Lessons From Da 1985 Chicago Bears

In 1985, the Chicago Bears were the toast of the town. Built on a foundation of ferocious defense and a quick-strike offense, the Bears went 15–1 during the regular season on their way to a dominant 46–10 victory in Super Bowl XX over the New England Patriots. To this day, the 1985 Bears are remembered as one of the most dominant teams in NFL history.

Sports are often an apt comparison to business. In many ways, building a great football team requires many of the same things that go into putting together a successful organization. You need to identify great talent, promote teamwork and create an environment that will eventually lead to success.

In the case of the ’85 Bears, this meant winning the Super Bowl, an achievement the team hadn’t reached prior the 1985–86 season and haven’t reached since.

In light of the 30th anniversary of the ’85 Bears, ESPN aired one of its “30 for 30” documentaries about the team on Feb. 4. As a lifelong Bears fan who was born just months after the ’85 team won the Super Bowl, I took a keen interest in watching the documentary.

There are a number of reasons this championship team in particular is worth celebrating. And as I watched the documentary, I couldn’t help but find similarities among the things that made that team special and things business leaders could learn from as they think about building their own organizations.

In addition to having an excellent regular season record and winning the Super Bowl — which many teams in the history of the league have done — the 1985 Bears were especially notable because of the spectacular characters and personalities of its players and coaches.

First there was the team’s coach, Mike Ditka, known as “Iron Mike” for his Pittsburgh “Steel City” upbringing and fiery personality. Then there was Buddy Ryan, the team’s defensive coordinator, whose resentment of not getting the head-coaching job ahead of Ditka created a thick and perceptible resentment between the two, even though they were working towards the same goal.

On the field, there was quarterback Jim McMahon, known as “Mad Mac” for his wacky personality, improvisational playing style and general disregard for authority. McMahon would famously get under the skin of Ditka by zoning out in team meetings and changing plays at the line of scrimmage without the coach’s approval.

Richard Dent, Gary Fencik, Dan Hampton, Steve “Mongo” McMichael, William “The Refrigerator” Perry, Otis Wilson and Mike Singletary made up the core of the Bears’ defense, a unit that terrorized opposing offenses unlike any in the history of the game.

As individuals, these players were largely unheralded for their achievements. Together, they became one of the most feared defenses in football, known for their punishing tackles, speed and general ruthless mentality on the field.

In fact, a key point in the documentary was that the team’s playing style was so aggressive that many of the hits they put on opposing players would likely be illegal in today’s NFL.

Then, of course, there was Walter Payton, the Bears’ legendary running back, known for his hard-nosed style on the field and his soft, generous and glowing demeanor off it. Payton, who died in 1999, is remembered as one of the NFL’s greatest players of all time.

At first glance, the ’85 Bears and its coaches looked like a group of divergent personalities who didn’t belong in the same room together. Many were either cast off from other teams as no good or drafted from small schools with little fanfare. Some were old, wily veterans, while others were untested and inexperienced rookies new to the league and professional football.

Perhaps the most visible conflict existed between the two coaches, Ditka and Ryan. To say Ditka and Ryan didn’t get along was an understatement. According to the documentary, it’s unclear if Ryan, the defensive coach, even ever addressed Ditka by name in team meetings, in practice or during games. One anecdote from the film addressed a time when Ryan, in an effort to get Ditka out of his defensive meeting room, threw an eraser at him. Not exactly something you’ll see in the boardroom these days.

Initially, such tension between leaders or teammates might appear as a liability. How can an organization or team be successful if two of its most prominent figures are constantly yelling and throwing things at each other in meetings?

But something about the Ditka-Ryan tension worked for the team. Instead of their differences of opinion working against them, it ended up producing a sum that was far greater than its individual parts. Both had strong personalities that needed to be challenged from time to time, and it appears the tension between the two did that nicely.

I’m not saying that teams in business should aim to have leaders who throw erasers at one other. The lesson here is that, in some circumstances, tension can be positive. Challenging ideas are necessary in the creative process, and too often businesses rely on one voice to set the tone and strategy.

With Ditka and Ryan constantly fighting over the way the team should be run, the team became the best of both worlds. Ryan’s ability to design and orchestrate detailed strategy led to the most dominant defense in NFL history. Ditka’s ability to manage players’ personalities and create team culture set the tone for everyone in the locker room.

When the Bears won the Super Bowl on Jan. 26, 1986, the players carried both coaches off the field — the only time two coaches have been carried off the field in Super Bowl history.

The next year, Ryan took the head-coaching job with the Philadelphia Eagles. Ditka continued leading the Bears until 1992. Neither ever won a Super Bowl again.

The sum of the two together, even though they hated each other, was greater and more productive than either of them as coaches individually.

The story of the ’85 Bears is an entertaining one, filled with colorful personalities and a strong dose of football nostalgia of what the sport was like in the 1980s.

But it is also one business leaders can relate to. Building the perfect team isn’t always about putting the most talented players in the room. It’s about finding the right parts that complement and challenge others to reach their collective potential.