Today is the 40th anniversary of the Chicago Bears' dominating Super Bowl performance.
Forty years ago today, the Chicago Bears ended their remarkable season with a 46-10 win over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX.
Prior to completely dominating the Patriots, the Bears had consecutive playoff shutouts against the New York Giants (21-0) and the Los Angeles Rams (24-0). With just 10 points allowed, the postseason dominance from the 1985 Bears, arguably the greatest team in National Football League history, hasn’t been matched, and it may never be.
Anyone who was around for that team will never forget the Black and Blues Brothers, the Junkyard Dogs, the Bermuda Triangle, Sweetness, Mad Mac, Samurai Mike, Danimal, Mongo, The Fridge, Pinky, Jimbo, the list goes on and on.
The ‘85 Chicago Bears changed the game both on and off the field, and they have a legacy that will live on forever.
To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the 1985 Bears, we’ve had a special podcast series, ‘85 at 40, on our 2nd City Gridiron channels. We have a couple more episodes in the works, but here’s the full rundown of shows thus far.
‘85 at 40
Welcome to 2nd City Gridiron’s ’85 at 40! A season-long series looking back at the 1985 Chicago Bears. We kick it off with The Athletic’s Dan Pompei, who covered the Bears in 1985. In our debut episode, Dan discusses the team with Bill Zimmerman. Check out the first of many episodes throughout the season right here!
Pro Football Hall of Fame Tackle Jimbo Covert joins ’85 at 40 to discuss the greatness of the 1985 Bears, how the offensive line was the unsung hero of that team, blocking for Walter Payton and Jim McMahon, his success against other all-time greats, and so much more! Jim gives some wonderful, thoughtful answers; it’s definitely worth your time to check it out!
Bill Zimmerman and Jeff Berckes are joined by Chicago Bears legend Gary Fencik, who discusses the letter he wrote to George Halas to keep Buddy Ryan, the 46 defense, William Perry, the evolution of the game, and more.
Former Washington great Joe Theismann was a guest on Bill Zimmerman’s Bears Banter, and he did a quick segment on playing against the Chicago Bears in 1985.
Peter King joins Bill Zimmerman on ’85 at 40 to discuss the greatness of the 1985 Chicago Bears. Peter discusses how amazing it was to watch that defense, the greatness of Walter Payton, the greatness of Richard Dent, the leadership of Jim McMahon, and why the Bears only won one Super Bowl. Plus, the former Hall of Fame Voter discusses the cases of Jay Hilgenberg and Wilber Marshall!
Current Seattle Seahawks assistant head coach Leslie Frazier joins ’85 at 40 to discuss what he learned from Mike Ditka and Buddy Ryan, and how he still utilizes it in his own coaching. He discusses being part of the great 46 defense, using elements from that in his defensive schemes, his career-ending injury, the Super Bowl Shuffle, and a play Frazier made that nobody talks about that may have saved the ’85 Bears’ season when it had barely started! Check out a great podcast!
HBO and NFL Films are releasing a brand new Super Bowl Shuffle Documentary tonight called “The Shuffle.” It debuts on November 25 on HBO and will be available on HBO Max thereafter. Make sure to check it out and hear about the making of the documentary from Jeff Cameron, the director of the fantastic project, on our latest ’85 at 40 episode right here!
Chicago Bears legendary center Jay Hilgenberg joins Bill Zimmerman and Jeff Berckes on ’85 at 40 to discuss his career, the importance of the center position, the rivalry with the Green Bay Packers and how heated it was in the 1980s, unleashing William Perry on offense, and his hall of fame candidacy. You won’t want to miss this one!
This special edition of Bear & Balanced finds JB & Lester breaking down Super Bowl XX as a part of our ’85 at 40 limited podcast series. They run through all their usual, cooled-down game review categories after rewatching the Bears’ 46-10 win over the Patriots.
Our 2nd City Gridiron Podcast Channel is available on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, Audacy, and other popular podcast platforms, so be sure to hit subscribe wherever you get your audio. Our YouTube home is also called 2nd City Gridiron, so subscribe there for our pods and other video content.
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If you haven’t seen the game, or haven’t seen the game in 40 years, you can see the whole thing on YouTube right here.
Category: General Sports
