Notebook : Refrigerator Rocks, Rolls to New Glories

Just when everyone thought William Perry had been reduced to just another defensive tackle with a missing tooth and more endorsements than he had playing minutes, the Chicago Bears and Coach Mike Ditka turned Super Bowl XX into a Fridge showcase.

For the fist time since early November, when Perry began playing more with the defensive unit, Ditka put him back on the goal-line offense.

Ditka then proceeded to use all of Perry’s talents, and some that had gone unexplored.

Against New England Sunday, Perry tried a rollout pass, but was gang-tackled--”like ants on sugar,” he said--and sacked.

Perry blocked for a Jim McMahon touchdown run, blowing linebacker Larry McGrew out of the hole.

Perry scored from one yard out himself, encountering McGrew again and knocking him backward into the end zone again.

McGrew: “I guess he kinda got the best of me, huh?”

Perry met teammate Mike Singletary helmet-on while pursuing a play, and knocked him out of the game, too

Singletary: “He said he felt bad about it. I said, ‘Hey, you’ve got to get to the football. Don’t worry about me. The Good Lord is looking out for me. I’m going to get up.’ ”

Perry’s touchdown dive made it 44-3. This might have seemed a little to the Patriots like rubbing it in, but . . .

Patriot guard Ron Wooten: “You know, I think it’s good for football to have a folk-hero. I wish it could have been a Patriot. But you have to hand it to them. They talked about it and then they went out and did it.”

Bear safety Gary Fencik: “New England took it as an insult that we didn’t take them as an equal. Today we proved they aren’t.”

Two can play this game: NBC’s Mike Weisman said he wouldn’t put President Reagan’s post-game telephone call to the winning coach on the air. But NBC ran a Tom Brokaw interview with Reagan before the game. The President said both teams had merit.

The Democrats got on the board later. Jesse Jackson, an unsuccessful candidate for the presidential nomination in 1984, visited the Bear dressing room and delivered a eulogy that went, in part:

“Just as these players became Super Bowl champions, everyone can become a Super Bowl champion of justice and peace.”

President Reagan also called Patriot owner Billy Sullivan, a prominent Boston Democrat. Boston writers had been joking that Sullivan might not take the call. Sullivan said he had sent word to the White House that he’d be pleased to receive such a call and did.

Bear defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan, sarcastically: “Throw? Haven’t you heard? That’s the way to beat the ’46.’ ”

Ryan also added that he was getting tired of hearing the same questions from successive waves of writers. Since there were almost 2,500 here, it was kind of inevitable.

Bear safety Dave Duerson, a Pro Bowl player in his first season as a starter, after taking over for another Pro Bowler, holdout Todd Bell:

“If Buddy Ryan can be duplicated, then offensive football will cease to exist. We’ve laughed all year long, the way teams have tried to play this defense. We have the only true 46 defense. What it amounts to is havoc, controlled havoc.”

Patriot tackle Brian Holloway, asked when he thought this game started slipping away: “It didn’t slip away. Things didn’t look too bright when there were two minutes left and we needed five TDs.”

Walter Payton, a Super Bowl champion in his 11th season: “You see people playing in the Super Bowl and you wonder, am I ever going to get there and see what it feels like?

“Right now I don’t feel anything. It really hasn’t sunk in. It’s one of those things you have in your mind for so long, you don’t realize when it’s actually happened.”

The first visitors on the grounds of the Superdome Sunday morning were a couple from Baton Rouge, who arrived at 7:10 a.m., nine hours before the kickoff.

They had neither game tickets nor plans to attend.

“We’re just here to get in on the excitement,” Gerald Dreith said.

The Bears have now won 39 of their last 42 games, 18 of their last 19, doing it basically with defense.

Playing the five best teams in the 1985 NFC--next to the Bears themselves-- they won by a composite 160-20.

“A lot of people tuned in just to watch our defense,” Chicago nose tackle Dan Hampton said.

There was a lot to watch.

The game matched the NFL’s odds-on Super Bowl favorite against the longest shot on the board, as determined in Las Vegas in mid-December.

At that time, with the regular season over and the playoffs about to begin, the Patriots were 40 to 1, the Bears 5 to 6.

Not until Sunday, at the end of their three-game winning streak, did the Patriots look 40 to 1.

Las Vegas listed them 10th behind all nine other playoff teams because they were expected to--and did--enter all four playoff games as underdogs to the Jets, Raiders, Dolphins and Bears.

Though attendance at the Superdome was under 90,00, the NFL peddled more than 500,000 Super Bowl game programs at $5 each.

Promoted in every NFL city, the programs were mostly sold by mail.

The Bears’ defense seems dissatisfied with just shutting down opponents. It now lights up the scoreboard, as well.

Scoring nine points and setting up 17 others, the defense helped the Bears to the largest point total in Super Bowl history.

And, as usual, the Bears defense produced the frightening statistics in more traditional categories that has many comparing it to the best defenses ever.

By halftime, New England had just one first down and minus-19 yards worth of offense and most valuable player Richard Dent knew it was all over but the celebrating.

“I think they knew it was finished at the half,” said Dent, who had 1 1/2 of Chicago’s 7 sacks and forced two of New England’s six turnovers. “The Fat Lady was beginning to sing.

“Our defense has been carrying this team throughout the year and we’ve been working hard the last two years to be the best ever. I believe we’re in the running and if we’re not, I’d like to see who’s better.”

The Bears’ 36-point victory margin was also the largest in Super Bowl history, surpassing the Raiders’ 29-point margin in Super Bowl XVIII.

“It was like a nightmare out there,” said Patriot special-teams captain Mosi Tatupu. “Mentally, we thought we were still in it, but it just got out of hand.”

Said Patriot linebacker Steve Nelson: “I’ve never been in a game like this, and it happened in the Super Bowl. I think this was such a great season for us and it dampens what we were going for. You make it your goal, and we just didn’t do it. We lost to a much better team.”

The Associated Press and United Press International also contributed to this story.