It’s week 4, a week that has seen many a classic Bears games! Luckily we have some hallmark games from the past to uncover today. Climb aboard Gridiron Time Machine for a trip down memory lane!
1.) 1986, Bears @ Bengals: Chicago overwhelms Cincinnati in a 44-7 rout
Coming off one of the most dominant seasons in NFL history, the 1986 Bears entered Week 4 looking every bit like a team capable of doing it all over again.
The unfortunate team standing in their way was the Cincinnati Bengals.
Chicago jumped out to a 21-0 first-quarter lead behind a banged up Jim McMahon rushing
touchdown and touchdown passes to Walter Payton and Willie Gault. McMahon would add another touchdown pass to Emery Moorehead in the second half, finishing with 211 yards and three scores through the air.
Gault was the star through the air, hauling in 174 receiving yards, while the Bears piled up 476 yards of total offense and 222 yards on the ground.
The defense was not exactly taking the afternoon off either.
Chicago intercepted Boomer Esiason four times and forced five turnovers overall, holding Cincinnati to seven points in a 44-7 blowout.
The win moved the defending champions to 4-0, continuing a start in which it looked like the rest of the NFL might once again be playing for second place.
That eventually changed, but on this afternoon the Bears looked every bit as terrifying as the team that had just steamrolled its way through 1985.
2.) 2011, Bears vs. Panthers: Forte runs wild and Hester makes history
The Bears entered Week 4 at 1-2 and badly needed a win after dropping back-to-back games to the Saints and Packers.
Matt Forte and Devin Hester made sure they got one.
Forte gashed Carolina from the start, including a 46-yard run on Chicago’s opening possession and a 17-yard touchdown in the second quarter. He would finish with a career-high 205 rushing yards while adding another 23 through the air, accounting for 228 of Chicago’s 317 total yards.
Then there was Hester.
With Chicago leading 17-10, Hester fielded a punt and raced 69 yards for a touchdown, giving the Bears a 24-10 advantage. It was the 11th punt return touchdown of his career, setting a new NFL record.
The defense chipped in as well, with D.J. Moore returning a Cam Newton interception 20 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter (no not THAT D.J. Moore, but it is pretty interesting that Cam Newton has thrown touchdown passes to multiple people named “D.J. Moore). Carolina still piled up a franchise-record 543 yards of offense, but the Bears found enough big plays on defense and special teams to stay in front.
Forte helped put the game away with a 40-yard run late in the fourth quarter, and Chicago escaped Soldier Field with a 34-29 victory.
It was about as Bears of a victory as you could draw up.
Run the football, steal a score on defense, then let Devin Hester do Devin Hester things.
3.) 2018, Bears vs. Buccaneers: Trubisky trounces the Bucs for 6 touchdowns
There might not be another game that better sums up the highs of the Mitchell Trubisky era.
Through the first three games of the 2018 season, Trubisky had thrown just two touchdowns, and questions were already starting to build about whether Matt Nagy’s new offense was actually going to unlock the second-year quarterback.
Then Tampa Bay came to Soldier Field.
Trubisky absolutely torched the Buccaneers.
He threw five touchdown passes in the first half alone, becoming the first quarterback in Bears history to accomplish that feat. By the time his afternoon was over, Trubisky had completed 19-of-26 passes for 354 yards, six touchdowns and a 154.6 passer rating.
Those six touchdowns went to five different receivers, with Tarik Cohen adding 121 receiving yards as the Bears built an absurd 38-3 halftime lead.
The defense joined in on the fun against a Tampa Bay offense that entered the week leading the NFL in both total and passing yards. Khalil Mack recorded his fourth straight game with a strip-sack, while Chicago forced three turnovers and sacked Buccaneers quarterbacks four times.
Chicago cruised to a 48-10 win, with Trubisky’s six touchdown passes finishing just one shy of Sid Luckman’s franchise record of seven set in 1943.
The win moved the Bears to 3-1 heading into their bye week and gave us the first real glimpse of what Nagy’s offense could look like when everything clicked.
Unfortunately, six-touchdown games never became the norm.
But for one afternoon at Soldier Field, Mitchell Trubisky looked completely unstoppable.
Gary Baugher Jr. is a second year contributor to WCG, bringing football insight backed by over 16 years of experience in organized football and more than 30 years as a passionate fan of the game. You can follow him on Twitter at @iamcogs.
