The Bears are once again proof of the continual pop-culture significance of sports. Many players remain from the 1985 world-championship team, but the Bears’ overall personality is completely different. The mid-80s were an urgent, ruthless, marauding time, and the Bears reflected that. With their quick outside linebackers, Otis Wilson and Wilber Marshall, tackling opponents the way junk-bond firms devoured other companies, their defensive coach coming up with secret plans almost as complicated as those of the CIA’s Bill Casey, their head coach raging on as the prototypical Type A personality, and Walter Payton and Mike Singletary lending an air of class to the whole operation, the Bears ran at the cocky, speeded-up pace of the cocaine boom. They and their punky QB and their Baby Huey of a defensive lineman–the ultimate symbol of U.S. overconsumption, ridiculously overweight but somehow able to perform– officially crossed over to become pop-culture icons with “The Super Bowl Shuffle,” adopting rap music in the days when the genre was first proving its staying power.
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Like any good football team, the Bears are anchored by their offensive and defensive lines, both of which remain almost unchanged from the Super Bowl. When the Bears began the season, I thought the ages of these critical players would begin to show in the form of injuries, and that the Bears–while improved–would probably finish at about 8-8. Six weeks into the season, however, both lines have withstood the punishment, and the Bears are 5-1.
One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is the fondness fans of the Bears show for defense, and the front four still attracts most of the attention and garners most of the glory. The one change since the Super Bowl season is that Trace Armstrong has moved in at left end, opposite Richard Dent, with Dan Hampton now sharing time at tackle with Steve McMichael and William Perry. Hampton has assumed the mantle as the Bears’ spokesman and most visible member. When one remembers that Jim McMahon and the Refrigerator divided these duties in 1985, Hampton’s new and richly deserved celebrity may say more about the changes the Bears have undergone than anything happening on the field.
Ditka’s other main decision this year was at quarterback, where Jim Harbaugh is now the starter. It’s been a beneficial change, because a young quarterback requires a more conservative game plan, and a more conservative game plan is just what the Bears required. Which brings us to last week’s game against the Rams. Ditka has maintained that he has two starting quarterbacks, Harbaugh and Mike Tomczak, and that his decision to start Harbaugh was arbitrary. If that were the case, Harbaugh, who suffered a broken rib in the previous game against the Packers, would not have started against the Rams. Ditka would have gone with the healthier quarterback, just as he did last year from week to week. The decision to start him gave Harbaugh his first real sign that he was number one, but it also gave him something to protect. Harbaugh said he realized a poor start on his part could bring Tomczak into the game. So instead he had the best performance of his four-year career. He got away with a couple treacherous passes on the Bears’ first drive–one to Ron Morris, one to Neal Anderson–and that seemed to give him confidence. The Bears’ first score came on a Harbaugh pass where he had ample time; he watched both Dennis Gentry and Wendell Davis come open over the middle, but waited for something more–Anderson crossing at the back of the end zone–and put the ball right there for the score. Harbaugh then marched the team downfield again and scored on a makeshift quarterback draw from 12 yards out, taking a brutal hit at the goal line and not even bothering to shake it off.
