Thayer found himself a place in Chicago Bears, NFL history

It's not an exaggeration to say that Tom Thayer, the starting right guard on the Chicago Bears' Super Bowl XX championship team 30 years ago, went from the outhouse to the penthouse.

And Thayer did it in less than a year.

After his third season in the rival USFL, which played in the spring, Thayer took a month off and then reported to 1985 training camp with the Bears, who had drafted him in the fourth round in 1983 out of Notre Dame.

Thayer left training camp as a backup center-guard, low man on the totem pole of a team that had advanced to the NFC championship game the previous season.

"When I first got there, my locker was next to the (bathroom)" Thayer said. "And then, as I earned my playing time there, I was able to move near the other offensive linemen."

Thayer got his opportunity to become an integral part of the only Bears Super Bowl champion in the third game of the season. He replaced injured Kurt Becker at right guard and stayed there for eight years. But he never allowed himself to think he had job security.

"I drove to Halas Hall every day thinking that was the day I was going to get cut," Thayer confessed. "I don't think I ever drove to that facility thinking, 'Man, I made it. This is it. This is what it's all about.' Never."

In the USFL, Thayer competed with and against players who had or would have successful NFL careers. But he arrived at his first Bears training camp in Platteville, Wisconsin, with no inflated illusions about his status on his new team.

"Nobody was looking for me to be a savior," Thayer said. "I was just trying to save myself. I understood the difficulty there was going to be just trying to earn a spot on that football team.

"You had to earn your way. Nowadays you get all this stuff thrust upon you, and sometimes you don't have to earn anything. Back then, (there was a pecking order) from where your locker ended up being to where you stood in line to get your ankles taped."

Counting the preseason, Thayer already had played 22 games in the USFL in 1985 before playing in 23 more for the Bears, but he said he was too excited and nervous for mental or physical fatigue to affect him.

Earning the trust and acceptance of his teammates was a concern, but Thayer's overriding priority was pleasing coach Mike Ditka and longtime offensive-line coach Dick Stanfel (who passed away last June).

"Every day was intimidating for me," he said, "but it wasn't because of the players. It was because of Dick Stanfel and Mike Ditka. It was concern about earning their trust and their respect and learning what I could from them. I was concerned about those guys."

Thayer became a fixture at right guard, along with seven-time Pro Bowl center Jay Hilgenberg, two-time Pro Bowl left tackle Jimbo Covert, left guard Mark Bortz and right tackle Keith Van Horne, and the Bears went to the playoffs six more times in seven years after that 1984 team began the tradition.

But only once did the Bears clutch the Holy Grail. It all came together in 1985, and that year the Bears were arguably the most dominating team of the Super Bowl era.

Thayer had a unique perspective on that historic season. He grew up as a Bears fan in Joliet, and in his first NFL season he became a starter on the most celebrated team in franchise history.

"I was as much a fan of the Chicago Bears as I was a part of the team and a player," Thayer said. "For me, it was an honor to play on that team because I was a fan of every one of those guys."

Thayer recalled the mindset, attitude and sense of purpose that was palpable from Day One with the Bears. It all culminated in an achievement that has been celebrated for 30 years and might be for another 30.

"They already had a (toughness) instilled in them from Ditka's influence of being around there for (three years," Thayer said. "But I also saw the dedication and the commitment and the love of (the game) from guys like Steve McMichael and (Dan) Hampton and (Mike) Singletary and (Dave) Duerson and the rest of the crew.

"Everybody in that locker room had that commitment."

The competitiveness of that team was off the charts. More than one player said the toughest opponent he faced that season was a teammate … in practice.

"They were hard-fought practices that kept everybody sharp," Thayer said. "They were super-competitive players on both sides of the ball. Like Jimbo going against (Hall of Fame defensive end) Richard Dent. It meant a lot to them, and that's got to be important."

Despite the fierce practices and the eclectic personalities and backgrounds, Thayer believes there was a closeness and a sense of camaraderie on the '85 Bears that can no longer exist today.

"It's just the social (differences), the hand-held telephones, that have killed camaraderie," Thayer said. "That has killed the whole (concept) of team. When we got out of meetings and were in the locker room, we didn't have a whole posse of people to talk to instantly.

"When you went to the old Halas Hall (across the street from Lake Forest College at 250 N. Washington Road), there were two telephones by the racquetball court. That was the complete access to the outside world once you were in Halas Hall. We became better friends, and we became closer every day because we only had each other."

When he's asked about his fondest and most enduring memories from that championship season, Thayer doesn't ponder long before answering.

"I just think back to how great that room of guys was," he said. "Everybody got along with everybody. There were no tensions in that locker room. Any way you want to talk about the tensions of today's world, that was never in that locker room.

"You could sit and have a great, fun conversation with William Perry, and then you could go over and have another great conversation with (quarterback) Steve Fuller, or you could go get into the mind of (free-spirit wide receiver) Kenny Margerum or go shoot pool with (tight end) Emery Moorehead."

The turning point in 1985, according to Thayer, was a Week 6, 26-10 victory in San Francisco over the 49ers, who were in the midst of one of the NFL's greatest dynasties of all time.

The 49ers had given the Bears a 23-0 pummeling in the NFC title game the previous season en route to their second of three Super Bowl titles in an eight-year span. The 49ers irritated Ditka by using guard Guy McIntyre as a blocking back in short-yardage situations, a perceived slight that Ditka was not about to forget.

Late in the rematch, with the game safely in hand, Ditka one-upped 49ers coach Bill Walsh by calling for two running plays with 300-pound rookie defensive tackle William "Refrigerator" Perry as the ball carrier. Perry rumbled for 2 yards on each attempt.

Later in the regular season, Ditka expanded Perry's role to include goal-line situations, and he rushed for 2 touchdowns, plus another in the Super Bowl, and also had a 4-yard TD reception.

That Week 6 victory, the sixth of 12 in a row to open the season, elevated an already-confident team to a higher level.

"When you had the chance to put 'Fridge' in the game in San Francisco, I think that was kind of like dotting the i of the Ohio State band or the exclamation point," Thayer said. "(Ditka thought) 'As a head coach, this is what I believe my guys can do. I'm going to put William Perry in the backfield because you did it to me last year, and we're going to stuff it right down your face.'

"When you go out to San Francisco, (against) a Joe Montana-, Bill Walsh-led team and you handle them convincingly, I do think that was the game that really made everybody understand that this was a force to be reckoned with."

It still is.

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