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1985.

Remembering ’85
GARY FENCIK
No. 45, safety
    “D itka said that if we ever won the Super Bowl, people would remember you forever. I guess we’re in the forever stage.”

    “I remember the first time we met Mike in an off-season camp in Phoenix. He basically told us for the first time—and this was my third head coach with the Bears—that our goal wasn’t just to get to the Super Bowl, but it was to win it. But he said that ‘half of you won’t be there when we get there.’ If you look at the roster, there was a two-thirds turnover from the time he gave that speech to the time we won it.”

    “I give Mike a lot of credit because who today would come in as a head coach inheriting a defensive coordinator who was hired by the president/founder of the club? That was a delicate situation. I don’t think Buddy [Ryan] did anything to make that easier.”

    “I’m a huge fan of Buddy’s. It was an honor to play in that defense.”

    “People always talk about how coaches discipline teams. Great teams discipline themselves.”

    “Walter Payton was such a leader that if you had people who came in and thought they were the next big thing, not that Walter said anything, but just by the way he conducted himself, I think he humbled you into appreciating what he did.”

    “I think of the great moments being beating Dallas 44–0, which for me was the first time that I had ever beaten the Cowboys in any preseason, regular season, or postseason game. I was in my 10th year.”

    “I felt pretty good coming off the field after New England’s first field goal in Super Bowl XX, but there was something up on the scoreboard that basically said that 19 out of 20 teams that score first win. And I went from feeling pretty good to feeling like a Chicagoan. Growing up in Chicago, you can remember every good moment in sports because there have been so few.”

    “My dad was a basketball coach. I loved hoops. My mom attended all of my sporting events for myself and all of my brothers and sisters and knitted. So we had a lot of knitted sweaters when we were growing up.”

    “My dad was an assistant principal of a high school, so I think that probably speaks for itself what the academic expectations were. I knew I wanted to enjoy football, but I was looking for something bigger, and Yale is a pretty impressive place when you visit it.”

    “I’m really glad I went to business school at Northwestern. My first two classes were accounting and statistics, and we’re coming back from beating the Raiders, and I’m studying for a final the next day, and everybody else is drinking beer and playing cards. I’m like, ‘Why did I start business school during the football season?’”

    “A lot of people still continue to confuse Doug Plank and me. I had someone call me Doug Fencik. I don’t even shake my head anymore. I just recognize the compliment.”

    “Best piece of advice I ever got was: Make sure the door you go into has two doors going out.”



chapter IV
No Saints Here
    As the 1985 season approached, the Bears were evolving into a team with as much personality as football talent. It was a good thing Platteville was far away from major civilization, because there was a sense that Ditka’s odd crew might not have withstood close scrutiny from discreet society or perhaps even the law.
    Second Street was the name of the Platteville lane with the bars frequented by the Bears after hours. Players could do almost anything, according to Ditka rule, as long as they didn’t get arrested or hurt. Pranks and acting crazy were fine, as long as nobody blew out a knee, ripped a hammy, broke a bone. There is a photo taken during spring practice before the team left for Platteville, and it shows the dynamic backfield tandem of fullback Matt Suhey and tailback Walter Payton getting set before a play. The interesting part is that Payton has the startled Suhey’s gym shorts waistband in his hand, pulling it down low and back like a