Tampa Bay Buccaneers 28 Chicago Bears 38 Sunday 8 September 1985 at Soldier Field Stadium
SCORING TB 7:54-1Q Magee 1 pass from DeBerg (Igwebuike kick) CHI 2:49-1Q McKinnon 21 pass from McMahon (Butler kick) TB 2:27-1Q House 44 pass from DeBerg (Igwebuike kick) TB 11:31-2Q J.Bell 11 pass from DeBerg (Igwebuike kick) CHI 8:09-2Q McMahon 1 run (Butler kick) CHI 2:35-3Q Butler FG38 TB 1:09-2Q Wilder 3 run (Igwebuike kick) CHI 14:38-3Q Frazier 29 interception return (Butler kick) CHI 0:27-3Q Suhey 9 pass from McMahon (Butler kick) CHI 12:32-4Q McMahon 1 run (Butler kick)
The Bucs opened the 1985 season on the road against the future champion Bears who began their Super Bowl Shuffle with a second half comeback win against Leeman Bennett's team. The Bucs looked awesome offensively in the first half against the famed 46 defense with James Wilder rushing for 120 of his yards in the first 30 minutes, and Steve DeBerg throwing three TD passes including one to Kevin House that came on the back of a 57-yard kick return by rookie Phil Freeman. The key play came early in the 2nd half when Leslie Frazier jumped on a DeBerg out pattern and returned it 29 yards for a score.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Wilder 27-166, DeBerg 2-0. BEARS: Payton 17-120, Suhey 8-27, McMahon 4-18, Thomas 3- 12, Gentry 2-8. PASSING BUCS: DeBerg 21-13-160-2-3. BEARS: McMahon 34-23-274-1-2. RECEIVING BUCS: J.Bell 6-74, Carter 3-18, House 1-44, Giles 1-18, Wilder 1- 5, Magee 1-1. BEARS: Payton 6-37, Gault 4-60, McKinnon 4-58, Thomas 3-32, Moorehead 2-31, Margerum 2-20, Wrightman 1-27, Suhey 1-9. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: Castille 1-0. BEARS: Frazier 1-29, Fencik 1-0. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Freeman 2-79, Bright 1-22, Magee 1-15. BEARS: Gentry 2-44. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Bright 1-21. BEARS: Taylor 3-26. SACKS BUCS: Logan 1-11, Cannon 1-10, Davis 1-2. BEARS: Dent 2-19.
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 69 Yarno DE 78 Cannon LG 72 Courson DT 76 Logan C 60 Grimes DE 71 Lindstrom RG 62 Farrell LOLB 51 Washington RT 73 Heller LILB 58 Davis TE 88 Giles RILB 52 Brantley TE 82 Bell ROLB 53 Green WR 87 Carter LCB 23 Castille WR 89 House RCB 21 Holt RB 32 Wilder SS 30 Greenwood QB 17 DeBerg FS 44 Sully PLAYED 1 Igwebuike, 5 Garcia, 7 Risher, 24 Prior, 28 Carver, 29 Bright, 31 Curry, 40 Armstrong, 47 Dombrowski, 54 Randle, 56 Johnson, 57 Browner, 65 Fielder, 67 Morgan, 74 Sanders, 79 Kaplan, 80 Branton, 81 Freeman, 83 T Bell, 85 Witte, 86 Magee, 90 Holmes DID NOT PLAY 68 Mallory
COMMENTARY CREW Tim Ryan and Johnny Morris
GAME HIGHLIGHTS Click on the boxes below to watch the clip Calvin Magee made his first NFL game a memorable one with the first touchdown of the season Then Kevin House went deep to connect on a bomb from Steve DeBerg The third touchdown of the first half was another classic play-action fake, Jerry Bell catching the score