What do you think?
Rate this book
The '85 Bears: We Were the Greatest
The ’85 We Were the Greatest is Coach Mike Ditka’s memoir of a season Chicago will never forget and opponents would rather erase from their minds. Packed with unforgettable behind-the-scenes stories and exhilarating moments including the dominating win over the Patriots in Super Bowl XX, Walter Payton phoning Ditka’s office pretending to be a woman named Yolanda, Jim McMahon’s enduring regard for the healing power of acupuncture, and how a rookie named William Perry turned into a phenomenon known as “The Refrigerator.” The team was filled with a cast of characters who were wildly entertaining off the field, but feared on the field. Their dominance was unstoppable and at their peak they looked like the greatest team in NFL history—and quite possibly were. Taking fans along for an insider’s retelling of this historic season “Da Coach” is packed with stories, recaps and statistics for every regular and postseason game, and top-notch photography that captures the team’s remarkable success, making it a must-have treasure for Bears fans of all ages.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2010
7 people are currently reading
36 people want to read
About the author
Mike Ditka
25 books2 followersMike Ditka is a former American football NFL player, television commentator, and coach. Ditka coached the Chicago Bears for 11 years and New Orleans Saints for 3 years. Ditka and Tom Flores are the only two people to win Super Bowls as a player, an assistant coach and a head coach.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 13, 2023
RICK “SHAQ” GOLDSTEIN SAYS: “I WAS GOING TO KILL HIM. RIGHT THERE. TEAR HIS FLESH OFF LIKE A JACKAL. I WAS SO MAD MY NECK VEINS HAD VEINS”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Chicago Bears are not my favorite team, and I’m not from Chicago… but what true old-school football fan doesn’t love Mike Ditka? The player… the coach… the TV analyst? If my team isn’t involved of course I love to see **DA-BEARS** win. Just like in baseball, if my team isn’t involved who in their right mind wouldn’t nostalgically want the “Cubbies” to win? So, mainly for my love of Ditka I ordered this book commemorating the 25th anniversary of the 1985 Chicago Bears Super Bowl Champions. When I ordered this “book” I was expecting to receive a true, real… book. I must admit when I opened the package from Amazon I was very disappointed to find that instead of a true “meaty”… “real” book… I received what I would more aptly describe as a hard cover super charged “yearbook”. As I started to read this “super-yearbook”, my disappointment disappeared as I was engulfed with Coach Ditka’s no- holds-barred… straight from the heart… insiders look of everything that led up to the dazzling victorious run of the 1985 Super Bowl Champions… **DA-BEARS!!**.
From the crushing loss to the 49ers in the 1984 NFC Championship Game that in a way was the final catalyst and motivation for the historical season that followed… to Ditka’s flashback’s to his playing days… not only with the Bears but with the Cowboy’s and his personal letter to the “old man”… Papa Bear himself… George Halas… while Ditka was a lowly assistant coach with the Cowboys he wrote a letter to Mr. Halas telling him that he was not ready to coach the Bears yet, but one day he would be, and he would hire him as the Bears coach… and he did! Ditka had such pride in being a Bear and said: “I ALWAYS FELT LIKE I WAS DEFENDING THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF THE FRANCHISE.”… “ALL I WANTED TO DO WAS MAKE *THE OLD MAN* PROUD. MAKE MYSELF PROUD. NOT MAKE NEW MAN McCASKEY PROUD.”
It’s all bared on these pages. The constant clashing between Bears defensive coach Buddy Ryan who openly felt he should have had the head coaching job instead of Ditka… and Ditka, who against his wishes, had to have Ryan remain as coach when he took over. Ditka takes you inside the trenches during brutal practices as well as games. The battles every day between Ryan’s defense and the Bears offense. Battles that actually turned into riotous fights. Ryan refused to let up, leaving Ditka screaming “I don’t see the Chicago Bears on our schedule!” You’ll learn of a head case known as Jim McMahon who despite his lifelong problem with authority figures… earned Ditka’s respect by playing through injuries that would probably put a whole team on the disabled list. McMahon also won the respect of his teammates along with his coaches not only with his courage… but his almost photographic memory regarding every aspect of the mental part of the game… despite his enormous “quirks”!
Readers will also learn how the entire *REFRIGERATOR-PERRY-PHENOMENA* got started from day one. And once again the Ryan-Ditka feud was involved in that as well. Every game of the season is reviewed with a final “BOTTOM LINE”… “KEY PLAY”… and “KEY STAT”. There is nothing grander than countless quotes… right from the chest… heart… and soul of Ditka. But a close second in this superb commemorative are the *REMEMBERING ‘85* double pages interspersed throughout the book. Each *REMEMBERING ‘85* is dedicated to an individual player such as… Jim McMahon… Ron Rivera… David Duerson… Dan Hampton… William Perry… Emery Moorehead… Richard Dent… Willie Gault… and many more. These two page retrospectives are a conglomeration of bullet-quotes that span a player’s lifetime… not just the championship season… and they’re priceless.
And through it all… the most valuable gold of all are quotes reinforcing why Ditka is Ditka… and you (I) gotta love him whether the Bears are your favorite team or not.
As an example: “WE HAD MIKE SINGLETARY IN THE MIDDLE ON DEFENSE, A GUY THEY’D TELL YOU NOW WAS TOO SMALL TO PLAY OR SOME DAMN THING. RIGHT. BECAUSE THEY DON’T MEASURE YOUR FRICKING HEART! AND, OF COURSE, WE HAD WALTER PAYTON IN THE MIDDLE ON OFFENSE. HE IS TO THIS DAY THE GREATEST FOOTBALL PLAYER I’VE EVER SEEN. NOT THE BIGGEST. NOT THE FASTEST. NOT THE ANYTHING. JUST THE BEST PLAYER WHO EVER PLAYED.”
And then of course there was the time a carpenter was working on a roof near the Bears practice field and he yelled something at Ditka… “SOMETHING ABOUT HOW STUPID IT WAS TO TRADE AWAY SAFETY DAVE DUERSON.” … “THERE WAS MUFFLED YELLING, AND THEN THE CARPENTER CAME SWINGING DOWN FAST FROM HIS PERCH, LOOKING TERRIFIED. WHAT HAPPENED?”…
“DITKA YELLED AT ME,” he said, pale as drywall.
“WHAT DID HE YELL?”
“USE YOUR HAMMER, NOT YOUR MOUTH, JACKAS-!”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Chicago Bears are not my favorite team, and I’m not from Chicago… but what true old-school football fan doesn’t love Mike Ditka? The player… the coach… the TV analyst? If my team isn’t involved of course I love to see **DA-BEARS** win. Just like in baseball, if my team isn’t involved who in their right mind wouldn’t nostalgically want the “Cubbies” to win? So, mainly for my love of Ditka I ordered this book commemorating the 25th anniversary of the 1985 Chicago Bears Super Bowl Champions. When I ordered this “book” I was expecting to receive a true, real… book. I must admit when I opened the package from Amazon I was very disappointed to find that instead of a true “meaty”… “real” book… I received what I would more aptly describe as a hard cover super charged “yearbook”. As I started to read this “super-yearbook”, my disappointment disappeared as I was engulfed with Coach Ditka’s no- holds-barred… straight from the heart… insiders look of everything that led up to the dazzling victorious run of the 1985 Super Bowl Champions… **DA-BEARS!!**.
From the crushing loss to the 49ers in the 1984 NFC Championship Game that in a way was the final catalyst and motivation for the historical season that followed… to Ditka’s flashback’s to his playing days… not only with the Bears but with the Cowboy’s and his personal letter to the “old man”… Papa Bear himself… George Halas… while Ditka was a lowly assistant coach with the Cowboys he wrote a letter to Mr. Halas telling him that he was not ready to coach the Bears yet, but one day he would be, and he would hire him as the Bears coach… and he did! Ditka had such pride in being a Bear and said: “I ALWAYS FELT LIKE I WAS DEFENDING THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF THE FRANCHISE.”… “ALL I WANTED TO DO WAS MAKE *THE OLD MAN* PROUD. MAKE MYSELF PROUD. NOT MAKE NEW MAN McCASKEY PROUD.”
It’s all bared on these pages. The constant clashing between Bears defensive coach Buddy Ryan who openly felt he should have had the head coaching job instead of Ditka… and Ditka, who against his wishes, had to have Ryan remain as coach when he took over. Ditka takes you inside the trenches during brutal practices as well as games. The battles every day between Ryan’s defense and the Bears offense. Battles that actually turned into riotous fights. Ryan refused to let up, leaving Ditka screaming “I don’t see the Chicago Bears on our schedule!” You’ll learn of a head case known as Jim McMahon who despite his lifelong problem with authority figures… earned Ditka’s respect by playing through injuries that would probably put a whole team on the disabled list. McMahon also won the respect of his teammates along with his coaches not only with his courage… but his almost photographic memory regarding every aspect of the mental part of the game… despite his enormous “quirks”!
Readers will also learn how the entire *REFRIGERATOR-PERRY-PHENOMENA* got started from day one. And once again the Ryan-Ditka feud was involved in that as well. Every game of the season is reviewed with a final “BOTTOM LINE”… “KEY PLAY”… and “KEY STAT”. There is nothing grander than countless quotes… right from the chest… heart… and soul of Ditka. But a close second in this superb commemorative are the *REMEMBERING ‘85* double pages interspersed throughout the book. Each *REMEMBERING ‘85* is dedicated to an individual player such as… Jim McMahon… Ron Rivera… David Duerson… Dan Hampton… William Perry… Emery Moorehead… Richard Dent… Willie Gault… and many more. These two page retrospectives are a conglomeration of bullet-quotes that span a player’s lifetime… not just the championship season… and they’re priceless.
And through it all… the most valuable gold of all are quotes reinforcing why Ditka is Ditka… and you (I) gotta love him whether the Bears are your favorite team or not.
As an example: “WE HAD MIKE SINGLETARY IN THE MIDDLE ON DEFENSE, A GUY THEY’D TELL YOU NOW WAS TOO SMALL TO PLAY OR SOME DAMN THING. RIGHT. BECAUSE THEY DON’T MEASURE YOUR FRICKING HEART! AND, OF COURSE, WE HAD WALTER PAYTON IN THE MIDDLE ON OFFENSE. HE IS TO THIS DAY THE GREATEST FOOTBALL PLAYER I’VE EVER SEEN. NOT THE BIGGEST. NOT THE FASTEST. NOT THE ANYTHING. JUST THE BEST PLAYER WHO EVER PLAYED.”
And then of course there was the time a carpenter was working on a roof near the Bears practice field and he yelled something at Ditka… “SOMETHING ABOUT HOW STUPID IT WAS TO TRADE AWAY SAFETY DAVE DUERSON.” … “THERE WAS MUFFLED YELLING, AND THEN THE CARPENTER CAME SWINGING DOWN FAST FROM HIS PERCH, LOOKING TERRIFIED. WHAT HAPPENED?”…
“DITKA YELLED AT ME,” he said, pale as drywall.
“WHAT DID HE YELL?”
“USE YOUR HAMMER, NOT YOUR MOUTH, JACKAS-!”
September 11, 2024
Reading almost 40 years later, not sure there's much I didn't know at this point, but a fun trip down memory lane and to re-live part of that magical season.
January 11, 2011
Da Bears - this was their year in history as they conquered the league and won the super bowl. It was a team where the defense won it all with a little help from the offense. All the right people were brought together at one point in history and the magic just happened.
It was the year of the Super Bowl Shuffle and a cockiness and swagger that could not be stopped. They lost only one game but that just made them more determined.
I enjoyed reliving that year and found the book to be entertaining as well as historical. Hats off to Ditka and the Bears for that great year.
It was the year of the Super Bowl Shuffle and a cockiness and swagger that could not be stopped. They lost only one game but that just made them more determined.
I enjoyed reliving that year and found the book to be entertaining as well as historical. Hats off to Ditka and the Bears for that great year.
August 13, 2012
Only for true fans, but for them, you have to hear it right from Da Coach. Ditka doesn't disappoint because he rarely softens his works.
The team was the finest Bears squad since I began watching and the text and graphics help make the point of individual talents melded into a team focus.
The team was the finest Bears squad since I began watching and the text and graphics help make the point of individual talents melded into a team focus.
January 27, 2015
46
It's what you want to read, as a Bears Fan! Not as insightful as it could of been but close enough!
It's what you want to read, as a Bears Fan! Not as insightful as it could of been but close enough!
February 25, 2018
It was intersetsting and sometimes very funny with people like coaches Ron Rivera and Mike Singletary talking about their expirences and other player like Lezlie Frazier and Richard Dent, William Perry, Dave Duerson, punk qb and others
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews