The Chicago Bears are not very good right now, so we’re going to take this week’s ‘Bears Rewind’ to a time in which they were on top of the football world, 1985. The Bears traveled to the Hubert H. Humphrey Dome in Week 3 of the 1985 season to take on the Minnesota Vikings in a battle of 2-0 Central Division foes on Monday Night Football. Well, it was actually on a Thursday night, but back then, TNF wasn’t a thing, and the broadcast was an arm of the famed Monday Night Football broadcast.
Steve Fuller started under center for the Bears for the injured Jim McMahon, but after Fuller struggled, Jim McMahon talked his way into the game and would end up throwing for 236 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions.
Tommy Kramer threw for 436 yards and three touchdowns on a whopping 55 attempts, but the Bears defense picked off the Vikings’ quarterback three times. The Vikings leaned heavily on an air attack with just 34 rushing yards to boot in this game. On the other side of the ball, Walter Payton ran for 62 yards on 15 carries but didn’t find the end zone for Chicago.
The game was a back-and-forth affair with the two teams trading field goals in the first quarter and the Vikings taking a 10-6 lead on a 14-yard touchdown pass from Tommy Kramer to Anthony Carter. Kevin Butler’s third field goal of the game made it 10-9 Minnesota in the third quarter before Kramer tossed his second touchdown of the game to Mike Jones to make it 17-9 Vikings.
That’s when Jim McMahon took over and scored the next three touchdowns through the air, including a 70-yard touchdown to Willie Gault. The Bears led Minnesota 30-17 after McMahon’s air-raid of 21 unanswered points, but Minnesota wasn’t done just yet. Tommy Kramer hooked up with Anthony Carter again for a 57-yard score to make it 30-24 Chicago in the fourth quarter.
Vikings Visual Past: Thursday Night Football, September 19, 1985 and while the Viking lost to the World Champion Bears, it was clear that the balance of power in the NFC Central was shifting on this bomb to Anthony Carter. #vikings @Kramer9Tommy pic.twitter.com/kCF5nf1Uer
— VikeFans (@VikeFans) April 5, 2018
Kevin Butler’s fourth field goal of the game stretched the Bears’ lead to nine at 33-24 with 5:35 to play in Minneapolis.
Minnesota’s Buster Rhymes (I swear I’m not making that one up, I almost died of laughter) set the Vikings up with excellent field position on the ensuing kickoff with a 57-yard return to the Chicago 43 yard line. But, Wilbur Marshall recovered a fumble forced by Ron Rivera to seal the deal for the Bears in this one as they moved to 3-0 with a victory over the Vikings on the road.
And, well, you know the rest when it comes to that season!
You can watch the entire game here!