For fifteen days in January 1993, speculation ran rampant in Chicago, as it was being decided who would become just the 10th head coach in the 74-year history of the franchise. And the new coach would have to replace a legend in the hearts of an entire city, not an enviable task. The hottest names on the list were two defensive assistant coaches-Washington's Richie Pettibone, a former Bears defensive back, and Dallas' Dave Wannstedt, who seemed to be on every team's A-List that needed a new Head Coach. Pettibone was leaning toward taking over the Redskin's job after Joe Gibbs' retirement, and Wannstedt was being pursued heavily by the New York Giants. In Wannstedt's interview with the Bears, McCaskey offered something the Giants would not-control over personnel. This miffed Ditka supporters, as this was something that was never offered to Iron Mike, which helped lead to his downfall. So as it was, on January 20th, 1993, Dave Wannstedt was introduced as the Bears' new Head Coach. Wannstedt was a Jimmy Johnson clone, who had followed him up the ranks all the way to the 1992 Super Bowl Champion Cowboys. Wannstedt's defense was #1 in the NFL that year, and returning Chicago's defense to prominence was one of the goals. Ironically, Wannstedt grew up in the same area of Pennsylvania as Mike Ditka and possessed a similar accent and mannerisms.

So as Wannstedt settled in to his new Lake Forest office, he surveyed his roster and made a conclusion that would spur his first catch phrase in Chicago-"Increase the speed." The Bear's talent was woefully slow compared to the rest of the NFL on offense and defense. Wannstedt's defense was predicated on smaller but quicker players that could swarm to the ball. The new coach's job would be made easier due to the fact that a new free-agency system would take effect in the NFL that year. Players had won the right in court to become "unrestriced" free agents for the first time. This would allow Wannstedt to sign effective players quicker, and not have to rely solely on the draft and trades to build his roster. Three holes he would have to address immediately were fullback, cornerback, and quarterback, as all three starting players at those positions were free agents. At QB, the Bears made a quick move in resigning Jim Harbaugh to a four year, $13 million contract, richest in history. This move puzzled many fans, as Harbaugh didn't have a stellar year in '92. He was the best available on the market, Wannstedt surmised. At fullback, Chicago put similar offers on the table for Brad Muster and Craig "Ironhead" Heyward of New Orleans. Muster balked, and the Bears signed Heyward. At corner, they signed Anthony Blaylock from San Diego to play opposite Donnell Woolford. In the draft, after which personnel boss Bill Tobin was "promoted" to a short-lived position as a consultant, Wannstedt picked speedy WR Curtis Conway, addressing a need the team had since Willie Gualt's departure. Tobin had wanted to draft O.J. McDuffie, who went to Miami. It was apparent who was in control of personnel at this time, and Tobin felt it best that he leave after almost 20 years with the organization.

Also in the 1993 draft, Wannstedt seemed to bring Jimmy Johnson's penchant for draft-day trades with him from Dallas. First, the Bears gave up their eighth-round selection to Seattle in exchange for restricted free agent linebacker Joe Cain. On draft day, Chicago pulled a variety of mid-round trades to net extra picks. They first traded down eight slots in the fourth round to pick up an extra sixth-round choice. They then sent a fifth and sixth to Green Bay to trade back into the fourth, where they selected Baylor DE Al Fontenot. With their third fourth-round selection, acquired from Cleveland for Jay Hilgenberg in 1992, they selected guard Todd Perry from Kentucky.

Wannstedt saved his best trading expertise for August, however. During training camp, in a move that made some wonder if Cowboy coach Johnson felt sorry for his good friend, Wannstedt sent LB John Roper, TE Kelly Blackwell and S Markus Paul to Dallas in exchange for LB Vinson Smith, LB Barry Minter, and two Dallas draft picks in '94 and '95. Paul was cut by Dallas and ended up back with the Bears for a short time, and Roper was axed after he fell asleep in a meeting. Smith and Minter stayed with the Bears throughout the 1990's, so this deal greatly benefitted Chicago. 

Also in August, Wannstedt earned praise for quickly cutting ties with 1991 first-round bust Stan Thomas.  The tackle was traded to the Atlanta Falcons for a mid-round draft pick, but the trade was later rescinded, leaving the Bears with nothing to show for their top pick two years previous.  

On opening day 1993, Chicago looked to extend its NFL-best opening day win streak to 9 straight. They faced the New York Giants, and led 20-19 in the final moments. However, new cornerback Anthony Blaylock blew coverage on a touchdown pass, and the Bears lost 26-20. The next week, they lost to Minnesota and QB Jim McMahon 10-7 in a game in which Chicago could produce very little offense. After their bye week, the team then won three straight, a blowout of Tampa Bay, 47-17, a squeaker over Atlanta 6-0, and a thriller at Philadelphia, 17-6. The defense was playing remarkably well, led by new middle linebacker Dante Jones, Mike Singletary's heir apparent. Chris Zorich had also supplanted William Perry on the D-line, and was playing well. After the three game winning streak, the team had another bye week, and decided to make a move to jumpstart the struggling offense. Neal Anderson was picked to be Wannstedt's man in his run-oriented offense, but wasn't living up to expectations. It appeared he had lost a step and had put on weight. So the team traded a 1994 fifth-round pick for troubled Pittsburgh running back Tim Worley, and cut backup Darren Lewis. Worley was the 5th overall pick in the draft in 1989, but off-field problems had stunted his development. The Bears hoped they could solve a problem with a problem.

Chicago entered another Monday night game with Minnesota at 3-2 With the offense stumbling again, they lost 19-12, then they lost at Green Bay and against the LA Raiders. Then in another turnaround, the team did something no other NFL club had ever accomplished-they won three road games in an amazing eleven-day period. After this run, the team stood at 7-5 and were still playoff contenders just one year after finishing 5-11. The winning streak wrapped up against Green Bay on December 5th. Chicago won 30-17, amazing in that the defense scored three touchdowns, with none for the Bears offense. Tim Worley did indeed look like he could replace Neal Anderson, but the passing offense still was full of rust. Many thought that Jim Harbaugh just couldn't make the quick reads that were nesessary in Wannstedt's version of the west-coast offense. So the Bears lost the final four games looking poorly on the offensive side of the ball. The team finished 7-9, much better than many of the experts had predicted. Dave Wannstedt received glowing reviews in his rookie season as Head Coach. The team went into the offseason destined to make many changes that would alter the face of an old team forever.

1993 Records: Preseason 1-3, Regular Season 7-9

1993 NFL Rankings: Offense 28th Overall, 17th Rush, 28th Pass; Defense 4th Overall, 17th Rush, 3rd Pass

1993 Coaches: Dave Wannstedt, Head Coach; Bob Slowik, Defensive Coordinator; Ron Turner, Offensive Coordinator

On February 1, 1993, close to 400 NFL players became unrestricted free agents for the first time. A court ruling had prompted the NFL to implement the system, which granted any player with 5 years of service that was not under contract the right to negotiate with any team. Along with free agency came a salary cap, putting a ceiling on the amount of money each team could spend on total player salaries. Clearly, the NFL landscape was completely different.

Bears that became free agents on February 1st were RB Brad Muster, DB's Lemuel Stinson, David Tate and Maurice Douglass, QB Jim Harbaugh, TE Jim Thornton, K Kevin Butler, WR's Dennis Gentry and Glen Kozlowski, DT Steve McMichael, LB Ron Rivera, and offensive linemen Keith van Horne and John Wojciechowski.

Under the new system, each team was allowed to name one player as the team's franchise player, which guaranteed the player the average salary of the top five players at the position in the league. If another team signed a franchise player, that team would owe the former organization two first-round draft picks as compensation. The Bears did not designate any player with this tag until Lance Briggs was tagged in 2007.

Teams also could designate up to two players as transition players. The transition tag allowed the team to have right of first refusal should another team offer the player a contract, guaranteed the player the average of the top ten salaries at the position, but did not provide for draft pick compensation to the former team. Bracing for their contracts to come up in the next year, the Bears named defensive backs Donnell Woolford and Mark Carrier their transition players.

Chicago made quick work on their roster by recommending that WR/RB/KR Dennis Gentry retire after an 11-year Chicago career. They declined to offer ten-year veteran linebacker Ron Rivera a contract.

In the biggest splash with their own free agents, the Bears made Jim Harbaugh the richest Bear in history by signing him to a four-year deal worth $13 million. The contract paid Harbaugh $5 million guaranteed in the first season. Harbaugh reportedly turned down more money from the then-Los Angeles Raiders to stay in Chicago.

While Green Bay made the biggest free agent splash in the NFL, the Bears were quiet.  Their biggest acquisition was cornerback Anthony Blaylock, who would be supplanted in the lineup by Jeremy Lincoln at season's end. 

All of the aforementioned players were re-signed by Chicago with the exception of Muster, Tate and Thornton. Stinson was cut in training camp and Kozlowski was released later.

 

Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dave Wannstedt, a Pittsburgh-area native like Mike Ditka, was introduced as the 11th Head Coach in Chicago Bears history on January 19th, 1993. Wannstedt was the consensus hottest head coaching candidate on the market that year, and he accepted the position before coaching the Cowboys through the playoffs and Super Bowl 27. The hiring came two weeks after the firing of Ditka and 23 days after the conclusion of the 1992 season. Team President Michael McCaskey went on vacation immediately following the conclusion of the season, allowing Ditka to twist in the wind for nine days before learning his fate. Wannstedt quickly hired lifelong coaching friends Bob Slowik (defensive coordinator) and Tony Wise (offensive line). He also hired Ron Turner, brother of Dallas offensive coordinator Norv Turner, for the same position in Chicago. A peculiar first order of business for Wannstedt was to announce in February that the Bears would no longer wear black shoes as they had under Ditka. The change would have to wait until June as the team had 1,000 pairs of black shoes in stock, as reported by the Bear Report. Along with the Bears' coaching change came a massive player personnel rules change when true free agency was adopted for the first time. (See the free agency side story). Wannstedt's focus in rebuilding the Bears was on increasing team speed, and to that end he not only drafted speedster Curtis Conway in the first round, but also suggested that longtime WR/RB/KR Dennis Gentry retire. Ten-year veteran linebacker Ron Rivera was not offered a contract. In the season opener at home against the New York Giants, the Bears held a one-point lead late in the fourth quarter, but Phil Simms drove his team for the winning touchdown with just over a minute left to play. The loss broke the Bears' streak of season-opening wins at nine in a row. The Bears would end up with a 3-3 opening day record under Wannstedt. In the Giants loss, the defensive secondary openly admitted that all of the defenders were playing different coverages on the final drive. 1993 was MLB Dante Jones' chance to prove he could replace the legend Mike Singletary, and in this season at least he succeeded. Jones compiled 189 tackles, four interceptions, three forced fumbles and a sack in what was thought to be a Pro Bowl season. Veteran wide receiver Wendell Davis ruptured the patella tendons in both of his knees at Philadelphia on October 10th. As he was diving for a Harbaugh overthrow, both of Davis'feet got stuck in a crease in Veterans Stadium's notorously bad turf, and his career was over. Chicago's offensive line went through its first major transition in a decade in 1993. The stalwart group of Covert, Bortz, Hilgenberg, Thayer and Van Horne, missing Hilgenberg and Covert before the season, was on its last leg. Many line combinations were tried throughout 1993, including starting future guard Jay Leewuenburg at the critical left tackle spot. The results were mainly disasterous, but the season finished with the combination of Troy Auzenne, Bortz, Jerry Fontenot, John Wojciechowski and Leeuwenburg. The hybrid Dallas/San Francisco offense Wannstedt and Turner created was predicated on a strong blocking fullback and a halfback that operated out of the I-formation. This was as opposed to recent Bears teams splitting carries between the fullback and halfback, operating often out of the pro set. So it was interesting that the coaches sometimes employed what they called the "Rhino Formation", with fullback Craig Heyward lined up deep in the I with one of the backup fullbacks, Bob Christian or John Ivlow (who were smaller than the "Ironhead") as the up-back. The Rhino did not last past 1993, as Heyward was out of shape and cut. Incidentally, Ivlow was a high school friend of mine and now is the Head Football Coach at Bolingbrook High School (IL). He spent one season with the Bears, went on to earn a Super Bowl ring at San Francisco in 1994, then retired due to injury. The Bears were actually tied for first place in the NFC Central after Thanksgiving with a 7-5 record, but went on to lose the final four games of the season, finishing 7-9 in Wannstedt's rookie campaign.

A new era began in the NFL on February 1, 1993, as nearly 400 NFL veterans became unrestricted free agents for the first time in their careers.  Marquee NFL players that became free agents included Wilber Marshall (Washington), Reggie White, Clyde Simmons and Seth Joyner (Philadelphia), Steve Young (San Francisco), Neil Smith (Kansas City) and Morten Andersen (New Orleans).  Green Bay signed what turned out to be the hottest commodity to change teams: defensive end Reggie White.  Many saw White's visit to Green Bay as a test of the new free agent system: would a superstar like White willingly go to a city like Green Bay?  He did to the tune of $17 million over four years, but only after White said God told him Green Bay was the place he should go.  Speaking of the Kansas City, the Chiefs may have added the most end-of-career legends by signing QB Joe Montana and RB Marcus Allen.  San Francisco had to reluctantly part ways with Montana when free agency and the salary cap forced them to go with the younger Steve Young.  In the NFC Central in 1993, Detroit won its second division title in three years, and three teams (Minnesota and Green Bay also) went to the playoffs.  The Dallas Cowboys won their second straight NFC Championship, while Buffalo edged out Montana's Chiefs to win the AFC for the fourth year in a row.  The Cowboys won their second straight Super Bowl over Buffalo, 30-13, in Atlanta.