Over the next two weeks Philguard will be counting down the top 10 moments in the past 42 years in the big game. Today…
#8 – Fridge Run
The Super Bowl Shuffle was great, but never truly sweet.
When: Super Bowl XX – January 26, 1986
Where: The Superdome
The 1985 NFL season will forever be remembered as the year of the Bears. Chicago went 15-1 over the season thanks largely to a stifling defense led by Linebacker Mike Singletary, Leslie Frazer in the secondary and a rookie Defensive Lineman named William “Refrigerator” Perry. Perry came into camp at 320 pounds and Defensive Coordinator Buddy Ryan announced that the Bears had wasted their first round pick on Perry. On the offensive side of the ball, Quarterback Jim McMahon and an average Receiver core held their own in the passing game. The real offensive production came from Walter “Sweetness” Payton who had broken Jim Brown’s record for career yards in October of the previous season. The Bears only loss in 1985 came against the Miami Dolphins on December 2. Chicago would have the first round bye. The Bears would hold their NFC Divisional opponents, the Giants, and NFC Championship opponents, the Rams, scoreless on their way to Miami.
The New England Patriots finished the 1985 season with an 11-5 record which was only good enough to garner third place in the AFC East behind the 12-4 Dolphins and the 11-5 Jets. The Patriots got into the playoffs as the fifth and final seed and started the playoffs against the Jets in the Wildcard round winning 26- 14. In the Divisional Round, the Pats took on the #1 seeded Oakland Raiders and won the game 27-20 with a fluke fumble recovery in the endzone in the third quarter being the game winner. That win would set up a AFC Championship with the same Miami Dolphins that had beat the Chicago Bears just a few weeks earlier, ending the Bears bid for an undefeated season. But that tantalizing rematch wasn’t in the cards as the Pats turned 6 Dolphin turnovers into 24 points on the way to a 31-14 win.
New England opened the game against the favored Chicago squad by recovering a Payton fumble on the 19 yard line and turning it into a 3 point lead. It would be a short lived. The Bears would rip off 37 points over the next 3 quarters but none of the points would come from Sweetness as McMahon ran in 2 touchdowns and threw for another. But as the third quarter drew to a close, the Bears once again found themselves in scoring position with a first down on the Patriots 1 yard line. Instead of allowing Payton to take the next 3 plays to get into the endzone, Bears coach Mike Ditka put in the “Fridge” to gain the meaningless touchdown.
While the image of the babyface Perry became the most memorable moment of the game, it came on the final opportunity the Perry would have to score a touchdown in his only trip to the Super Bowl. The Bears would score a safety in the fourth quarter but Perry would never cross the goal line in the big game. Ditka would later admit that his biggest regret was not allowing Payton to score in Super Bowl XX. Payton would retire after the 1987 season with 110 rushing touchdowns, a record 16,726 rushing yards and missed only one game in his 13 year career (a rookie season ankle injury). Payton would be inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993 leaving one hole in his brilliant career…his missing Super Bowl touchdown.
A spare noseguard scoring in the 4th quarter of a route makes the top ten?
Yep…thanks for reading.