Constable: Cubs give off '85 Bears vibe
Our team hasn't won a championship since 1908, but many Cubs fans still can go into these baseball playoffs with a feeling of déjà vu.
This young, talented, fun-loving Cubs team with the beloved coach reminds me of the 1985 Chicago Bears.
"There are plenty of parallels. There really are," says Dan Hampton, the Hall-of-Famer who anchored the defensive line for those Super Bowl champion Bears. "They (the Cubs) are looked at as the premier team, just as we were."
The '85 Bears stumbled once during the regular season and then rolled through the playoffs on a mission. The '16 Cubs went into a little funk before the All-Star game, but they head into the playoffs embracing the target.
The similarities don't stop there.
While both those 1985 Bears and the 2016 Cubs boast plenty of star players, the most memorable character from each team could be the head coach - Mike Ditka for the Bears and Joe Maddon for the Cubs.
The two bigger-than-life coaches are far from similar, with Ditka being a grumpy, old-school, conservative leader in a sweater vest who earned his Iron Mike nickname, and Maddon with his tie-dyed T-shirt, preaching his positive, New-Age leadership style from the comfort of his hippie van.
But they both led their teams to the best records in their sports.
"Both are veteran leaders who have been through the wars," Hampton says. "The club will follow them."
The season before the championship run, the 1984 Bears surprised some people by winning the division with a 10-6 record and defeating their first-round playoff opponent.
In the game to decide which team would go to the Super Bowl, the upstart Bears were shut out 23-0 by the San Francisco 49ers. That humiliating loss, Hampton says, helped forge the attitude the 1985 team needed to win the Super Bowl the next season.
The 2015 Cubs surprised many people by winning 97 games and securing a Wild Card spot before defeating their first-round playoff opponent.
In the series to decide which team would go to the World Series, the upstart Cubs were swept four games to nothing by the New York Mets.
Perhaps that humiliating loss will help forge the attitude the 2016 Cubs need to win the World Series this fall.
The '85 Bears and the '16 Cubs both played without a key player from the year before.
A contract dispute led All-Pro safety Todd Bell to sit out the 1985 football season.
"Todd Bell could have been our best player," Hampton says of the hard-hitting defensive player whose lineup spot was filled by Dave Duerson.
The Cubs played almost all of 2016 without star slugger Kyle Schwarber, who tore ligaments in his knee chasing a ball in the outfield during the third game of the season and missed the rest of the year.
A catcher and outfielder, Schwarber has been replaced by Willson Contreras, Jorge Soler and others.
Hampton says the Cubs' last regular season game reminded him of the way his Bears played.
The game meant nothing in the standings, and Chicago was down 4-3 in the ninth inning with two outs and two strikes on Albert Almora Jr. when the Cubs staged an unlikely rally to win 7-4.
"They said, 'To hell with this - we're not going into the playoffs losing.' That showed me a lot," Hampton says.
The '85 Bears and the '16 Cubs had similar seasons, but the comparison won't be complete until the Cubs wear the championship rings.
In 1922, the Decatur Staleys became the Chicago Bears. Playing their home games in Wrigley Field, where the Chicago Cubs already had set up shop, the Staleys' coach and best-known player, George Halas, decided it would make sense to change the name of the football team and its roster of large men to the Bears, as a gesture to the smaller athletes playing baseball for the Cubs.
The Bears won seven NFL championships during their nearly half-century at Wrigley.
The Cubs are looking for their first, a century since moving to Wrigley in 1916.
"When they have a great plan, great organization and great players come together - Bam! Best team in the league. And now the stage is set," Hampton says. "Now, the best record in baseball means nothing. You know and I know, it's all about peaking at the right time."