1985 Chicago Bears vs. 2006 NFL

In My Humble Opinion
1

People have posted before on whether the 1985 Chicago Bears could beat the current Super Bowl Champion.

Many people seem to think that the speed, quickness, size, and strength of today’s NFL is significantly better than 20 years ago, and the 85 Bears could not keep up with the 2006 Super Bowl Champs.

Here’s a little twist:

What if you dropped the 85 Bears, as they were in 1985, into the 2006 NFL (not just against the Super Bowl Champs)? Could they win? Against whom? Could they perhaps get a .500 record?

What would happen if you magically gave the 85 Bears improved relative physical attributes of today’s athletes? In otherwords, if a 1985 player was “average” speed for 1985, that player would acquire “average” speed under 2006 standards when playing 2006 teams. If a player had “slightly above average” weight for a position in 1985, that player would acquire “slightly above average” weight under 2006 standards.

I guess we should also assume that the 1985 Bears are magically up to speed on current coaching theory and there is no advantage for the 2006 team due to one-sided knowledge of the opponent.

Yes, these questions call for speculation and are very unscientific, but it’s kinda fun.

BTW, I am not a Bears fan, but I think that team was probably the best NFL team to ever take the field. Let’s not argue that here.

2

Wouldn’t this make William Perry something like 900 pounds? :wink:

3

If you brought them in with comparable speed and weight they would most likely dominate the league. There were 3 hall-of-famers on that team; Dan Hampton, Mike Singletary, and Walter Payton, and 9 pro-bowlers. If you brought them in as they were, they probably would still be a good team, due to their skills. They’d probably make the playoffs, but fall short of the Super Bowl.

4

<Swerski> Bearsss 198, everyone else… 2. </Swerski>

5

Remember, there are significant rule and tactical changes in today’s NFL which would significantly hamper the '85 Bears today.

The emphasis on contact with recievers more than 5 yards downfield would have pre-1990 corners drawing flags on every play. Historically, cornerbacks (and corners in the 46, where only one safety helped in deep coverage at any time, were certainly no exception) spent a lot more time in man coverage, redirecting recievers in their routes and jamming them. The modern zone defenses (in particular the various incarnations of the Cover-2) are much better suited to coverage with minimal contact than the man defense of yesteryear.

Also, the '85 team never had to deal with a zone-blocking scheme on offense. The cut-blocking scheme pioneered by the Broncos, using smaller, quicker linemen who can open up wider holes on run plays, is something modern teams are used to defending. They (Messrs. Singleton, McMichael, and co.) never had to.

I doubt the '85 Bears would have been more than a mediocre team in today’s game.

6

Remember how huge William Perry was compared to others at the time? His playing weight was barely over 300 pounds. He’d be smaller than almost every offensive lineman in the game today, and slower.

The Bear’s offense was anemic outside of Walter Payton. Jim McMahon was 90% hype. Willie Gault? Ken Margerum? A modern defense would stack the line to stop Payton and make McMahon beat them with the pass. They would have trouble scoring today.

The defense would still be great.

7

The year is 2006. Da Bears have now won 20 consecutive Superbowls. Mike Ditka has retired from coaching, but before he left they took a sample of his DNA to combine with another great Chicago athlete to create the greatest football coach ever…

Jordka.

8

I nearly spitt out my diet pepsii when i read this :slight_smile:

Oh and to the OP…
Da Bears

9

McMahon and his brittle body would LOVE playing under today’s quarterback-friendly rules.

10

The '85 Bears would be a .500 team in today’s NFL, with a smallish but tough defense and a really shitty offense.

11

Don’t count out the '85 offense entirely. Walter Payton played most of his career on Bears teams whose playbook almost entirely read “Give the ball to No. 34” Everyone and their grandmother knew he was getting the ball and he still managed to set records.

12

Interestingly, This 2005 article states that in 1985, William Perry was the only 300+ pound player on the team, and there were only a “handful” of 300+ players in the NFL.

“There are now 455 300-pound players listed on NFL rosters. In last year’s Super Bowl, the Patriots and Eagles had 23 players topping the 300-pound mark with the Eagles’ offensive line averaging 323 pounds.”

The Wikipedia article on Super Bowl XX (1985) states that Perry checked in at 330 pounds.

By comparison, The San Francisco Chronicle on 9/8/2006 reported Larry Allen is being fined for failing to get down to his target weight of 325.

13

I suspect they’d be lucky to squeeze out 2-4 wins, depending on schedule.

There’s just too much difference. Not only are players bigger, but they’re faster and stronger too. They’re better athletes. The tactics have evolved and changed.

The 46 never really caught on because the WCO was designed to beat it, and did it effectively. Once you got around that pressure, and breached that first level of defense, you were up for a big gain. Even NFL teams that aren’t specifically WCO offenses integrate elements of it, and even they’d rip up the bears defense with hot reads, 3 step drops, and timing passes.

Their offense would be completely dominated. Not only would they largely fail to run block (their lineman are both smaller and slower than today’s d-lineman), but they wouldn’t have practiced against a lot of modern blitzing techniques and simply aren’t prepared for a 320 pound DT fast enough to stunt.

Their defense might be able to make a non-pitiful showing against an inept offense, but even that might be doubtful. Teams could either just dominate them at the line with dramatically superior linemen, or, as I said, use a quick, WCO style timing offense to burn them regularly.

[/quote]

What would happen if you magically gave the 85 Bears improved relative physical attributes of today’s athletes? In otherwords, if a 1985 player was “average” speed for 1985, that player would acquire “average” speed under 2006 standards when playing 2006 teams. If a player had “slightly above average” weight for a position in 1985, that player would acquire “slightly above average” weight under 2006 standards.

[/quote]

Well then you’re looking at a much better match. In this scenario, are they trying to learn new nfl tactics and stuff as fast as they can, or are they just playing the same style they did then? If it’s the latter, they’d still get burned by modern offenses that can shred a 46 style defense. They’d retain their physical dominance, but be behind in coaching and systems. Maybe 8-8.

Well then I guess they’d probably dominate this league like they did their league, and finish in the 12+ win range.

14

Excellent analysis SenorBeef