SI: Top 25 most hated teams of all-time

I'm not a Bears fan on any level, but the 1985 Bears teams was one of the most beloved teams of all-time.

 

Bubbler, step away from the Kool-Aid.

 

You guys have selective memory.

Remember the annual encyclopedias they put out for baseball and football from the late 80s into the early 2000s? The football one was great -- though it wasn't published after the early 90s, a shame -- because it had year-by-year descriptions of each team.

Here's what was written about the '85 Bears ... lifted in its entirety so you guys don't think I'm selectively skipping anything.

"The Bears reached near-perfection in November as they annihilated Detroit, Dallas and Atlanta by an aggregate 104-3. When Miami finally stopped them 38-24 on a Monday night at the Orange Bowl, Chicago was already focusing on the playoffs. William Perry, Walter Payton and Jim McMahon were the media darlings, but the heart of the team was its defense. Linebackers Mike Singletary and Otis Wilson, linemen Richard Dent and Dan Hampton and safety Dave Duerson were Pro Bowlers, but several other Bear defenders could have been equally honored. They led the league in fewest points allowed, rushing defense, overall defense, interceptions, fewest points allowed and takeaway-giveaway ratio. Dent led the NFC in sacks for the second consecutive year with 17. Although safety Gary Fencik's 118 tackles topped the team, the leader of the impregnable defense was Singletary, voted UPI's defensive player of the year. About the only thing they couldn't defend against was media backlash. When a Bears' video hit the charts, some fans were ready to cry, 'Enough!'"

I'm not saying they weren't beloved by many, they were, but there were a lot of fans who didn't care for them either.

 

Bubbler,

Do you think there was almost anyone outside of New England, Wisconsin or Minnesota who wasn't rooting for the Bears in that Super Bowl?

 

Sure. There's always an element of every fanbase that hates in-your-face braggadocio even if a team backs it up as that Bears team did.

 

In 1985, I lived in an area that was littered with Cowboys fans. After the 44-0 game at Texas Stadium, I was a pariah for weeks at my junior high (probably didn't help I wore a Bears shirt to school at least three days a week the entire season). And I''m sure that kind of thing was repeated in place after place as the Bears rolled along. I'm guessing some 13-year-old Bears fan in Atlanta had a bad week after the Falcons lost 36-0. However, that Bears team was a national phenomenon, and 25 years out, its legacy is overwhelmingly positive.

 

Stop hating on my hatred!

 

To be fair, though, this kind of thing happens all the time.

"Hey, look at that . . . good story . . . interesting group . . . are the XXXXXXX on TV again? . . . . I'm getting a little tired of seeing XXXXXX everywhere and reading about them . . . Jesus, I wish those guys would just go away . . . Fuck them, I hope they lose and get what's coming to them after all that hype."

We only build pedestals so that we can delight in chopping them down. The process has simply accelerated in the internet age, where the "cool" story of the homeless guy with a great voice can, in less than a week, become an avalanche that swamps him and makes us sick of him.

 

That's all true, but it doesn't change the fact that, for whatever reason, the '85 Bears weren't as universally beloved as is claimed.

 

it saddens me. i mean, i get why teams who act that way with little reason to are hated. but any true leatherhead should primarily appreciated the epic defensive unit that team featured.

we've seen several teams who get full of themselves without ever backing it up. from the get-go that season, the bears walked the walk better than any defense i've EVER seen. including those awesome 'steel curtain' defenses of the '70s.

for that reason, da bears were never a team i rooted against...

 

I never remember it being as bad as it was with the Patriots in 2007. I think it wasn't until late in the season when they started really kicking the crap out of people. I remember the 44-0 win over Dallas and a 36-0 win over someone the following week.

I was at Candlestick as they beat my favorite team (the defending champs at the time) and I thought I was witnessing greatness. I still think that Bears team is the best of my lifetime.

 

Yeah, well, we're going to strongly disagree one more time. Those Pistons teams set the NBA back a few years. Their games, especially in the playoff, were gang rumbles with a round ball. Many, many sports fans not from Detroit got turned off by those teams. Not entertaining. Not one little bit. And once the Bulls figured out how to beat them, it was typical behavior once a bully was exposed. The leaving the floor stunt orchestrated by Isiah was a perfect example.