The Chicago Bears were 3-0, with all of their wins coming on
the road, as they prepared to host the Baltimore Colts on October 6, 1963. Under
68-year-old head coach and owner George Halas, “The Papa Bear”, it was apparent
that the team was ready to contend with the Packers, winners of the previous
three Western Conference titles. Assistant coach George Allen had installed a
zone defense, and as a result the defense was the key to Chicago ’s success, being strong against both
the run and the pass. The conservative offense was directed by QB Bill Wade,
who had All-Pro TE Mike Ditka and flanker Johnny Morris as receivers, as well
as a solid stable of running backs.
The Colts, under first-year Head Coach Don Shula, were 1-2
and clear underdogs coming into the game. While they still had star QB Johnny
Unitas, his two best receivers, split end Raymond Berry and flanker Jimmy Orr,
were both out with injuries and HB Lenny Moore was available but had been slow
in recovering from an appendectomy. Defensively, both star DE Gino Marchetti
and LB Bill Pellington were playing hurt.
There was a standing-room crowd of 48,998 in attendance at
Wrigley Field on an unseasonably hot afternoon, and they saw the defenses
dominate a scoreless first half. Wade failed to complete any of his first eight
passes, and his first successful throw was to FB Rick Casares for just one
yard. Bob Jencks missed a 44-yard field goal attempt for the Bears. Meanwhile,
Unitas was exposed to a heavy blitz and Baltimore
couldn’t sustain a drive against the attacking defense.
The Colts nearly scored at the end of the half, but after
Unitas threw to Moore to advance to the Chicago 35, they couldn’t
get a 42-yard field goal attempt by Jim Martin away in time.
In the third quarter, the Colts drove to the Chicago nine and finally
put points on the board when Martin booted a 16-yard field goal. With Wade
still ineffective, Halas made the decision to lift him in favor of backup QB
Rudy Bukich (pictured at top).
The 31-year-old Bukich, a ninth-year veteran out of USC, was
making his first appearance of the season. A career backup who was in his
second stint with Chicago ,
he also had a very strong arm. In the first series with Bukich behind center,
he handed off to Casares on a draw play that gained 30 yards and then passed to
Ditka, bringing the crowd to life. Two more completions to split end Bo
Farrington picked up another 37 yards. Chicago
drove to the Baltimore
21 but Jencks again missed a field goal attempt, this time from 28 yards.
On Chicago ’s next series, the
offense again moved into Baltimore
territory. With less than ten minutes remaining in the game, Bukich threw to HB
Ron Bull (pictured below) across the middle and the halfback leaped over safety Andy Nelson and
had clear sailing to score a 44-yard touchdown. He was helped by an outstanding
block by Ditka on Baltimore CB Bob Boyd.
Five minutes later, after recovering a fumble by the Colts,
Roger LeClerc capped the scoring with a 16-yard field goal. It was another fortuitous
personnel shift by Coach Halas with LeClerc coming in to placekick instead of
Jencks, and it was all the Bears needed as they came away with a hard-fought
10-3 win.
The Bears had the edge in total yards (281 to 210) and first
downs (15 to 11). Chicago had the better running
total, gaining 147 yards to Baltimore ’s
45 on 22 attempts. While the Bears applied constant pressure on Unitas, they
sacked him twice, compared to three sacks by the Colts. Baltimore turned the ball over two times to
one given up by the Bears.
Bill Wade completed just 5 of 21 passes for 50 yards with
one intercepted before he was relieved. Rudy Bukich was successful on 6 of 7
throws for 112 yards and the game’s lone TD. Rick Casares ran for 54 yards on 7
carries and Ron Bull added 39 yards on 13 attempts and also caught two passes
for 44 yards and the TD. Bo Farrington had three pass receptions for 42 yards.
For the Colts, Johnny Unitas went to the air 36 times and
completed 21 for 182 yards and had one intercepted. HB Tom Matte led the club
with 7 catches for 56 yards but gained just 8 rushing yards on 5 carries. FB
J.W. Lockett gained a team-leading 13 yards on 10 rushing attempts. Flanker
Willie Richardson, filling in for the injured Jimmy Orr, pulled in 6 passes for
53 yards.
The win kept the Bears undefeated at 4-0 and a game in front
of the 3-1 Green Bay Packers. It would be a close battle between the two clubs
all year with Chicago winning the Western
Conference with an 11-1-2 record (as opposed to Green Bay ’s 11-2-1, with both losses coming
against the Bears). Chicago
defeated the New York Giants to win the NFL title. The Colts came in third in
the Western Conference at 8-6.
Rudy Bukich returned to the bench as Bill Wade quarterbacked
the Bears the rest of the way through the NFL Championship game. He appeared in
six contests and completed 29 of 43 passes for 369 yards with three touchdowns
and two interceptions. Bukich supplanted Wade in 1964 and had his finest season
in ’65 when he led the NFL in passing. But by the end of his 14-year pro
career, he had returned to the backup role that he held during most of that
time.
