Remembering Matt Suhey

Matt Suhey died Sunday. Thinking of him brought back good memories.

He was a starter on the greatest football team ever, the ’85 Bears. Suhey’s primary job was to block for the greatest all-around football player ever, Walter Payton. But Suhey, who was 68, did more than that. The fullback caught and ran the ball in short yardage to convert third downs time again. He was a big reason the ’85 team led the league in rushing and offense overall. And their dominance helped make the defense dominant, one-of-a-kind dominant.

The good memories I’m talking about pertain to Super Bowl XX, in which the Bears undressed the New England Patriots 46-10, at the time the widest margin of victory in the 20-year history of the game. And guess who scored that game’s first touchdown? The workmanlike Suhey, on an 11-yard run. It gave the Bears a 13-3 lead and the rout was on.

Payton famously was atypically underwhelming in that game. In fact, his fumble on the Bears’ first possession led to a short field for the Patriots, which they took advantage of in kicking a field goal to give themselves a 3-0 lead. And Bear fans around the country thought, “Uh oh. Here we go.”

But this was a different group.

I probably should be more ashamed to admit this, but the Super Bowl victory is likely the greatest moment in my life (I don’t have a wife or kids). At 14 and with no social life, the ’85 Bears improved my quality of living. That’s a fact. Personalities everyone. Their head coach, Mike Ditka, used to call them “characters with character.” He was right. They recorded a rap song about how they were going to shuffle down to New Orleans, site of that year’s Super Bowl, and win the big game (I can recite that song word for word if you ever want me to. Just so you know.) And wouldn’t you know it, they went out and did it.

I worshipped that team. Still do. Want to know how much? I created pseudonyms for most of the people in my book. If you are an astute fan of the team and of a certain age, you will recognize the Bear names. Hey, I had to find some way to amuse myself during the arduous process of writing a book.

I didn’t work Suhey into the manuscript, but he was a noteworthy Bear, not only for what he did on the field but off. He became Payton’s caretaker when he announced that he had a rare liver disease, taking Payton to and from the hospital and taking care of his finances up until he died. It was “Brian’s Song” in reverse, as Payton liked to say.

There’s probably a bigger Payton fan somewhere, I just don’t know who it is. The picture I’m using on this blog is that of my living room wall. My dad took me to my first Bears game in 1978. It was against the Seattle Seahawks (Bears lost, the great Steve Largent caught a touchdown in the corner of the end zone, I watched three Hall of Famers in Largent, Alan Page and Payton.). After the game, my dad bought the pennant in the Soldier Field parking lot, which I have framed on the wall. Orange as hell. On the other side is a framed Payton jersey, with a piece of Soldier Field’s turf underneath.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Payton’s son Jarrett once. An award was being named after his late dad and I wrote a story for the Dallas Morning News about it. I interviewed Revie Sorey, who used to expertly block for Payton on the Bears, and Jarrett.

What I remember most about Jarrett, now a radio and TV personality in Chicago, is how gracious he was in letting me go on and on and on about his dad and what he meant to me once the interview ended. Jarrett has mentioned that people come up to him constantly and do that. What I liked was that he acted genuinely touched, like it was the first time someone had ever said how special his dad was.

“Keep it coming,” Jarrett told me. “It keeps my dad alive to me.”

A special player. What a special team.

Upon leaving the Bears as their defensive coordinator in 1986, the pioneering Buddy Ryan (“That’s why they call it the 46 Zone …”) tearfully told his defense that they’d always be his heroes.

Mine, too. But also everybody on that team.