Watching Washington thoproughly beat the heavily favored Lions brought me back almost 40 years to January of both 1987 and 1988. Joe Gibbs out-coached the pants off Ditka twice - on Ditka's home field.
There you go again. I straightened you out about this a few years ago and apparently didn't take. Tell everyone just how Joe Gibbs "outcoached" Ditka. What decisions did Ditka make that cost them those two games? Tell us?
Now let me straighten you out AGAIN about all this.
Let's first say Jim McMahon was injured and didn't play in the 1987 game. Bambi was awful. In that game the Bears lost 27-13. Dennis Gentry returned the opening kickoff 60 yards. But the Bears committed several offensive penalties and netted three yards on the drive and Kevin Butler missed a 49 yard FG. Later in the 1st QTR the Redskins went on a 69 yard drive to score the opening points with a TD. Sure, that was Ditka's fault. The Bears answered with a TD of their own. 7-7.
On the next possession Richardson intercepted a pass and returned it to the WAS 4 yard line. But the Bears didn't get into the end zone. Must have been Ditka's fault. Bears FG. 10-7 CHI. Butler hit another before the half. 13-7 CHI. Then the roof fell in.
In the 3rd QTR Flutie threw an int that was returned to the Bears 26 and the Redskins drove for a TD. 14-13 WAS. Gentry then made another long kickoff return to the WAS 42 and they went to the 17 before Walter Payton lost a fumble. WAS drove 83 yards aided by a Richardson pass interference penalty for another TD as the 4th QTR started. 21-13 WAS. Redskins kicked two more 4th QTR FGs to win. 27-13. The Bears turned the ball over four times in that game. Flutie was 11-31 with five completions in the second half and Payton rushed 14 times for 38 yards. The OL was horrible on that day as was the defense.
While I blamed Ditka for wanting to get Flutie he was NOT outcoached that day. The Bears were awful on that day and a lot of teams in the league could have beaten them.
The 1988 game was worse. The Bears jumped out to a 14-0 lead. WAS scored a TD in the 2nd QTR to make it 14-7. Then Butler missed a 48 yard FG. The next WAS drive was aided by a late hit penalty on Maurice Douglas. WAS scored a TD to tie the game 14-14 at the half.
The second half was a disaster. The big play came when Darrell Green returned a punt 52 yards for a TD to make it 21-14 WAS. Butler kicked a FG in the 3rd QTR to make it 21-17. Early in the 4th QTR WAS faked a FG but Jay Schroeder slipped and fell ending the drive. The Bears then drove all the way to the WAS 14 when Jim McMahon threw an interception in the Redskin end zone. Then on the next CHI drive McMahon threw another interception. He threw three interceptions in the second half of that game. On the Bears final drive Payton was stopped one yard short of a first down on a 4th down play and that ended it.
Simply put, the Bears played terrible football in both of those games, deserved to lose both and in no way was Ditka outcoached. I remember these games like it was yesterday and was very disappointed by the Bears' poor play.
