 22 overall
9. Rashaan Salaam, RB, 1995, 21 overall
8. Michael Haynes, DE, 2003, 14 overall
7. Shea Mclellin, DE, 2010,19 overall
6. Chris Williams, OT, 2008, 14 overall
5. David Terrell, WR, 2001, 8 overall
4. Curtis Enis, RB, 1998, 5 overall
3. Cedric Benson, RB, 2005, 4 overall
2. Kevin White, WR, 2015, 7 overall.

And no question about number 1.....

Cade McNown, QB, 1999, 12 overall.
 
#1,575      
Illiniaaron
illinoisfootball said:
Just randomly bored and made my Top 10 list of all time Bears draft busts (1st rounders only)

10. Stan Thomas, OT,1991 22 overall
9. Rashaan Salaam, RB, 1995, 21 overall
8. Michael Haynes, DE, 2003, 14 overall
7. Shea Mclellin, DE, 2010,19 overall
6. Chris Williams, OT, 2008, 14 overall
5. David Terrell, WR, 2001, 8 overall
4. Curtis Enis, RB, 1998, 5 overall
3. Cedric Benson, RB, 2005, 4 overall
2. Kevin White, WR, 2015, 7 overall.

And no question about number 1.....

Cade McNown, QB, 1999, 12 overall.
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1768427745647.gif
 
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