The ’85 Bears (2016)

Director: Jason Hehir

Cast: Vince Vaughn, Eric Dickerson, Mike Ditka

101 mins. Not Rated.

In The ’85 Bears, the newest documentary from the popular ESPN series 30 for 30, we get a glimpse at one of the best professional football teams in history, and how they rose up from obscurity, as well as their subsequent fall from grace, narrated by Vince Vaughn (TV’s True Detective, The Internship).

Documentary filmmaker Jason Hehir explores the contributions made by head coach Mike Ditka, the infamous QB Jim McMahon, Walter Peyton, Mike Singletary, Buddy Ryan and The Refrigerator himself, William Perry. He goes into extensive detail on what each player brought to the table, and how their fame, their collective ego, and their successes, ultimately lead to their downfall.

Now, this was all very interesting to me, as I’d not known most of it, but this doc caters to its real fans in the sports community, indulging in information that would likely be of more interest to sports fans. It’s a fine approach, but it does lead to a meandering quality that has large sections easily able to be omitted.

The ’85 Bears is a doc for Bears fans. It targets its core audience and gives a good show. It has pacing issues and a bit too much focus on topics that don’t carry through the entire film. I enjoyed it mildly, but there were definite issues in the film’s ability to tell a cohesive story.

2.5/5

-Kyle A. Goethe