"One for the ages" is usually cliche'd, overused hyperbole.
But 30 years ago it was a fitting characterization of the 1985 Chicago Bears, a team-for-the-ages concoction of talent, personality, eccentricity and ego that transcended their sport and stands the test of time as one unlike any other team that came before them or after. No other squad has ever created a phenomenon like the one that swept not only football, but the nation and beyond during — and long, long after the Bears’ run to and through Super Bowl XX that finished Jan. 26, 1985.
Actor and lifetime Bears fan Joe Mantegna, around whom the initial “Superfans” sketch was written, told me while I was writing The Rise and Self-Destruction of the Greatest Football Team in History: “In a way it was like watching a magnesium flare.