Monsters: The 1985 Chicago Bears and the Wild Heart of Football

Although the 1980s Chicago Bears won just one Super Bowl, that 1985 championship team was as dominant and captivating as any in NFL history. On the field, the fierce, marauding "46" defense was arguably the greatest ever, while on the sidelines there was compelling, edgy tension between fiery head coach Mike Ditka and feisty, innovative defensive coach Buddy Ryan. Cohen (The Fish That Ate the Whale), a Chicago native, was a teenage fan when that legendary team won its lone title. More than 25 years later, he revisits most of the key figures, and his interviews with charismatic, outlandish team leaders Jim McMahon, Dan Hampton, and Steve McMichael make for fun and informative reading. Unfortunately, Cohen injects his own life into the team's story much too often, and his treatment of the early years of the franchise is riddled with a series of factual errors that one hopes will be corrected in the finished copy.