December 18, 1932: The great indoors

CHICAGO - The NFL's first game played indoors happened completely by accident. In fact, the game itself wasn't even on the schedule until the end of the season.

The Chicago Bears and the Portsmouth Spartans both went undefeated in the 1932 season. In those days, the NFL declared the team with the best record to be champion, with head-to-head matchups deciding any tiebreakers. The problem was that Chicago and Portsmouth had played to a pair of ties in their two meetings, so no tiebreaker could be used. The league reluctantly decided to hold a postseason playoff game.

The game was scheduled for December 18 at Wrigley Field. Then, the snow started to fall. And it snowed and snowed and snowed. The blizzard was so bad that Wrigley Field was unplayable. Out of options, the NFL decided to play the game indoors at Chicago Stadium.

The setup made for some strange conditions. The 80-yard-long field was covered in dirt, rather than grass. Because the field was shorter than standard, the ball was moved back to the 20-yard line whenever a team crossed midfield. And the goalposts were moved to the back of the end zone rather than their normal spot on the goal line. Because the field budded right up against the walls, on-field hashmarks were used for the first time.

While the field was shorter than normal, it was also about 10 yards narrower, and so the defenses dominated. It took until the fourth quarter for somebody to score, and even that score was controversial. Chicago's Bronko Nagurski threw what appeared to be a touchdown pass to Red Grange to put Chicago ahead, but Portsmouth argued the call. At the time, a player couldn't throw a forward pass unless he was at least five yards behind the line of scrimmage, and Portsmouth argued that Nagurski was too close. Officials let the call stand, however, and Chicago had a 7-0 lead. The Bears later added a safety to make the final 9-0.

The unideal conditions notwithstanding, the game was popular with NFL fans. The forced led the NFL to go against its long-standing policy of no postseason games and establish a championship game to be played at the end of the season. Other rule changes, including allowed forward passes from anywhere behind the line of scrimmage, were inspired by this game and helped the NFL separate itself from college football. Indoor football didn't become a trend, though; the next NFL game to be played indoors was in 1968, when the Houston Oilers moved into the Astrodome.

December 17, 1933: The first championship

CHICAGO - Before there was a Super Bowl and several rounds of playoffs, there was, for many years, a single postseason game every year in the NFL. The NFL Championship Game was held between the winners of the two divisions, and most years that was it.

Before 1933, there wasn't even that game, as the team with the best record at the end of the season was declared the NFL champion. But the Chicago Bears and Portsmouth Spartans had ended the 1932 season in a tie, forcing a playoff game for the championship. That game drew enough anticipation and excitement that the league decided to start playing a championship game. The NFL divided teams into Eastern and Western divisions for the 1933 season and, for the first time, scheduled a championship game, to be held December 17.

The Bears earned a trip to the inagural game by winning the West with a 10-2-1 record. They were matched up against the New York Giants, champions of the East with an 11-3 record. Though the Giants had more wins, the Bears had a better winning percentage (the NFL didn't count tie games in the standings back then), so the Championship Game was held in Wrigley Field.

Chicago had two of the most famous players in the NFL on their side in Red Grange and Bronko Nagurski, plus they were coached by the legendary George Halas. The Giants didn't have as many famous names, but were nonetheless considered a worthy opponent for the defending champion Bears

From the Giants perspective, the game was noteworthy for a couple of trick plays they ran before such plays became fashionable. In the first, the Giants tried an early version of the fumblerooski, with center Mel Hein picking up the ball. The play was set up to work well, except Hein got too excited in seeing the empty field in front of him and didn't wait for his blockers to get out there to help him.

After Chicago took a 16-14 lead on a jump pass by Nagurski, the Giants went for their second trick play, executing a flea-flicker pass off a reverse. Though the play only went for 8 yards, unlike the modern game in which flea flickers are designed as long passes, it was enough to give the Giants a 21-16 lead.

With time running out in the game, it was the Bears' turn to get inventive. With less than two minutes left, Nagurski threw another jump pass. The Giants were ready for it and seemed to have the receiver covered, but the receiver got off a lateral. The successful hook-and-ladder play resulted in a go-ahead touchdown.

Down to their last chance, New York started moving downfield again. With the clock about to run out, the Giants tried their own version of the hook and ladder. Grange recognized the play, though, and when he hit intended receiver Red Badgro, he wrapped up Badgro's arms rather than his legs, preventing the lateral. Grange's tackle was the last play of the game, and the Bears won the championship.

December 2, 1985: Fish slapped

MIAMI - It had been seven weeks since anybody had scored more than 10 points against them, four weeks since anybody had scored even a touchdown against them. The Chicago Bears didn't have to score a lot of points to win games in 1985 - their defense was doing just fine. As the season rolled around into December, though, the Bears' offense was picking up. The last two games of November, they had scored 44 and 36 points, pitching shutouts in both. They were on a historic roll

The "undefeated" talk had been building, getting stronger and louder as the Bears kept piling up lopsided victories week after week. It was obvious that they had no contemporary challengers, that the only goal remaining before their inevitable Super Bowl victory was then mark set by the 1972 Dolphins, the NFL's only unbeaten and untied team. That was the Bears' mission now.

As they rolled up their 12th consecutive victory, the Bears saw only one game left on their schedule that would be a real challenge: Week 13, Monday Night Football, at Miami. A season removed from a Super Bowl appearance, and with Dan Marino in the height of his career, the Dolphins were an offensive machine. Marino had set every possible passing record the year before, and while the Dolphins weren't quite as good as they had been the year before, they were still formidable. Plus, they had something to play for: protecting their franchise's legacy of being the only unbeaten team in the NFL.

So the stage was set on Monday Night Football: The 12-0 Bears at the 8-4 Dolphins, nothing short of NFL history on the line. With several members of the 1972 Dolphins in attendence, the current Dolphins set out to spoil perfection.

It didn't take the Dolphins long to establish themselves, as Marino found Nat Moore for a 33-yard touchdown pass to open the scoring. Shockingly, it was the first touchdown the Bears had allowed since November 3. The Bears responded, tying the score in the first when backup quarterback Steve Fuller ran in from a yard out. The Dolphins added a field goal to take a 10-7 lead going into the second.

The Bears' 46 Defense was predicated on the blitz - they wanted the opposing quarterbacks to be forced to make a deep downfield throw with a blitzing safety in his face. For most quarterbacks, this was too tall of an order. But Marino wasn't like most quarterbacks. Blessed with a lightning-quick release and one of the strongest arms in the game, Marino was able to stand in the pocket longer against the Bears than any other quarterback had before, resulting in an explosive second quarter that nobody saw coming.

A 22-yard pass to Moore helped set up a rushing touchdown for the Dolphins, giving them a 17-7 lead. The Bears responded with a field goal, but Marino struck back again, hitting Mark Duper on a 52-yard pass, followed by a 27-yard pass to Mark Clayton to set up another score. With 1:57 left in the half, the Dolphins were up 24-10, and they weren't done. They blocked a Bears punt on the next possession, recovering the ball at the 6 and punching in another touchdown before the half ended. The Dolphins had score more points in the second quarter alone than all but two teams had scored on the Bears all season long, taking a shocking 31-10 lead into the locker room at halftime.

There was still an entire half of football to play, but it was over. With starting quarterback Jim McMahon out with an injury, the Bears simply weren't going to be able to score enough to come back. Though the defense stiffened and only gave up one more touchdown, the Bears had no chance, falling 38-24. Their perfect season was ruined.

Counting postseason, the Bears played 76 quarters during the 1985 season. In only one of them did their vaunted defense fail them. In only one quarter did the Bears find an offense that didn't crumble in the face of the 46. And 15 minutes was all Dan Marino needed to shred the greatest defense the NFL has ever seen.

November 28, 1929: Nevers 40, Bears 6

CHICAGO - Ernie Nevers first earned fame as a college running back for Stanford. In the 1925 Rose Bowl - a noteworthy game in itself because it was Notre Dame's first appearence on the West Coast - Nevers singlehandedly outrushed the entirety of Notre Dame's famed Four Horsemen backfield. Though Stanford lost anyway - eight turnovers will do that to you - Nevers' star was born.

He took his fame ... to the baseball field, where he ended up as a pitcher for the St. Louis Browns. Nevers was a below-average pitcher, with his only claim to fame being that he gave up two of Babe Ruth's 60 home runs in 1927. After the 1927 season ended, Nevers went back to playing the sport he was best at, signing with the NFL's Duluth Eskimos.

Nevers' signing with Duluth was big news for the NFL. Red Grange had just started his own league - the AFL - and it was rumored that Nevers would be joining him. Many people thought that if the rumors had been true, it would signal the end of the NFL. As it was, Nevers instead went to play for the Eskimoes, a team that didn't actually have a home stadium and was forced to play all their games on the road. Nevers was basically a one-man team for Duluth, playing nearly every minute of every game for two seasons.

After the Eskimos folded - and really, it's not hard to see why, since they didn't play any home games - Nevers joined the Chicago Cardinals, providing a cross-town rival for Grange, who had rejoined the Bears. It was during the teams' 1929 meeting that Nevers left his lasting legacy on the NFL record books.

November 28, 1929, was a snowy day in Chicago. Watching the snow flurries falling at Comiskey Park, the Cardinals' coach knew that his double-wing offense would be no good in the wet and windy conditions, so he changed his game plan, instructing Nevers and the other backs to plunge straight into the Bears' line as often as possible.

The plan worked brilliantly. With the Cardinals' interior linemen leading the way, the Cardinals ran all over the Bears defense, going up and down the field with ease. While several Cardinal runners had big games yardage-wise, it was always Nevers who seemed to get into the end zone. Nevers had six rushing touchdowns, setting an NFL record that has never been topped. Since Nevers was also the Cardinals' kicker, he was able to add four points to his total with his four-for-six day on conversions, giving him all 40 points in the Cardinals' 40-6 victory.

The NFL has grown significantly since Nevers played. Players are getting faster and stronger, and offenses have become more and more complex since he played. Despite all the enhancements to the game, nobody has been able to match Nevers' record of 40 points in a game. It remains the longest-standing NFL record on the books.

November 26, 1925: The Ghost gallops to the NFL

CHICAGO - He was the most famous college athlete in the country, a superstar when college football was second only to baseball in the hearts of American sports fans. When Red Grange starred for the University of Illinois, the NFL was considered an afterthought, a minor league filled with teams not even at the caliber of the best college teams.

That changed when Grange signed with the Chicago Bears. Just weeks after his college career ended, and with a fresh, new $100,000 contract - back when many players made $100 a game - Grange made his professional debut for the Bears on November 26, 1925. He only gained 36 yards in a 0-0 tie against the crosstown Cardinals, but that didn't matter. The full crowds and unmatched anticipation for the game made Grange's huge contract more than worth it.

The Galloping Ghost filled NFL stadiums wherever he went throughout the 1925 season. In his second game, more than 65,000 people showed up to the Polo Grounds to watch the Bears play the Giants. Grange scored a touchdown on an interception return and had 108 total yards in Chicago's 19-7 victory. The high attendance was credited with saving the Giants franchise, even if most of the crowd was there to see a member of the opposing team.

Grange's stats don't stand out when examined today, but his influence on the NFL was unquestioned. In his nine-year career, he filled stadiums everywhere he went. More than any other single player, Grange helped establish the league's popularity, helping an upstart league jump into the forefront in American sports.