[CBFF] Miami Herald: Party like it's 1985?

[Steve Behrens]

DOLPHINS | UPSET OF BEARS, 21 YEARS LATER Party like it's 1985? Miami again
will face a Bears team threatening to go unbeaten. But unlike 1985, this
year's game is on the road and the Dolphins are 1-6. By ARMANDO SALGUERO
asalguero at MiamiHerald.com [image: CATCH ME IF YOU CAN: Receiver Mark Clayton
eludes Bears cornerback Mike Richardson during Miami's 1985 victory.]
MIAIM HERALD FILE PHOTO
*CATCH ME IF YOU CAN:* Receiver Mark Clayton eludes Bears cornerback Mike
Richardson during Miami's 1985 victory.

   - *Greg Cote* | Dolphins are on the
clock<http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/football/15881750.htm>
   - *DOLPHINS CENTRAL* | Take a trivia quiz on this week's opponents,
   the Bears<javascript:void(x=open('http://www.miami.com/multimedia/miami/sports/archive/dolphins/2006/dolphins_central.htm','graphic','toolbar=no,location=no,status=no,menubar=no,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,width=800,height=700'));x.focus();>

Twenty-one years have passed since that magical night at the Orange Bowl
when the undefeated, and seemingly unbeatable, Chicago Bears were knocked
off the road to NFL history by Don Shula's Dolphins.

Today's Dolphins have a similar opportunity.

Those long-ago Dolphins beat the Bears 38-24 on Dec. 2, 1985, and that was
the lone loss Chicago suffered before winning the Super Bowl and finishing
18-1. Nick Saban's Dolphins travel to Soldier Field on Sunday hoping to end
the 7-0 Bears' run to an undefeated season.

The difference is yesteryear's Dolphins felt a kinship to the team's past
and its legacy as the NFL's only undefeated franchise. Today's Dolphins feel
more a desperation to win for their own sakes.

''I don't think I've been around long enough to get a feel for that
[history],'' said quarterback Joey Harrington, who is expected to start his
fourth consecutive game Sunday as Daunte Culpepper's replacement.

``I know you're talking about the '72 team. But that's not really what's on
our minds. We just want to get a win. That's first and foremost in my
mind.''

But Sunday's game will nonetheless conjure nostalgia for the '85 game.
Players of that era still remember the game fondly. Shula's voice perks with
pride when discussing the victory.

It was one of the franchise's finest hours, and thinking about that seems
much more fun than thinking of today's 1-6 team.

''It was the best first half of football I've ever been around,'' said
Shula, who coached 526 first-halves in his 33-year career. ``It was so
dynamic.

``When I got to the stadium that night, three hours before kickoff, the fans
were already in the stands buzzing with excitement and anticipation. We had
the former players on the sideline supporting us. It was such a very special
night. And the way we played that first half was just unbelievable
execution.''

*A FORMIDABLE TEAM*

It was unbelievable because the '85 Bears were 12-0 and had so dominated
opponents, no one complained when they filmed a Super Bowl music video
before the regular season was over.

''I think everybody understood the challenge of playing them, they were a
great team,'' former Dolphins receiver Nat Moore said. ``But everybody was
treating us like we were chopped liver. We had one of the best offenses in
the NFL and one year before we had broken a lot of records and gone to the
Super Bowl.

``We could do a lot of things to other teams that they had no answer for.''

And those Bears had no answer. The Dolphins scored 31 first-half points in
dominating Chicago's 46 defense, the same unit that yielded only 29 points
in the six previous games and allowed the lowest total in the NFL that
season.

''We just had the confidence that we had the personnel and we were going to
be able to do things against them that they were going to have trouble
with,'' Shula said. ``That was our game plan the whole week, to spread them
out and make them cover, knowing that Dan Marino had the quick release and
knew what to do with the football.

``We knew we were going to cause a lot of problems for them.''

So many problems that coach Mike Ditka and defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan
got into a shouting match on the sideline at halftime.

''We felt we could put 50 on the board against them given the opportunity,''
said Moore, who spent the night lining up everywhere, including at tight
end.

And throughout the evening, a dozen or so members of the 1972 team prowled
the Miami sideline, cheering the players, encouraging them to keep the Bears
from going undefeated and posting a record superior to their 17-0 mark.

''It was mostly the fact they showed up and they wanted to help any way they
could that was important,'' Shula said. ``That tremendous loyalty they had
and the confidence in our football team to be down on the sideline and feel
we could do it was great.''

There likely won't be any 1972 Dolphins traveling to Chicago on Sunday. But
Shula, for one, hopes today's Dolphins will carry with them the same
confidence his team had.

''I think the disappointment [about today's team] is that after winning the
six in a row last year and the feeling that would be a good kickoff for this
year, it hasn't happened,'' Shula said.

``They just haven't been able to make plays in critical parts of ballgames
to win. I think the best thing they could do is forget about what's happened
the first part of this season and move on from here -- because you can't
change the score of what's already happened.''

*CONFIDENT BUNCH*

Today's players promise they will enter the Chicago game confident and
believing they can win despite being underdogs.

''Definitely,'' linebacker Zach Thomas said. ``You see around the league
that there's not but a couple of teams that are undefeated. Everybody's
beatable. You look at Oakland last week. They won.

``We just have to find that something that Chicago has and make plays when
we need it. They have a good team so we definitely have to play our best
game. We can do it.''

Whether they do it now, after the bye weekend, after a dismal start to the
season, is how Saban and these Dolphins will ultimately be judged.

''It goes by what happens from here on in,'' Shula said when asked about
Saban's job performance. ``Last year he showed he could come in and take a
team and turn things around and win and get it headed in the right
direction.

``This year so far it's been a disappointment. But there's nothing you can
do about what's already happened this year except to learn from the mistakes
that have been made and turn the rest of the year into a positive. Win the
games.''