Least favorite season your team had?

[CSKreager]

The 1997-1999 Chicago Bears.

I have an encyclopedic knowledge of Bears teams before that and after that...those three seasons swirl around in my head like a primordial soup of "suck." I can remember things FROM those seasons but very little about what year they actually occurred in or sequence of events.

1997 I know we traded for Mirer and he was terrible...after that the season is a blur.

1998 I have zero recollections that I can say "Oh yeah, that was for sure 1998" aside from being excited about Moses Moreno starting and him throwing deep on the Bears first play from scrimmage vs Tampa Bay...which I always thought was the last game of the year..but it appears it was only Week 13.

1999 the vision clears a bit because of the Cade McNown draft and the Marcus Robinson season but aside from that, no real detailed sequenced memories.

I wanted, at the time, to see Wannstedt's Bears do well. I liked their '94 playoff run with '95 being better, statistically at least, but no dice. Sort-of like the 1990 non-playoff 9-7 Steelers compared to the '89 playoff 9-7 Steelers.

My only late-'90s Bears memory was the second game of the '98 season, Bears at Steelers. The 'Burgh was quite high, some #1 spots, on many pre-season Power Rankings according to the experts. Bears were declared 'bad' by then. Yet Steelers barely beat them at home, 17-12. That, sadly, hinted at Cowher's first non-playoff year to be.

Oh, two other late-'90s Bears memories...Curtis Enis! Being a Penn State-fan, I do remember. Another NFL RB success story out of Happy Valley! The other memory was Ditka returning to Soldier on Sunday Night, early 1997. His 1-4 Saints beating his old 0-5 team, 20-17.

Many feel that the Bears were never the same in the 90s after 37-34 OT in November 95 game against Pittsburgh. It took them years to recover from that

In so many ways that basically changed two trajectories

[Hail Casares]

I wanted, at the time, to see Wannstedt's Bears do well. I liked their '94 playoff run with '95 being better, statistically at least, but no dice. Sort-of like the 1990 non-playoff 9-7 Steelers compared to the '89 playoff 9-7 Steelers.

My only late-'90s Bears memory was the second game of the '98 season, Bears at Steelers. The 'Burgh was quite high, some #1 spots, on many pre-season Power Rankings according to the experts. Bears were declared 'bad' by then. Yet Steelers barely beat them at home, 17-12. That, sadly, hinted at Cowher's first non-playoff year to be.

Oh, two other late-'90s Bears memories...Curtis Enis! Being a Penn State-fan, I do remember. Another NFL RB success story out of Happy Valley! The other memory was Ditka returning to Soldier on Sunday Night, early 1997. His 1-4 Saints beating his old 0-5 team, 20-17.

That 1995 Bears defense was pretty awful(esp against the pass)

The 95 Bears defense was strqngely excellent against the run- 5th fewest rushing yards/TD allowed

Feels like one of those things where the other team had so much success passing..they never really had to run.

[Hail Casares]

The 1997-1999 Chicago Bears.

I have an encyclopedic knowledge of Bears teams before that and after that...those three seasons swirl around in my head like a primordial soup of "suck." I can remember things FROM those seasons but very little about what year they actually occurred in or sequence of events.

1997 I know we traded for Mirer and he was terrible...after that the season is a blur.

1998 I have zero recollections that I can say "Oh yeah, that was for sure 1998" aside from being excited about Moses Moreno starting and him throwing deep on the Bears first play from scrimmage vs Tampa Bay...which I always thought was the last game of the year..but it appears it was only Week 13.

1999 the vision clears a bit because of the Cade McNown draft and the Marcus Robinson season but aside from that, no real detailed sequenced memories.

I wanted, at the time, to see Wannstedt's Bears do well. I liked their '94 playoff run with '95 being better, statistically at least, but no dice. Sort-of like the 1990 non-playoff 9-7 Steelers compared to the '89 playoff 9-7 Steelers.

My only late-'90s Bears memory was the second game of the '98 season, Bears at Steelers. The 'Burgh was quite high, some #1 spots, on many pre-season Power Rankings according to the experts. Bears were declared 'bad' by then. Yet Steelers barely beat them at home, 17-12. That, sadly, hinted at Cowher's first non-playoff year to be.

Oh, two other late-'90s Bears memories...Curtis Enis! Being a Penn State-fan, I do remember. Another NFL RB success story out of Happy Valley! The other memory was Ditka returning to Soldier on Sunday Night, early 1997. His 1-4 Saints beating his old 0-5 team, 20-17.

Many feel that the Bears were never the same in the 90s after 37-34 OT in November 95 game against Pittsburgh. It took them years to recover from that

In so many ways that basically changed two trajectories

Honestly..the wheels started coming off that season in the 2nd half of the Oilers game. The passing offense took a big downturn. They weren't as explosive and couldn't bail the defense out as consistently.

[74_75_78_79_]

Just like you, Hail, said that there were Bears events in the late-'90s in which you weren't sure what the exact year was, the same applies to me with a Bear memory from the early-'90s. That memory being the Bears' defense, now under Wanny, creating turnovers thus winning because of that. Looking back, I assumed that year would have been '94. Well after just watching, 'A Season to Build On', which chronicles the 1993 team (Wanny's first with them), I'm thinking that the memory had to have been from that season instead.

Looking at their first twelve games, '93 sure looks more respectable than all of '94 or '95! As that half hour docu states, a few from the '85 team were still onboard for another year. It's like the Giants from the very same year - though Ditka and Parcells, respectively, were no longer now with either. And, of course, both played each other in the opener, which the Giants won at Soldier. And then the next week it was Bears at Minny with...Jim McMahon as the opposing QB! Two close, rough defeats!

But then after the bye week, they put up a 3-game-win-streak which concluded with they handing the 4-0 Eagles, at the Vet, their first loss of the year! Streaky they were for they, after yet another bye, dropped their next three (and now they're 3-5).

But then came the beef of what made the campaign so promising/respectable in Wanny's first year - they, according to 'A Season to Build On', become the first team (perhaps the only to this day) in NFL history to win three-straight road games within just twelve days! First they beat SD. No, they weren't like '92 or '94, but a respectable Bobby Ross installment just the same. And then at KC. No, Montana didn't play, but beating David Krieg and that entire Schottenheimer team around him still something to hang hat on. And then...on Thanksgiving, beating the division-champ-to-be!

And then for an encore...at HOME vs the Packers! It'd be their last win at home against them until Lovie. 7-5 they now were, but the doc totally ignored the closing 4-game-skid that would follow. They had to look the part of the divison-champ-to-be after those first dozen games.

The doc did remind me of Tim Worley being on that team - and he taking over as the feature back over Neal Anderson and Cam's Dad, Ironhead (enter another Steeler, Hoge, the following year)!

Quite a bit of parallels between those '89 Steelers and '94 Bears. As for '95...if "the wheels started coming off", I didn't follow them close enough to notice. All I knew/assumed at the time, was that they were 6-2 upon my 4-4 Steelers entering Soldier Field and it seemed like they'd be better than just a plain 9-7 team that'd return to the playoffs thus me feeling real good when the 'Burgh posted the 'W' (I, correctly, thought right then and there that they were going to streak to the Super Bowl, also correctly predicting that Dallas would be awaiting them; only to change it later on to San Fran).

So what DID happen those last four games in '93??

[Crazy Packers Fan]

I’m going to rule out last-place finishes… which means only one from the Packers since I started following football in 1995. I’m also going to rule out losing seasons in general… those are also few, and the easiest ones to pick. I’d then say the 2000 Packers. While they finished with a winning record of 9-7 and were one Rams loss away from making the playoffs, that year was a catch-up effort from Week 1. Not much Favre magic, not too many stars to cheer for. 2006 was also bad, with an identical finish to 2000 (4 straight wins) but there was more hope in ‘06 than there was in 2000. I remember thinking after that ‘06 season that the Packers could make a run in ‘07, and they did. But 2000 was just utter mediocrity, even if the team’s fortunes changed for the better in ‘01.

[CSKreager]

I’m going to rule out last-place finishes… which means only one from the Packers since I started following football in 1995. I’m also going to rule out losing seasons in general… those are also few, and the easiest ones to pick. I’d then say the 2000 Packers. While they finished with a winning record of 9-7 and were one Rams loss away from making the playoffs, that year was a catch-up effort from Week 1. Not much Favre magic, not too many stars to cheer for. 2006 was also bad, with an identical finish to 2000 (4 straight wins) but there was more hope in ‘06 than there was in 2000.

Worse than 2005's 4-12?

[Hail Casares]

I’m going to rule out last-place finishes… which means only one from the Packers since I started following football in 1995. I’m also going to rule out losing seasons in general… those are also few, and the easiest ones to pick. I’d then say the 2000 Packers. While they finished with a winning record of 9-7 and were one Rams loss away from making the playoffs, that year was a catch-up effort from Week 1. Not much Favre magic, not too many stars to cheer for. 2006 was also bad, with an identical finish to 2000 (4 straight wins) but there was more hope in ‘06 than there was in 2000.

Worse than 2005's 4-12?

"I’m going to rule out last-place finishes… which means only one from the Packers since I started following football in 1995. I’m also going to rule out losing seasons in general"

[Crazy Packers Fan]

You may wonder why I didn't pick 1999's 8-8. That is actually one of my favorite Packers seasons. There were the three fourth-quarter comebacks in four games, the roller-coaster ride of three-game streaks, and the "we need more points" game to end the year. And while it worked out for the best, I still think Ray Rhodes wasn't given a fair shake. But that 2000 season had none of the fun of 1999, save for the "He Did What" play midway through the season.

[7DnBrnc53]

1994 Bills. Most of the talent was still there from the Super Bowl teams although a year older. A regression wouldn't have been surprising. 10-6 and an early playoff exit maybe. But falling all the way to 7-9 with almost the same core group was painful to watch.

The regression should have happened in 1993, but they lucked out that year, as several teams handed them victories due to one reason for another (Emmitt and Randall Cunningham not playing, poor kicking, untimely turnovers, etc....).

Although, if you watch the 30 for 30 about the 90's Bills, it's not surprising that they fell off in 94. It seemed like they didn't have anything more to give at halftime of SB 28. The wall had been hit.