#24- Chicago Bears at Tampa Bay 1989 Week 5
Why it meant so much:
Because the Chicago Bears of the 1980s totally owned us. We beat the Bears once at home in '81 and 82, both under Doug Williams. That was it, 12 straight losses to the Bears, even though we played them tough in both 1985 SuperBowl Shuffle games that year. In 1987 after the return from the strike games, the Bucs went up 20-0 on Chicago in Tampa Stadium, but lost 26-27!
But this was 1989, and the Bucs had ended the '88 season with two wins in the last three games, and they Beat the improved Packers in the opener 23-21. Then in week two, the Bucs almost beat the San Francisco 49ers! They did beat the Saints who were a great defensive team in the 80's. The Bucs took a 2-2 record into the game in Tampa Stadium. The weather was perfect, the stadium was packed with fans of both teams, and it was just a great place to be for a football game:
Part Two at high Noon!