The 1985 Chicago Bears came off their 1984 run to the NFC Championship Game knowing they needed to keep quarterback Jim McMahon mostly healthy. They not only did that, but their already great defense rose to new levels of dominance and the Bears absolutely owned the 1985 NFL season from start to finish
The Chicago Bears had spent the better part of the Super Bowl era being irrelevant, at least when the early 1980s dawned. Other than a playoff appearance and quick exit in 1977, the Bears had never even been on the national radar. The organization shook things up prior to the 1982 season by hiring one of its legends, Hall of Fame tight end Mike Ditka, to be the head coach.
Ditka went 3-6 in the strike-shortened year of 1982, but improved to 8-8 in 1983 and finished that year off with a win over the Green Bay Packers that kept the Bears’ archrivals out of the playoffs. The 1984 Chicago Bears were the team that took the next step, and put their franchise back into the postseason.