Every day of the 2015 Chicago Bears season, Chicago Sun-Times Sports will revisit its coverage 30 years ago during the 1985 Bears’ run to a Super Bowl title.
Bears’ first playoff foe: Giants, 49ers or Redskins
Kevin Lamb
Originally published Dec. 16, 1985
The Bears’ potential opponents for their first playoff game dwindled to the New York Giants, San Francisco 49ers and Washington Redskins yesterday.
Two of them will be the NFC wild-card teams.
But the Redskins won’t be one unless they win at St. Louis Saturday and the Giants or 49ers lose. The Giants will be the home team for the wild-card game Dec. 29 if they beat Pittsburgh at home Saturday. The 49ers play Dallas at home Sunday.
The Bears’ first playoff game probably will be the early one – 11:30 a.m. or noon – Jan. 5. If they win, they’ll play at home the next Sunday.
The Cowboys and Rams already know they’ll open the playoffs against each other in three weeks – at Los Angeles, unless the Cowboys beat the 49ers and the Rams lose to the Raiders a week from tonight.
The Rams-Raiders game has other significance for the Bears. The Raiders’ Marcus Allen will be trying to tie Walter Payton’s record of nine straight 100-yard rushing games. The Rams’ defense ranked fourth against the rush through 14 weeks.
The Bears’ 1986 schedule also is falling into place. Besides their division games, their opponents at home will be the Philadelphia Eagles, the Rams and the AFC Central teams that finish first (probably Cleveland) and third (Pittsburgh or Cincinnati). They’ll travel to Dallas, Atlanta, Houston and Cincinnati or Pittsburgh.
