’85 Bears Flashback: Bears Get Revenge with 26-10 Win over 49ers

This season marks the 25th anniversary of the 1985 Super Bowl Bears. We’ll look back at all of the games leading up to the last Lombardi Trophy being hoisted at Halas Hall. To take the full trip down memory lane, check out Run The Ball for a complete DVD series of every game of the histiric 1985 Bears season. Tell them Bear Goggles On sent you! You can also get your ticket to join the ‘85 Bears in their Glory Days Reunion here.  Special thanks to a couple of YouTube channels for the great ‘85 Bears stuff they have as well – here and here. Check em out!

October 13, 1985

The Bears headed out to San Francisco with revenge on their minds.  After a humbling 23-0 loss to the Niners in the playoffs the year before, the Bears were on a mission.  They would not be denied.

The Bears jumped out to a 16-0 lead behind strong running by Walter Payton and three Kevin Butler field goals before the Niners would scratch the scoreboard with a Carlton Williamson interception return for a touchdown midway through the 2nd quarter.   A late field goal by the Niners cut the lead to 6 to close the first half but that is as close as the 49ers would get.

This game belonged to the Bears’ defense, holding Joe Montana to just 160 yards passing while shutting Roger Craig down with just over 40 yards rushing.

Payton capped the scoring with his second touchdown of the game to go along with his 132 rushing yards.  This game also marked the birth of another legendary Bears running back – William “The Refrigerator” Perry.   To twist the knife on Bill Walsh, who had used lineman Guy McIntyre against the Bears in the playoffs the previous season, Mike Ditka dispatched Perry to run the ball.  Fridge finished off the Niners with 2 rushes for 4 yards.  Check out some highlights:

If you want even more video highlights of the 1985 Bears, check out ironworkerjeff’s YouTube Channel. He’s got a few great clips with more in-depth video clips of this game.  Go here.

Here’s an excerpt from Don Pierson’s Chicago Tribune game re-cap:

"SAN FRANCISCO — The Bears hailed the 49ers as the best and flailed them like all the rest Sunday. By a score of 26-10, they staked their latest legitimate claim to the top of the National Football League.“It`s only for a week, but we`re pretty good right now,“ said coach Mike Ditka, who had praised the world champion 49ers while plotting their burial.It didn`t totally make up for last year`s 23-0 loss in the NFC title game and it won`t help them next Monday night against the Packers in Soldier Field. But it made them feel awfully good for the moment, which they grabbed for all it was worthNot since 1942 has a Bears` team been 6-0. They are a prime-time act, cantankerous and convincing, carrying the memories of elephants and an attitude to match.They even unveiled their elephant backfield in the last seconds, letting 325-pound defensive tackle William Perry play fullback and carry the ball on the final two plays of the game.“I just wanted to see if he could run with it,“ said Ditka.“I was looking for the end zone,“ said Perry. “When the 49ers saw that I was the ballcarrier, their eyes got real big.“It was a 325-pound love letter to the 49ers and coach Bill Walsh, who had used 265-pound guard Guy McIntyre as a blocking back for a play or two in last January`s title game.From the national anthem to killing the clock, Ditka refuses to get upstaged. Against the Minnesota Vikings in game three, Ditka ordered his troops to slap their hands over their hearts after Minnesota coach Bud Grant had extolled the manners of the Vikings during “The Star-Spangled Banner.“Now the Bears are three games up on their three closest NFC Central Division rivals, whom they play during the next four weeks."

This game was a huge one for the Bears.  I think getting the 49ers monkey off their backs gave them the confidence to go the distance.  Here’s a Mike Singletary quote via Bernie Lincicome’s Tribune article:

"This was not a day for forgetting. Not that the Bears would have been allowed to. This was a day to measure how far the Bears have come and how far the 49ers have fallen. All in nine months, all since that day when Bears`linebacker Mike Singletary shook his fist at the 49ers` fans and vowed,“We`ll be back.““I never forgot that day,“ Singletary said. “The spring, the summertime, I remembered how humiliating it was to have people screaming at you. I said we`d be back and I believed it."

Yes they did.  Yes, they did!