KSL UNRIVALED

NFL Teams, Players That ‘Fooled’ Us Into Thinking They Were Good

Apr 2, 2020, 10:39 AM

Linebacker Brian Bosworth of the Seattle Seahawks looks on during a game against the Los Angeles Ra...

Linebacker Brian Bosworth of the Seattle Seahawks looks on during a game against the Los Angeles Raiders at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. The Seahawks won the game, 43-37.

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Yesterday was April Fools’ Day. KSL UnRivaled skipped pranks and discussed which teams or players fooled everyone into they were good.

The team that stood out the most was the 1985 Chicago Bears. Yes, that team won Super Bowl XX with ease over the New England Patriots in a 46-10 blowout win. They had one of the most dominant performances in Super Bowl history but the team was never able to string together another championship team.

That Bears team has an amazing five-year stretch where they won the NFC Central division during that time, the defense was top five each year and won a combined 62 games in that stretch. Yet, they had just the one Super Bowl in those years.

Mitchell made the case for the Bears being a team that fooled him because they were so good and so young but nothing materialized with that team on a championship level.

“In 1985 the Chicago Bears should have been an undefeated team. I never saw a team that was more dominant and was just unbelievable defensively. They had a lot of charisma across the team with Walter Peyton, Jim McMahon, a great offensive line, and a phenomenal defense. There was no way anyone would beat the Chicago Bears for the next 10 years because they were all young.

“I just remember watching them win the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots who were just happy to be in the Super Bowl and lost the game before it even started,” Mitchell said. “After the game, I remember thinking that this is the next dynasty. This is the next Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers and the Bears would be the next dynasty of this era.”

This team was so good that all of these players and coaches thought they were the next big thing. At this time in the NFL there was no free agency so it seemed like a sure thing that the Bears would win multiple Super Bowls.

“This team was going to win another three Super Bowls, maybe more,” Mitchell said. “I was shocked at how quickly how the whole organization just disintegrated. There was no great love between Buddy Ryan and Mike Ditka. Plus, all of these players thought they were the deal and wanting to get paid and the Chicago Bears were like, ‘we are not going to pay anything.’

The Boz Was The Busts Of All Busts

One of the biggest misses at the NFL level was linebacker Brian Bosworth. He was the best player coming out of college in 1986. At Oklahoma, he was a national champion, a Heisman finalist, a two-time Butkus Award winner, and an All-American twice.

He signed the largest rookie contract in NFL history, at the time, but it was a complete disaster with just four career sacks.

Being a Seahawks fan, this really got to Kirry, because Bosworth was to be an instant impact and major player in the NFL from the start.

“Brian Bosworth, “The Boz,” is a guy that hurt,” Kirry said. “He came to the Seattle Seahawks being the best player in college football defensively that we have seen in a long time. You don’t whiff and miss that much on a defensive player because these guys are crazy athletic. I don’t know but “The Boz” was such a disappointment. He was a WWF guy in the NFL.”

However, t0 pinpoint the end of his NFL career came one can look at the 1987 Monday Night Football game which saw Bo Jackson easily run him through him to score a touchdown.

Tune into KSL’s Unrivaled every Monday through Friday, 7-9 p.m., or download the KSL NewsRadio app to subscribe to the podcast.

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NFL Teams, Players That ‘Fooled’ Us Into Thinking They Were Good