The franchise is playing in its first Super Bowl in more than two decades on Sunday and the Bears coach has been bombarded with comparisons to the audacious title team of yesteryear.

    "The '85 Bears are talked about weekly, rightfully so," Smith said on Wednesday. "Chicago Bears fans are really into their football and that's given them a sense of pride. But it's a new day and time for us to do something. Those fans can talk about something else and maybe we can give that to them."

    The Bears will play the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLI in Miami's Dolphin Stadium with hopes of delivering the Windy City with its second Super Bowl championship.

    Comparisons to the 1985 team, while inevitable, can be painful.

    They were bold, brash, and very, very good. Led by Jim McMahon and Walter Payton on offense and Mike Singletary and Dan Hampton on defense, the Bears rolled over the New England Patriots 46-10 to claim Super Bowl XX.

    Middle linebacker Brian Urlacher, anchor of the Bears team, said he heard comparisons to the 1985 squad "pretty much every day during the season."

    The Bears title team was so confident they were going to win the championship, they cut a rap song, the "Super Bowl Shuffle" during the season. It even earned a Grammy nomination.

    Massive defense tackle William "The Refrigerator" Perry even scored a one-yard touchdown as a fullback during the Super Bowl rout.

    Urlacher said the numbers compiled by the defense of his predecessors were "amazing."

    "They did everything," he said. "They took it away, they sacked the quarterback, and they intercepted passes. They were dominant. There have been games where we were dominant this year, but they were dominant all season. I think they only gave up like 16 points in three playoff games so they were pretty good. They were really good."

    Smith does not think the 1985 squad "casts a shadow" over the current team. But he would like nothing more than to deliver a title and end a lot of the comparisons.

    "They have set a high standard for us and you will always be judged by your best team," he said. "Of course, that was probably our best team we've had."

    Defensive tackle Tank Johnson is 25 years old but feels like he knows the 1985 team.

    "The 1985 Bears have a tremendous legacy in Chicago," he said. "Those guys are still around and we respect them a great deal. We hear about them a lot.

    "That's the last championship football season. We hear from kids who were two, three years old when that happened, to older people who are waiting for another one."

    (Source: Shanghai Daily/Agencies)