Some critics would say that the best defense for a football team is offense. Others would say that the best offense for a team is defense. Personally, I would say that you absolutely need both to have a championship team. For the sake of this article, I’ll go into depth about the Bears’ offense. I’ll go over the different strategies, players, and opinions that make or break the Bears’ offense. The Bears have always had a history of being a defensive team, but have only made it to the super when their offense has been suburban. Let’s take a look at the 1984-85 Bears.

It was the Bears’ 66th regular season and 16th postseason that led them to a championship. The Bears defeated the last three postseason opponents by a combined score of 91-10. That is truly an unparalleled margin of victory. This is the largest deficit by any team in NFL history, but why did they win by so much? It was thanks to players like middle linebacker Mike Singletary, who was named defensive player of the year, and Walter Payton, who won NFC Offensive Player of the Years. Not to mention one of the most renowned coaches in the NFL, Mike Ditka. They had it all. I think the main reason the bears were so successful was because they finally had an offense to support their defense. First I would like to talk about Walter Payton

Walter Payton was nicknamed sweetie due to his ability to run the ball with such ease. He was a professional nine bowler and once held the NFL records for rushing yards, touchdowns, carries, yards from scrimmage, multi-purpose yards and many other categories. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993. It goes without saying that Walter Payton was one of the greatest football players of all time. Like I said before, the Bears have always had a history of being a defensive team, but with Walter Payton on the sidelines they quickly became one of the best offensive teams that year. I see a lot of him in our new star Matt Forte.

In recent history, Matt Forte has been the crutch of the Bears’ offense. With his 205 rushing game against the Panthers in Week 4 (2012 season), he joined the greats including Walter Payton and Gale Sayers to be the only running backs to rush for over 200 yards in a game. He has proven his value to the organization week after week for the past two years and I’m sure there will be more to come. That said, Forte isn’t the only offensive production bassists have been getting recently.

Jay Cutler has been leading the Bears’ offense for the past two years. He was selected in the first round of the draft (11th pick) out of Vanderbilt by Denver. He played there for 3 years and came to the Bears with a record of over 500. He had never seen a playoff game until last season when the Bears reached the NFC championship game against the Green Bay Packers. We ended up losing that game, but it was still a great sign of great things to come. It especially has to be tough for Cutler because, other than Forte, he doesn’t have the best supporting cast. Cutler was sacked 52 times last year, the most of any in the 2011 season. He was sacked more times that season than his entire 3 years in Denver. Even with those numbers, he can still produce great games. In week 1 of the 2012 season, Cutler passed for 312 yards and 2 touchdowns to give him an excellent quarterback rating of 107.8. Seeing this just shows that he has the potential to be the next big bears quarterback next to greats like Jim McMahon who was in the 85 bears. With all those great numbers he’s produced, there are still signs that nothing clicks on offense. His offensive line has been struggling to keep up with defenses for a while.

The Bears’ offensive line is not only struggling, but they also lost a key starter in Week 2 against the New Orleans Saints. Bears starting right tackle Gabe Carimi (6’7), a rookie from Wisconsin, was injured sometime in the second half of the game. The Bears just signed this gargantuan man hoping he would provide some great protection only for him to get hurt in Week 2. Carimi has a subluxation, which is a partial dislocation of the kneecap. This is a less serious injury than expected, but it will take him some time to heal. It’s too early to tell if he’ll be back this season. I also know that with football comes injuries, so some players on the Bears’ roster are almost expected to be on injury reserve.

I have to say that the best asset to the Bears organization in the last decade has been Devin Hester. Devin Hester just extended his NFL record for combined kick and punt returns to 15. This record will stand for many years to come. He’s been one of the Bears’ biggest offensive threats since Walter Payton and he’s doing it on special teams.

The real purpose of this article is to try to compare the Bears’ ’85 offense to today’s offense. To be honest, the current Bears just don’t have the same tools as the 85 Bears. Matt Forte is good, but he doesn’t look like the great Walter Payton. Jay Cutler has a lot of potential, but he didn’t run a team like Jim McMahon would. Carimi’s injury also slows the Bears’ success. So offensively, the Bears have a lot of work to do before they become a Super Bowl team again, but I feel like it’s only a matter of time before we see the Lombardi trophy in Chicago.