Chicago Bears Mount Rushmore: Greatest Games

The Chicago Bears franchise has played in 1,452 games during its long existence dating back over a century. Narrowing that down to four seems like an impossible task. So to find the greatest games, a few parameters must be set. This will not be a list of their greatest wins. If that were the case, one could simply sort through their championship victories and pick the best four. No, these will be games that fulfill three key criteria.

• Memorable
• Meaningful
• Competitive

Great games are defined by great moments, what they meant for the team’s season or even an era, and most importantly, were exciting to watch. Yes, blowout wins are fun. However, most fans agree the best ones are always the nail-biters that one can rewatch over and over without getting bored. With this in mind, let’s get to the first stage.

Honorable mentions:

2006 NFC Divisional playoff

People remember the Super Bowl against Indianapolis and the NFC championship against New Orleans. They sometimes forget how bonkers the divisional round against Seattle was. It was a tight contest throughout, with each team trading shots. Shaun Alexander scored twice, including the go-ahead touchdown to put the Seahawks on top 24-21. The Bears tied the game with under five minutes to play, forcing overtime. After the defense forced a punt, Rex Grossman hit Rashied Davis for a huge 30-yard pass, setting Robbie Gould for a gorgeous 49-yard field goal to win it.

2018: Vs. Green Bay Packers

Everybody knew the premise going into this one. Green Bay had owned the Bears for a decade under Aaron Rodgers. He’d already beaten them in specular fashion a few months before. Now he could ruin Chicago’s dream of winning the division. It was predictably tight most of the way. However, a Mitch Trubisky touchdown pass and a clutch Eddie Jackson interception of Rodgers produced the Bears’ biggest win over the Packers in many years.

1988 NFC Divisional playoff

Sometimes the weather can make a game memorable all by itself. This was the day of the iconic “Fog Bowl” when Soldier Field became enveloped in a rare fog bank rolling in from Lake Michigan. It became so dense that people couldn’t see the field from the sidelines, let alone the stands. Chicago held an eight-point lead going into the second half when the fog became a factor. The two sides settled into a physical 3rd and 4th quarters where completing passes was almost impossible. Ultimately, Philadelphia’s seven penalties played a big part in their downfall.

1963 NFL championship

This was old-school football at its finest. Two staple NFL franchises, the Bears and Giants doing battle in -11 degree wind chill conditions. New York took the lead twice in the first and second quarters. Chicago’s offense couldn’t find any traction. However, they were aided by an all-time great defense that forced six turnovers. One of them led to a 1-yard touchdown run by Billy Wade, giving the Bears a 14-10 lead in the 3rd quarter. The defense preserved that for the rest of the day, ensuring George Halas his final championship as head coach.

The Mount Rushmore of Chicago Bears greatest games

2001: Vs. San Francisco 49ers

It had been five seasons since the Bears had a winning record and six since making the playoffs. They were trapped in a perpetual limbo of bad or injury-prone quarterbacks and defenses that weren’t good enough to mask them. That changed on October 28th, 2001. Led by Brian Urlacher and a talented defense, the Bears were 4-1 to start the year. Even so, the far more proven 49ers were also 4-1. Things went about as expected early on. San Francisco built a 28-9 lead, and Bears QB Jim Miller left the game with an injury. However, Chicago battled back in the second half, led by the defense and Rookie Of The Year Anthony Thomas, to force overtime 31-31. Then, on the first play of OT, Mike Brown took a bobbled Terrell Owens pass to the house for a game-ending pick-six. Most agree that play was the catalyst for the Bears’ 13-3 magic carpet ride that season and perhaps the entirety of their success in the 2000s.

1977: Vs. The Kansas City Chiefs

When arguing what the most miserable period of Chicago Bears football was, younger fans will say the 2010s. They have no idea how bad things were from 1964 through 1976 when the team never made the playoffs and only had a winning record twice. It was the Dark Ages. Things didn’t look much better through the first half of 1977. The Bears were 3-5 going into Soldier Field to face Kansas City, fresh off a 47-0 drubbing at the hands of Houston. Everybody thought the season was over. One person refused to accept that. Walter Payton rushed for 192 yards that afternoon, scoring three touchdowns. This was the game where he had the iconic run where he bounced off what felt like dozens of Chiefs. However, the biggest moment came with under ten seconds left and Chicago trailing 27-21. The game looked over. Then QB Bob Avellini found tight end Greg Latta for a 37-yard touchdown. The 28-27 win seemed to wake the city up from a long nightmare. Chicago went on to win six straight games to finish 9-5 and make the playoffs for the first time in 14 years.

1985: At Minnesota Vikings

People already knew the Bears were a good team in 1985. They had the best defense in the NFL and arguably the greatest running back of all time. What nobody was sure about was if they could take the final step to become a great team. This was the game where Chicago answered that question. Going into Week 3, they were 2-0. The Vikings were also 2-0. The winner of this game would seize control of the division. Minnesota staked their claim early, jumping to a 17-9 lead. The Bears’ offense was lifeless as quarterback Jim McMahon was sidelined with a back injury. However, the growing deficit compelled him to push head coach Mike Ditka to let him play. After frequent pestering, Ditka relented. What followed was the most memorable play of the entire season. McMahon beat an all-out Viking blitz, aided by a crunching Walter Payton block, to find Willie Gault for a 70-yard touchdown. McMahon threw two more TDs before the 3rd quarter was over, cementing a 33-24 comeback victory that signaled to the entire league this team was complete.

2006: At Arizona Cardinals

There have been bigger comebacks in Chicago Bears history, but none were as memorable. If people were to look at any game that jumpstarted their push to the Super Bowl in 2006, it will always go to that fateful Monday night in Phoenix. The Bears were rolling at that point, going 5-0. Arizona was 1-4. Everybody expected a comfortable win for Chicago. The Cardinals had other plans. They smacked the Bears around for the first three quarters, building a 23-3 lead. Quarterback Rex Grossman was having the worst game of his career, committing four turnovers by that point, and would have two more in the 4th quarter. Everybody thought the game was over.

The Bears defense had other plans. The craziness started when a timely sack by rookie defensive end Mark Anderson forced a fumble, allowing Mike Brown to return it for a touchdown. Then with five minutes left in the game, Brian Urlacher tore the ball away from Edgerrin James, allowing Charles Tillman to return it for another touchdown. Having cut the lead to 23-17, the defense forced a punt on the next series. This set the stage for an unheralded rookie named Devin Hester, who returned the subsequent punt 83 yards for the go-ahead touchdown. It was the wildest, most unpredictable comeback in modern NFL history. All of it was done without a single point from the offense. Yet the best part of it all was Arizona head coach Dennis Green’s iconic post-game “They are who we thought they were!” rant. Football theater at its finest.