October 21, 1985: The Refrigerator scores — and the Bears invent a goal-line star

Forty-one years ago next Tuesday, on October 21, 1985, a 308-pound rookie defensive tackle lined up in the Chicago Bears’ backfield on Monday Night Football, took a handoff from Jim McMahon, and scored from the 1-yard line against the Green Bay Packers. William Perry — already nicknamed The Refrigerator — had his first NFL touchdown. The Bears won 23-7 at Soldier Field and stayed undefeated at 7-0 on the way to Super Bowl XX.

Mike Ditka, who called the play and coached that 15-1 team, died on October 9, 2026, at 86. The anniversary lands in a week when Chicago is still talking about him — and about the night he turned a defensive lineman into a national punchline that somehow also worked.

How a defensive tackle got into the backfield

Perry was a first-round pick out of Clemson in 1985, listed around 325 pounds and already famous for his size. Ditka first used him as a goal-line fullback the week before, against the San Francisco 49ers: two carries for four yards at the end of a 26-10 win. Against Green Bay he went further.

The Packers scored first — Lynn Dickey hit James Lofton for a 27-yard touchdown in the opening quarter. Then Chicago’s second quarter flipped the game. Walter Payton scored from the 2 with Perry as the lead blocker. After a Wilber Marshall interception, the Bears faced first-and-goal at the 1. This time McMahon handed to Perry. The Fridge bounced into the end zone, spiked the ball, and Soldier Field erupted. Payton added another short score with Perry clearing Packers linebacker George Cumby, and Otis Wilson later sacked Jim Zorn for a safety.

The play that made The Fridge a star

The Monday night call turned the score into comedy gold — comparing Perry to Red Grange and Gale Sayers while a 300-pound man left his feet at the goal line — and the clip still circulates every October:

Ditka spent the next day defending the gimmick. Some Packers and some announcers called it a rub; Ditka called it football. Payton finished with 112 rushing yards. Perry confirmed he was down to about 308 pounds — 17 under his listed weight — and suddenly every short-yardage package in America wanted a big man in the backfield.

Two weeks later, and then the Super Bowl

On November 3, 1985, the Bears beat Green Bay again, 16-10 at Lambeau Field. Perry scored again — this time on a short touchdown catch from McMahon. In Super Bowl XX on January 26, 1986, against the New England Patriots, Perry scored a one-yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter of Chicago’s 46-10 win. The Fridge became the face of the most famous defense of the decade, even though his main job was still rushing the passer.

Why the night still matters

The Fridge was a novelty who also scored real points for a championship team. Goal-line packages still borrow the idea — a heavy extra blocker or a jumbo back — even if few of them become breakfast-cereal celebrities. Ditka’s willingness to put Perry in the backfield on national television, then keep doing it, is part of why the 1985 Bears feel larger than a 15-1 season.

This coming Tuesday marks 41 years since that first touchdown. Chicago will remember Ditka. Green Bay will remember getting run over by a defensive tackle. And the clip of Perry leaving his feet at the 1 will roll again, because some football moments refuse to stay in 1985.