Step Aside ‘85, Mike Ditka Has a New Favorite Defense

There are few greater authorities on assessing what a great defense looks like than Mike Ditka. He played across from the 1963 Chicago Bears unit that secured George Halas' last NFL championship. He was a coach for the Dallas Cowboys when they had their iconic Doomsday Defense under Tom Landry. On top of that, his teams back then witnessed the greatest of the "Steel Curtain" Pittsburg Steelers of the 1970s. Then he arrived to become the head coach in Chicago and watched the 1984, 1985, and 1986 Bears units set records.

They claimed the most sacks ever in a season in '84 and gave up the fewest points in a season in '86. However, most agree the '85 defense stands among the best ever in NFL history. Most teams today use them as the benchmark. That includes the 2019 Bears who made it clear as day they were gunning for that iconic group before the season began. People chuckled at the idea at the time. A great ceiling to shoot for but there's no way they could ever do that.

Ditka? He doesn't think people should be so quick to dismiss what this group is accomplishing. He told Michael Sneed of the Chicago Sun-Times that this version is every bit as capable as that one from 34 years ago.

“Well, I haven’t seen a defense much better ever. They are well coached. This season the defense is as good, maybe better than 1985.”

Why are they so good?

“It is not a one-man defense, but you have to point out Khalil Mack has such an impact,” Ditka says. “What makes Mack special is he has what we call a quick twitch ... he has strength ... he has great anticipation of the snap of the ball.”

Mike Ditka may sound nuts, but the numbers don't lie

At first, people might scoff at the idea of Ditka saying such blasphemy. That is until one starts to run the numbers. Right now the 2019 Bears defense is on pace to give up 180 points this season. That would top the '85 team by 18 points. They're also on pace for 68 sacks, which would again top the '85 groups' 64. It's incredible to think that this defense is doing something like this in an era that is so drastically skewed in favor of offenses thanks to the NFL rules. As great as the '85 group was, they had a ton of advantages that no longer exist.

They also faced a string of favorable quarterbacks. This defense has already played Aaron Rodgers and Joe Flacco, two former Super Bowl winners. They have a string of Pro Bowlers like Carson Wentz, Philip Rivers, Matthew Stafford, and Jared Goff looming out of the bye week too. It's going to be extraordinarily hard to maintain what they've done so far. Yet this group is just that good. There isn't a weak spot to be found on their roster. They can stop the run, rush the passer, play tight coverage and take the ball away.

As crazy as it sounds, Ditka isn't wrong. This defense can indeed be as good or maybe better than the 1985 team.