Phinsider Hump Day Flashback and Live Thread

Second up in our flashback series is the one game that most people seem to point back to as their favorite or most memorable game as a Miami Dolphins fan. That is if you are not so old that you remember watching them win a Super Bowl which would understandably be the highlight of your fandom or too young to remember anything from 1985...if you were even alive then. Good lord some of us are getting old!

Anyway, as most of you have probably guessed the game we are talking about is the 1985 Miami Dolphins game hosting the Chicago Bears. The Bears were set to arrive in Miami with their 12 and 0 record and one of if not the best defenses in NFL history. It literally seemed that even a Dan Marino led Dolphins offense was no match for the dominating Bears D. The Bears, according to all of the talking heads were headed straight towards becoming the second team to go undefeated behind only the Miami Dolphins.

I can still remember the game vividly. It was a Monday Night game and at 15 I would probably not been allowed to stay up and watch the whole game without much protest but fortunately or maybe not, I was home still recovering from a bad case of Pneumonia that had seen me in the hospital for two weeks. I just remember the pregame and all the focus on the Dolphins and stopping the Bears from taking a share of their undefeated record away from them. Somehow when you saw the Dolphins come out as confident as ever and all of the ex players from the 72 squad that showed up to stand along the sidelines you just had a feeling that this was Miami’s night, and boy did it wind up that way in the end.

Everything seemed to go Miami’s way in that game jumping out to a quick lead over the Bears. There was even a pass that was tipped at the line, that would have normally wound up in the hands of a defender or just hitting the ground as in incomplete pass but not this night, this night that tipped ball fell right in to the hands of Mark Clayton, as if preordained, who was just standing there all alone giving him one of the easiest touchdowns you will ever see.

Not only did the victory give Dolphins fans something to cheer about but the Bears were led by legendary coach Buddy Ryan. For those of you who are not aware or remember Ryan’s time as a head coach but this loss could not have happened to a more deserving guy. Buddy Ryan at one point literally accused both Don Shula and Tom Landry of cheating. This seems inconceivable as an accusation given every and anything that we know about those two men but Buddy Ryan was not one that seemed to care about making friends or even coming off as a decent person. Long Story short, the Dolphins jumped out to a 31 to 10 half time lead to eventually win 38-24 but the game was not that close.

The Bears went on to rip off 6 more wins in a row on the way to becoming that seasons Super Bowl Champions but Miami did what it had to do if for only one night to protect a huge part of their legacy.