1985 Bears Coverage: Roster begins to take shape

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.

—

Roster begins to take shape

Herb Gould

Originally published Aug. 29, 1985

Richard Dent suffered a strained right hamstring in practice yesterday, but trainer Fred Caito said he expected Dent to be available for Saturday’s pre-season wrapup with Buffalo.

TE Tim Wrightman practiced and said his sore left knee posed no problem. Wrightman injured the knee early in the second half against Dallas and continued to play. It was his right knee that sidelined him in the USFL.

WR Dennis McKinnon gave his rehabilitating knee a full workout in practice yesterday and pronounced it a success. “I’m a little out of shape, but that’s to be expected,” McKinnon said. “But I cut hard on it and had no pain. That was the main concern.” McKinnon said he hoped to play at least a half Saturday to work himself back into shape.

Defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan remains icy toward the Fridge. Although William “The Refrigerator” Perry showed some thundering pursuit of Cowboy QB Gary Hogeboom, Ryan said, “He’s still got a long way to go. They ran a screen, but nobody blocked him. So he ran and caught him.”

Asked if he had any regrets, OG Joe Spivak, a longshot who was cut Monday, said, “How could I? I was a Bear for the summer.” The team already has invited Spivak back to training camp next year.

General manager Jerry Vainisi reported no progress in efforts to sign holdouts Al Harris and Todd Bell and remained pessimistic about their return. “As far as we’re concerned, they’re behind us,” Vainisi said.