Bears Roar to 34-7 Win; Ditka Growls

Don’t write off the Chicago Bears just yet.

Reacting to criticism by the media in particular and the fans in general, Coach Mike Ditka snapped at reporters after the Bears’ resounding 34-7 victory over the Miami Dolphins Sunday.

“We like our people, we have a good team and I don’t care what others think,” said Ditka, who was asking and answering his own questions in rapid-fire order.

“We’re going to good, old-fashioned Bear football. We’re going to run, and pass when we have to.”

Quarterback Jim McMahon, healthy for a change, scored two touchdowns and directed the offense which was so dominating that the Bears controlled the ball for 45:32 to 14:28 for the Dolphins.

“A lot of people wrote us off,” said McMahon, who completed 14 of 23 passes for 172 yards. “But we have a lot of confidence in this team. We accept the role of underdogs.”

When it was over with, the Bears had the ball for 78 plays and gained 427 yards. Miami had 36 plays and 163 net yards.

“We went out there and played as bad as we’ve ever played,” Miami Coach Don Shula said. “We were bad in all phases--offense, defense and special teams. I’m bitterly disappointed in our team.”

The game plan was to keep the ball away from Miami quarterback Dan Marino and the Bears did that superbly, as Neal Anderson rushed 24 times for 124 yards and scored 2 touchdowns.

“We eliminated the turnovers and got the ball in the end zone,” Anderson said. “The game plan was to keep the ball away from their offense.”

Marino completed a career-low 9 passes in 22 attempts for 113 yards, although he passed 28 yards to Mark Clayton for the Dolphins’ only touchdown.

“We didn’t have any rhythm at all,” Marino said.

The Bear defense, fresh when called on, shackled the Dolphins, who gained only 45 yards rushing.

It was Chicago’s first win over the Dolphins in five regular-season games. The last time they met, Miami won, 38-24, to spoil Chicago’s perfect season in 1985.

The Bears scored on their first possession with Anderson going 2 yards for the first of his two touchdowns. Less than a minute later, Richard Dent recovered a fumble on the Miami 1-yard line and Anderson scored on the next play for a 14-0 lead.

McMahon ran for touchdowns of 1 and 2 yards to cap time-consuming drives in the first half, which ended with the Bears holding a 28-7 lead.