January 26, 1986

Ditka, the Fridge, the Punky QB, Sweetness — their personalities were so big that they seemed lifted from a screenplay. Overnight, Da Bears became a cultural touchstone; they even had their own hit record. As for their bragging-rights-forever dominance on the field — a marauding 15–1 season culminating in a 46–10 blowout of New England — the Bears have never reproduced it. But neither has anyone else. “They’re not the best dynasty,” author Rich Cohen told GQ in 2013. “But for that one year it was like they had cracked the code.”