Monday, October 22, 2012

NFL Monday Night - 1985 Bears vs Dolphins


NFL MONDAY NIGHTS
1985 - Bears vs Dolphins

The Bears play the Lions tonight.  I usually am not a big fan of watching the Bears play.  It is a matter of style of play.  However, whenever the Bears play on Monday night I think back to one of the best Monday night games ever.

In week 13 of the 1985 NFL season the 12-0 Bears went to Miami to play the 8-4 Dolphins.  The Bears were on the doorstep of matching the perfect season of the 1972 Dolphins. They had outscored their last three opponents by a combined score of 104-3.

The Dolphins were in a dogfight to make the playoffs.  The Miami crowd was frenzied.   You don't get many regular season games where two teams are fighting each other not just in the present, but for history as well.  The Dolphins were the last team that had a realistic chance to end Chicago's perfect run.  They were protecting their own legacy.

Steve Fuller started at QB for Chicago in place of an injured Jim McMahon.  Carried by the crowd the Dolphins stormed the Bears early and jumped to a 31-10 halftime lead.  The Bears closed the gap to 38-24 entering the fourth quarter.  Neither team scored in the fourth.  The emotion of the night seemed to have taken all the energy from both teams.  The Dolphins had preserved their place in history.

As soon as the game ended football fans across the nation began to fantasize about a Super Bowl rematch between these two teams.  But that is a story for another day.

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