After The Strike
The strike turned out to only last four weeks, encompassing three games, and the Bears went 2-1. The teams that hired the best replacement players did themselves a favor in the end, a group of which the Bears were a part of. When the "real" 1987 resumed, Jim McMahon was back at QB, and the Bears pulled off their biggest come-from-behind win in history, beating Tampa 27-26 after trailing 20-0. The victory proved to be inspiring, as they then won the next two games, including a 26-24 victory over the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. In this game, Chicago trailed with less than a minute left, when McMahon led the team down the field for a game-winning 55-yard field goal off the leg of Kevin Butler. After the kick, Butler turned and "flipped the bird" to Packer coach Forrest Gregg, in effect saying "see you later" to the coach who was finally axed after the 1987 NFL season.
After the inspiring Green Bay win, Chicago lost a close game at Mile High Stadium to the Denver Broncos 31-29 on Monday Night Football, then beat Green Bay at home and Minnesota on the road, in the infamous "Rollerdome" game (Mike Ditka referred to the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome by this name, prompting the Vikings' cheerleaders to parade around on skates throughout the contest.) The Bears were 10-2 with three games left, but dropped 2 of them, and struggled into the playoffs. One of those losses was a 41-0 disaster at San Francisco at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers, and Mike Ditka threw his gum at a heckling fan, prompting assault charges to be filed against him. This was certainly not a good way to enter the playoffs.
Read more about this topic: 1987 Chicago Bears Season
Famous quotes containing the word strike:
“We are all instruments endowed with feeling and memory. Our senses are so many strings that are struck by surrounding objects and that also frequently strike themselves.”
—Denis Diderot (1713–84)