In 1995, for the first of two straight years, Dave Wannstedt and his Bears team felt that the pieces were falling into place, if not completely in place, for a run deep into the playoffs. In reality, instead of pushing deeper than 1994's divisional playoff defeat, Wannstedt's rebuilt team would fall just short and begin its descent. But not without producing the most exciting offensive season in club history.

Wannstedt had said from the beginning several things about his plan. First, it would probably be a four to five-year plan to get to the Super Bowl. 1995 was the third year, following a surprising second campaign that raised expectations. Secondly, the head coach that also controlled personnel stated that no major free agent signings would be made until the talent was there surrounding any big-splash acquisitions.

So in free agency, the Bears resisted going after any of that offseason's marquee players, such as Alvin Harper, Deion Sanders, Henry Thomas or Rickey Watters, but instead signed two mid-tier players. Those players were safety Marty Carter from Tampa and receiver Michael Timpson from New England. Carter was a necessity, to replace the aging Shaun Gayle, while Timpson was tabbed as motivation to push the young, talented, and fairly underachieving Curtis Conway

Wannstedt also felt they were adding to their club by subtracting several over-priced veterans. Middle linebacker Dante Jones, just signed to a large deal before the 1994 season, was cut, as was tight end Marv Cook, who spent the most of his lone season with the Bears injured or on the bench. In their places, outside linebacker Joe Cain was moved to the middle, and 1993 draftee Chris Gedney was expected to start at tight end.

Another rather stunning offseason move by NFL standards was made to clear the way for youth along the defensive line. Wannstedt had invested heavily in the NFL draft along the defensive line, picking John Thierry and Carl Simpson the previous two seasons, along with already having 1992 top pick Alonzo Spellman in the fold. In order to get his young guys on the field, the coach/personnel boss traded productive veteran end Trace Armstrong to Miami for second and third-round picks. The trade gave Wannstedt's Bears five selections in the first three rounds.

The trade of Armstrong altered the personnel and positioning of the defensive line. With the veteran at left end gone, Spellman was asked to move to the left side, and Thierry was installed as the starter on the right side. Incumbents Chris Zorich and Simpson remained the tackles at season's open.

The 1995 draft was heavy on running backs, and it was thought this was definitely the year to finally get a long-term replacement for Neal Anderson (who was cut prior to the 1994 season). Indeed, four backs were selected before the Bears, allowing college football's Heisman Trophy winner, Rashaan Salaam from Colorado, to fall to them. Wannstedt and his staff were immediately tantalized by the thought of lining up with Salaam and promising second-year back Raymont Harris in the same backfield.

Many thought the Bears had made the trade with Miami to position themselves for a move up in the draft, but instead they stood pat and selected Miami defensive lineman Patrick Riley and punter Todd Sauerbrun from West Virginia in the second round. In the third they took linebacker Sean Harris and guard Evan Pilgrim. Their fourth round pick, speedy receiver Jack Jackson from Florida, was thought to be the steal of the draft.

In training camp at Platteville, WI, a battle waged at quarterback between Erik Kramer and Steve Walsh. Kramer was the high-profile signing with a strong arm, Walsh had the weaker arm but had piloted the Bears to the playoffs the previous season after Kramer was injured. Both quarterbacks were given a shot at winning the starting job, but Kramer's upside won out.

The 1995 regular season opened on September 3rd, on a beautiful late Summer day in Chicago. The Bears limped through a 1-3 preseason, culminating in a taunting from former quarterback Jim Harbaugh at Indianapolis. The team faced the Minnesota Vikings, reigning NFC Central champs, in the opener, and the Chicago offense came out firing on all cylinders. Setting a high bar for the rest of the season, Kramer threw for 262 yards and three touchdowns, and receivers Conway and Jeff Graham each went over 100 yards. The result was a 31-14 drubbing of the Vikings.

Despite thoroughly dominating the Vikings, the Bears were quickly brought back to earth in a Monday Night Football loss to the Packers in week two. During the game, a Bear fan jumped out of the stands and Donnell Woolford was burned for a 99-yard touchdown pass. The 27-24 loss was Wannstedt's third straight to Green Bay and early on in a long and terrible losing streak for Bear fans.

The 1995 Bears then beat still-hapless Tampa, then lost 34-28 at St. Louis to the Rams, their first trip back to the gateway city since 1984. Erik Kramer threw five touchdown passes in the game, but Chicago's defense couldn't stand firm. At the bye, the Bears stood at 2-2.

And after the bye, the Bears played their best football of the season for four weeks. They beat Carolina, Jacksonville (both expansion teams in their first season) and Houston not the old-fashioned Bear way, but by scoring an average of 33 points a game. They also gave up an average of 30 points a game in each contest. Then on Monday Night Football, they did go back to old-fashioned Bear football, beating Minnesota on the road 14-6, holding the Vikings without a touchdown. After eight games the Bears were 6-2, alone in first place atop the division. The team's next three games were critical-two of them being against Green Bay and Detroit. Victories would land knockout blows to their opponents and almost surely lead to a playoff berth, if not division title.

But it was not to be. First the Bears lost in overtime to the eventual AFC Champion Steelers. Chicago's defense made some solid plays in the game, but also allowed Pittsburgh to convert 57% of its third down attempts, a stat that would trouble the Bears for the rest of the season. Next, they lost at Green Bay 35-28 in the closest game Brett Favre ever came to missing. Then they stumbled to a 24-17 home loss against Detroit. Now 6-5 following the 6-2 start, any playoff berth was in jeopardy.

A 2-2 split leading up to the season's ultimate game set up an intriguing situation in the league's final week on Christmas Eve, 1995. If the Bears beat the playoff-bound Philadelphia Eagles at home, and the high-flying San Francisco 49ers took care of 8-7 Atlanta, the Bears would make the playoffs as an NFC Wildcard team, likely headed for Green Bay for a third meeting with Brett Favre. If Atlanta won, the Bears were out no matter what they did.

Chicago indeed kept their end of the bargain, beating Philadelphia 20-14 with inspired play from Alonzo Spellman (3 of his 8 sacks on the season). Just minutes after the Bear game concluded, San Francisco gave up a last-second field goal to Atlanta, losing 28-27, ending Chicago's season.

Despite the failure to reach the playoffs, Salaam finished the season with the best rookie stats of any Bear running back in history. Kramer set records for the best quarterback season in history while starting all 16 games, and for the first time ever, two Bear receivers caught passes for over 1,000 yards. It had been the first time any Bear receiver reached 1,000 since Dick Gordon in 1970. So it was believed the offense was set, and a few corrections on defense would be all it took to position the ship for a final push to the Super Bowl.

Following the last game, veteran tackle Andy Heck told the Chicago Tribune "I really believe this is an excellent team that can go places without a lot of changes." In the NFL, changes are inevitable, and Heck's closing lament would be tested nine months later.

Quote of the Year: "It's just a tough deal.  I feel badly for those players that have laid it on the line since July.  But you can't depend on anyone else.  You have to control your own destiny."-Dave Wannstedt after the Bears were eliminated from the playoffs because Atlanta beat San Francisco at the last minute

1995 Records: Preseason 1-3, Regular Season 9-7

1995 NFL Rankings: Offense 9th Overall, 9th Rush, 12th Pass; Defense 19th Overall, 5th Rush, 27th Pass

1995 Coaches: Dave Wannstedt, Head Coach; Bob Slowik, Defensive Coordinator; Ron Turner, Offensive Coordinator

Combine the 1995 Chicago Bears offense with the 2005 Bears defense and one would have a guaranteed Super Bowl champion.

But of course outside of video games, such a fantasy is just that.

In Ron Turner's third year as offensive coordinator, the offense became the best unit on that side of the ball the team had ever fielded.

Erik Kramer turned in the best season by a quarterback in history, breaking numerous Bear passing records that had stood since Sid Luckman set them in the 1940's.  ESPN profiled Kramer in October, when he had thrown for 16 touchdowns and just four interceptions. 

Both starting wideouts, Jeff Graham and Curtis Conway, posted 1,000 yard seasons.  Conway snared 12 touchdowns while Graham caught four.  Not only was it the first time any receiver totalled over 1,000 in a season since 1970, it was the first time in history that two Bear receivers had surpassed the mark.

Rookie running back Rashaan Salaam showed flash, setting rookie records for attempts and yards, but troubled with nine fumbles, eight of them lost.

Even the offensive line got into the headlines.  The unit of Andy Heck, Todd Perry, Jerry Fontenot, Jay Leeuwenburg and James Williams led the NFL by only giving up 14 sacks in 16 games, and had an unbelievable stretch by only committing their second holding penalty in game 11 against the Lions.

But all this offensive glory was for naught, as the defense ranked 27th versus the pass, and dead last in stopping the opposition on third down.  The result was the team missing a chance at the playoffs due to a tiebreaker with the Atlanta Falcons.

Bear fans found a unique way to silence a boisterous Packer fan at Casey's Cabin Tavern in Fox Lake following Green Bay's victory on November 12th.  Tired of the cheesehead's mouth, bar patrons duct-taped the offender to his barstool, but the Packer fan wriggled free.

Bear fans gave chase outside the premises, then taped him to a stop sign with a placard proclaiming his allegiance taped to his head.  A police officer freed him, and the victim declined to press charges.

Guard Mark Bortz retired in January 1995 following a distinguished twelve-year career. Drafted in the eighth round in 1983 as a defensive tackle, Bortz played in 155 games for Chicago, starting 72 in a row from 1986 to 1991. With the entry to the NFL of two new expansion teams for the 1995 season (Jacksonville and Carolina), an expansion draft was held. Each team had to designate six players that could be picked by the two teams. In a somewhat surprising move, the Bears designees included linebacker Dante Jones, who had an outstanding season in 1993, and tight end Marv Cook, just signed the year before. Neither were picked and were later released by Chicago for salary cap reasons. The Bears did lose fullback Bob Christian to Carolina and offensive lineman Tom Myslinski to Jacksonville. The Bears had major work to do in re-signing their own free agents prior to 1995, which would be the third year of free agency in the NFL. At one point, LB's Joe Cain and Vinson Smith, DT Chris Zorich, DB's Mark Carrier, John Mangum, Shaun Gayle and Jeremy Lincoln, and offensive players Steve Walsh, Tim Worley, Keith Jennings and Tom Waddle were free agents. The Bears re-signed all but Gayle and Douglass; the former signed with San Diego for his final season, and the latter with the New York Giants. Zorich's contract was interesting in that he opted to have the Bears pay him on a deferred basis over 10+ years on his three-year, $4.85 million deal. After weeks of speculation by the media and denial by the Bears, in March they traded defensive end Trace Armstrong to the Miami Dolphins for second and third-round picks in the draft. Chicago selected punter Todd Sauerbrun and guard Evan Pilgrim with the picks received from Miami. While Armstrong had a solid career in Miami, and made the Pro Bowl in 2000, Sauerbrun and Pilgram never distinguished themselves with the Bears. Chicago drafted Heisman Trophy winner Rashaan Salaam with their 21st pick in the first round, then gambled on oft-injured defensive lineman Patrick Riley with their first second-round pick.  Riley played in only one game for the Bears in '95, then was traded to Atlanta during 1996's training camp.  Riley failed his physical with Atlanta, the trade was nullified, and he was released.  Chicago's other second-rounder, Punter Todd Sauerbrun, arrived at training camp with "HANG TIME" license plates, and was hazed unmercifully by veterans.  Sauerbrun never meshed with fellow kicker Kevin Butler, and the beloved Butt Head was released the following season.  The Bears started the season 6-2,  but finished it 3-5, just missing the playoffs when Atlanta pulled an unprobable upset over Steve Young's San Francisco 49ers.  Against Detroit and Cincinnati late in the season, the Bears wore white pants on the road for the first time since 1983.  The change didn't help the late-season slide, however, as the Bears lost both games in ugly fashion.  Legendary defensive end Richard Dent was re-signed by the Bears in September, in a desperate move to provide an outside pass rush.  Dent had spent 1994 with San Francisco after he refused the Bears' $2.1 million offer to stay with them.  Just five weeks after he was signed, he was cut.  Against Carolina, he tipped a pass and almost grabbed and took it the distance.  The season's ninth and tenth weeks were the turning points for the team in 1995.  At 6-2 against Pittsburgh at home, the Bears blew numerous chances, and Curtis Conway dropped uncountable passes, and lost in overtime.  The following week against Green Bay, Brett Favre grimaced in pain but still threw five TD passes to seal the Packers' 35-28 win.  The Bears had the ball inside the Packer 20 with a minute to go, but failed to score on successive attempts.   

Under the new ownership of the Glazier family, the Buccaneer organization declared it a "New Day in Tampa Bay." Nothing changed by the end of the year though, with the Bucs still residing in the basement of the surprisingly tough NFC Central. They did stay in contention through much of the season, posting a 7-9 record. The Cincinnati Bengals used the first pick in the draft on running back Ki-Jana Carter from National Champion Penn State. Carter blew out his knee in the preseason and never starred in the league. The NFL welcomed its first expansion teams since 1976 with the entry of the Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars. Former Bear quarterback Jim Harbaugh had a renaissance in Indianapolis. The Colts had traded with Tampa for Craig Erickson to take over for an ineffective Harbaugh, but the latter replaced the former as starter during the season. Harbaugh went to his first Pro Bowl and led the AFC with 17 touchdowns and only 5 interceptions. The Colts traveled to Pittsburgh for the AFC Championship game and lost after a Colt receiver dropped the game-winning touchdown heave. In the NFC, Green Bay continued to progress, traveling to Dallas for the NFC Championship. But Brett Favre's Packers came up short for the second year in a row at Texas Stadium, losing 38-27. Dallas beat the Steelers 27-17 in Super Bowl 29.