Thank goodness we all have Terrence Moore to spend 688 words telling us that the 2006 Bears aren't as good as the 1985 Bears. A real controversial statement. And even more shockingly, Richard Dent, a member of the '85 Bears, agrees with that opinion. Way to find an impartial source for your totally obvious statement.
What's the bet, by the way, that when the Bears get together to have beers, they vent to one another about how they're sick and tired of hearing about the '85 Bears. I know of few fan bases that obsess about one team the way that Bears fans do about their one Super Bowl champion. I'll admit that my knowledge on the subject is somewhat imperfect, given that I live 800 miles from the Sovereign Kingdom of Chicagoland, but that's my sense. Maybe Bears fans obsess about the '85 Bears because that collection only won one Super Bowl, but doesn't that sorta imply that the '85 Bears weren't as good as the '89 49ers, '78 Steelers, or '92 Cowboys, the three other teams that are typically considered for the title of "best ever?" (I should probably also mention the '72 Dolphins, but they played the weakest schedule of any of the 80 Super Bowl teams in NFL history. If I'm going to mock Richard Dent and Bears fans for being stuck in the past, then I can't exactly mention the '72 Dolphins without pointing out that they're totally obnoxious about the fact that no team has gone unbeaten since they did it. They probably don't want another team to go unbeaten because that will lead to a comparison between the two teams and then someone might mention that the '72 Dolphins' opponents' had a .367 winning percentage.) Anyway, to get back to the original point, the obsession of Bears fans about their '85 team is, in a roundabout way, an indictment of that team's place in history as compared to the other elite Super Bowl champions. 49ers, Steelers, and Cowboys fans can't focus on one team because they've five Super Bowls apiece; Bears fans spoil their one champion like an only child.
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As a representative of the Sovereign Kingdom of Chicagoland (and loyal servant of his majesty, Richard M. Daley), I can confirm that if you got any of the current Bears in private, they would tell you how sick they are of hearing about and being compared to the '85 Bears. The sad thing is that even a Bears win Sunday won't do much to diminish the infatuation with the '85 team.
I think the obsession is for a combination of factors: 1) despite being a storied franchise, they were making their first Super Bowl appearance after a long championship drought in a big football city, 2) they had arguably the best defense ever in a town that loves defense, 3) they had personality, and 4) they didn't make it back for another 21 years, so their iconic status only continued to grow.
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