Chicago Bears: Bears-Patriots trip down misery lane

(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /
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Chicago Bears
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The height of Dave Wannstedt football. The Bears backed into the playoffs after this one, emphasis on “backed.”

I can’t tell you I remember this one. Looking at the numbers of it, it’s either a perfectly placed memory black hole or an expert use of selective amnesia. Imagine spending the Christmas holiday after sitting through this dreck.

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The Bears managed a Kevin Butler field goal in the first quarter and that was it. Lewis Tillman managed 33 yards on 10 carries, and Raymont Harris managed a further 16 on six carries. Meaning the Bears ran for 49 yards on 16 carries, for a 2.8 yards-per-carry average and a bemused look of the world wondering what anyone was trying to accomplish here.

But don’t worry, Steve “Death From Above” Walsh was there to go 17-for-38 for 186 yards. 17-for-38 gets you ritually killed these days and your name must never be spoken again. In 1994, this was a good day for a Bears quarterback.

Drew Bledsoe threw for 277 yards and yet somehow the Pats’ offense only produced one touchdown, but that’s all it needed.

Even with that, the Bears somehow cleared the playoff line as the NFC Central sent four teams to the postseason, with three of them at 9-7 (symbolic to the core). They would beat the Vikings in the wild-card round before being turned into a fine paste by the 49ers in the divisional round, which thankfully erased the memory of whatever the hell this was on Christmas Eve.