Have you ever wondered who the best teams for each major Chicago sports teams are? 1985 Bears? 1906 Cubs? 2005 White Sox? 1995-96 Bulls? 2012-13 Blackhawks?
Don’t worry; those probably come to mind all the time. But, what about the top-four for each? In a five-part series that will allow me to break down and explain who I think are the best four teams in the history of each of the Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls, Cubs, and White Sox, you the readers will have the chance at the end to vote on who you think is ultimately the best sports team in Chicago history. Sound fun? I think so!
First, da Bears.
Number four: 2006 Chicago Bears
Under Lovie Smith, Rex Grossman, and the defense, the Bears finished the season 13-3 and advanced to the Super Bowl. We all know how turned out, but one cannot deny the significance of this team in Chicago Bears history.
The offense ranked second in the league in most points with 427, tied with none other than the Indianapolis Colts. The defense dominated to rank third in points against and fifth in yards allowed. They forced 44 turnovers, which is nearly three per game! They forced five tournovers FOUR TIMES.
Thomas Jones and Cedric Bones handled the workload on the ground, rushing for nearly 1,900 yards combined. From under center, Grossman completed just 54.6% of his passes and threw 20 interceptions compared to his 23 touchdowns. Muhsin Muhammad led the team in receptions with just 60, while Bernard Berrian came in at 51.
The special teams were something to watch. Robbie Gould made 32-of-36 of his field goal attempts. But, the real story was Devin Hester. In his rookie campaign, Hester returned three punts for touchdowns, and added two kickoff return for touchdowns. He became a special teams just a handful of games in his career.
He even returned the opening kickoff of the Super Bowl against the Colts to set the tone of the game (which ended up not working, but oh well).
This team gets overlooked because of the quarterback play, and people push aside any comparison to the defense of the mid-80s. This defense wasn’t as good, but man did they put the pressure on the opposition.
Number three: 1963 Chicago Bears
The team finished the season 9-1-2 before advancing the NFL Championship game against the New York Giants. It was the first time in seven seasons in which the Bears would advance that far, and the last time until 1985 when they would reach the championship game and ultimately prevail.
In the regular season, the defense ranked first in points against and yards allowed with 12.0 and 264.67, respectively. They forced 54 turnovers, including 36 interceptions. Sacks were not an official state in 1964, but just imagine the total they would’ve had!
The offense was led by Mike Ditka, who tallied eight receiving touchdowns, and 59 total catches for 794 yards. Billy Wade, just like Rex Grossman, was a manageable quarterback led primarily by his defense. He only threw for 2,301 yards on 53.9% passing. After factoring in his 15 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, he ended the year with a 74.0 QBR.
Number two: 1940 Chicago Bears
The 1940 squad would finish the season 8-3, winning the NFL Championship. As the previous two teams mentioned, this team relied heavily on its defense, too.
Although the offense ranked second and third in points for and yards for, respectively, quarterback Sid Luckman threw nine interceptions to only four touchdown passes. The team had three-300 yard rushers, and another two guys with at least 250 yards. That’s a balanced run game if I say so myself!
Ken Kavanaugh was the leader for the receiver corps with 12 catches, 276 yards, and three touchdowns.
In its 11 games, the team forced 38 turnovers including 27 interceptions. Unfortunately neither sacks nor tackles were an official state in 1940, but just like the 1963 squad, you can only imagine the havoc that was wreaked. This team is widely-known as the best Chicago Bear team in the franchise’s history.
However, they rank number two on this list behind none other than the…
Number one: 1985 Chicago Bears
Even though quarterback Jim McMahon didn’t put up gaudy passing numbers (similar to the teams described above), he was a character that was as tough as the defense.
He averaged nearly 20 yards per game on the ground and ran in for three touchdowns. He even caught a touchdown pass. When he was tossing the pigskin around, he totaled 2,392 yards with 15 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. For being sacked about twice per game, the man still put up a 82.6 QBR showing how tough he was.
Walter Payton. Averaging 4.8 yards per rush for a total of 1,551 in the regular season, Payton scored nine touchdowns on the ground. After his rookie season in 1975, Payton started every single game. From 1976 to 1987, he started all 177 games, not once sitting out due to injury. 1985 was his second best season in terms of yards per carry, but because of the threat McMahon gave from under center, Payton only had 324 attempts, which is only sixth most.
Payton also led the team in receptions with 49, but Dennis McKinnon saw the endzone seven times via the air. Matt Suhey averaged 4.1 yards per carry as the fullback, including 33 receptions of his own.
The defense forced 54 turnovers, including 34 interceptions. They forced nine fumbles. In total, they returned five turnovers for touchdowns. The defense tallied 64 sacks…64! That’s four per game, while also recording a safety three times.
During the birth of the 46 defense, the ’85 Bears allowed 12.4 points per game. Winning the first 12 games of the season clinched the division, just before they suffered their only loss to Miami in week 13. After that loss to the Dolphins, the Bears outscored their opponents 166-43 for the remaining six games en route to a Super Bowl thrashing of New England.
The defense ranked first in yards allowed, points against, rushing attempts against, rushing yards allowed, rushing touchdowns allowed, first downs allowed, and interceptions.
After that loss to Miami, the team recorded the Super Bowl Shuffle, and became a national phenomenon, not just in the city of Chicago.
The 1985 Bears is the lone team to win a Super Bowl, and now that 30 years have gone by, we should recognize the greatest team in Chicago Bears history as such…and possibly the best team of all-time in NFL history.
That’s my ranking of the top-four. What are yours? Remember this is a five-part series and at the end you will be able to vote for who you think is the best team in the history of the Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls, Cubs, and White Sox.
Ya better get to researchin’.
*picture is courtesy of barcodegames.com
