NFL Old School Game of the Week: McMahon Comes Off Bench To Lead '85 Bears To Win over Minnesota

Jim McMahon came off the bench to lead the Bears to a comeback victory over the Minnesota Vikings during the third game of their 1985 Super Bowl championship season.

The 1985 Chicago Bears are considered by some NFL experts and fans as the greatest team of all time thanks to their dominating defense which allowed only 198 points in the regular season and posted two shutouts in the postseason as Chicago went on to finish the season as Super Bowl Champions with a 18-1 record.

But the Bears also had a strong offense that scored 456 points that season, #2 in scoring, which was led by then all-time NFL career rushing yards leader Walter Payton and quarterback Jim McMahon at the helm.

The "punky QB" made his mark in Bears lore in Chicago's third game of the season when he come off the bench to lead the Bears to a win over their division rivals, the Minnesota Vikings.

The Bears entered the game with a 2-0 record having defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the New England Patriots(who they would beat in Super Bowl XX).

But following the win over the Patriots, McMahon spent two nights at Lake Forest Hospital in Chicago because of neck spasms and then got an infection in his right leg.

With the game being played on a Thursday night and the fact that he had not practiced, Bears head coach Mike Ditka decided to name Steve Fuller as the starter for the game in Minnesota, despite the wishes of McMahon to play.

Fuller and the Bears entered the Metrodome to face off with the Vikings, who also entered the game with a 2-0 record, one win away from matching their win total from the year before.

Legendary head coach Bud Grant, who had lead the Vikings to four Super Bowl appearances, had returned to the sidelines after a one-year retirement and with gunslinger Tommy Kramer at quarterback, the Vikings hoped to knock off the Bears in a nationally televised Thursday night NFC Central showdown.

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Tommy Kramer's 436 passing yards and three touchdown passes were not enough for the Vikings to knock off the Bears

After both teams punted on their opening possessions of the game, the Bears defense forced a turnover when cornerback(and future Minnesota Vikings head coach)Leslie Frazier picked off a Kramer pass and returned the interception eight yards to the Vikings' 38-yard-line.

From there, Fuller connected with Willie Gault on a pair of 12-yard passes to give Chicago a 1st-and-goal at the Minnesota eight-yard-line.

But the Bears were unable to get in the end zone as Vikings linebacker Scott Studwell and defensive end Neil Elshire dropped Payton for a three-yard-loss on 3rd-and-goal from the four-yard-line, setting up a 24-yard field goal by Kevin Butler that put Chicago on the scoreboard first as they grabbed a 3-0 lead with 6:24 left in the opening quarter.

The Vikings responded with a 10-play, 61-yard drive that had Kramer complete five of six passes for 55 yards, with three of those completions going to Mike Jones for 34 yards, which ended with Jan Stenerud kicking a 25-yard field goal to tie the game with 11 seconds left in the first quarter.

Early in the second quarter, the Bears drove to the Vikings' 14-yard-line with a scoring opportunity until Fuller was sacked by Minnesota defensive end Mark Mullaney, forcing a 3rd-and-20 where Fuller threw a desperation pass into the end zone that was intercepted by cornerback Carl Lee, giving the Vikings the ball at their 20-yard-line

However, the Bears defense forced the Vikings to attempt a punt, only to have punter Greg Coleman drop the snap which was recovered by Chicago's Shaun Gayle, giving the Bears the ball at the Minnesota 22-yard-line.

The running of Payton had the Bears on the doorstep of the game's first touchdown until he was stopped on 3rd-and-goal from the one-yard-line, leading to another Butler field goal, this one from 19 yards out, giving Chicago the lead again at 6-3 with 3:25 left in the first half.

The Vikings got the ball back at their 37-yard-line and proceeded to drive to the Bears' 14-yard-line, thanks to Kramer who completed three of five passes for 47 yards, with two of those completions going to Carter for 31 yards.

Then, Kramer connected with Carter for the third time on the drive, this time for a 14-yard touchdown as the quarterback eluded the rush of defensive tackle Dan Hampton to find Carter in the end zone to give the Vikings their first lead of the game at 10-6 with 47 seconds left before halftime.

Despite going 13 of 18 for 124 yards, Bears quarterback Steve Fuller would be replaced by Jim McMahon in the third quarter.

The Bears ran out the clock to end the first half trailing 10-6 but would receive the second half kickoff, which Gault returned 39 yards to the Chicago 43-yard-line, giving Fuller and the Bears offense great field position to start the second half.

Gault struck again on the first play from scrimmage as his 21-yard reception put Chicago at the Minnesota 36-yard-line, which was followed by a 11-yard run by fullback Matt Suhey for another 1st down at the Vikings' 25-yard-line.

However, the Vikings defense rose up again and forced the Bears to settle for another Butler field goal, this one from 34 yards out, which cut the Minnesota lead to 10-9 with 11:30 left in the third quarter.

The Vikings took over at their 34-yard-line where Kramer, who completed 12 of 21 passes for 143 yards in the first half, continued his hot streak as a 33-yard pass to Buster Rhymes on 3rd-and-9 from the Minnesota 45-yard-line, help lead to Kramer's second touchdown pass of the game, a nine-yarder to Jones on a crossing pattern, to end the 10-play, 66-yard drive and increase the Vikings' lead to 17-9 with 7:32 remaining in the third quarter.

After Gault returned the ensuing kickoff to the Chicago 30-yard-line, McMahon joined the Bears offense on the field after pestering Ditka the entire game to be put in.

Things looked ominous for McMahon and the Bears, when he stumbled after taking the snap on the first play from scrimmage.

However, McMahon was able to stay up and thanks to a block from Payton on a blitzing Dennis Johnson, to give just enough time to launch a deep pass for Gault, who made the catch at the Vikings' 30-yard-line, and then outran the rest of the Minnesota defense for a shocking 70-yard touchdown that brought the Bears to within one point, 17-16 with 7:13 left in the third quarter(double-click to play).

Following the Bears' shocking touchdown, the Chicago defense came up with another turnover as linebacker Wilbur Marshall picked off Kramer and returned the interception 14 yards to give McMahon and the Bears the ball at the Minnesota 25-yard-line.

From there, McMahon took the snap, scrambled to his right and found Dennis McKinnon in between two Viking defenders for a 25-yard touchdown as the Bears took a 23-17 lead with 5:25 left in the third quarter as McMahon had thrown two touchdown passes on his first two passes of the game.

Then after forcing the Vikings to punt, the Bears got the ball at their 32-yard-line where McMahon tried to make it three-for-three on touchdown passes only to have Gault drop the pass at around the Minnesota 25-yard-line.

Despite Gault's drop, McMahon's hot streak continued as hit a pair of 14-yard passes, one to Gault and the other to Ken Margerum to set up his 43-yard touchdown pass to McKinnon, to help increase the Bears' lead to 30-17 with 35 seconds left in the third quarter.

In all, McMahon completed five of seven passes for 166 yards and threw three touchdown passes in the third quarter alone.

As the fourth quarter began, the Vikings drove to the Bears 30-yard-line where they attempted a 47-yard field goal by Mike Richardson, only to have the snap go over the head of the holder as he recovered it at the Minnesota 44-yard-line, but giving the ball back to the Bears with a chance to put the game away.

A 20-yard pass to McKinnon help set up a 34-yard field goal attempt to make it a three-score game, but Butler could not connect and the Vikings still had hope as they took over at their 20-yard-line with about 10 minutes to play.

After a 23-yard pass to tight end Steve Jordan, Kramer fired a bomb for Carter who made the catch and then sprinted for the 57-yard touchdown to bring Minnesota back to within a touchdown at 30-24 with 9:19 left in the game.

The Bears took over at their 20-yard-line when McMahon struck again as he connected with McKinnon for a 46-yard completion on the first play from scrimmage to put Chicago at the Vikings' 34-yard-line.

McMahon would his legs to scramble for 18 yards to set up Butler's 31-yard field goal which helped increase the Chicago lead to 33-24 with 5:35 left in the game.

Jim McMahon celebrates with Dennis McKinnon after one of their two touchdown connections in the third quarter.

The Bears defense then slammed the door shut on a Minnesota miracle as they forced two turnovers, with linebacker Ron Rivera forcing a fumble that was recovered by Marshall just 29 seconds after Butler's field goal and then linebacker Otis Wilson intercepting Kramer with 46 seconds to go, preserving the Bears 33-24 victory as McMahon finished with 236 yards on 8-of-16 passes and three touchdown passes in relief of Fuller.

The Vikings would go through a up-and-down season as they finished with a 7-9 record as Grant would retire for good following the season and be replaced by defensive coordinator Jerry Burns, who would coach the team for the next six seasons while Kramer would remain with the Vikings until after the 1989 season.

As for the Bears, we all know they would go on to dominate the rest of the season and win the Super Bowl thanks to their dominating defense and McMahon who started the majority of the games as the starting quarterback.

But McMahon had a hard time staying healthy as he played in only 25 games over the next three seasons leading to the Bears trading him to San Diego after the 1988 season.

McMahon would bounce around the league for the next eight seasons playing for five different teams, including the Minnesota Vikings as he went 8-4 as their starting quarterback in leading them to the playoffs in 1993, until retiring following the 1996 season, earning a second Super Bowl ring as he backed up Brett Favre in Green Bay.

Still, McMahon's heroics in the game against the Vikings in 1985 are remembered fondly as many Bears fans consider it to be the most memorable moment of the Bears' legendary 1985 season.