Pat Lange

The Bears have the best scoring defense in the NFL and an efficient running game; passing is not a priority. McMahon averages 23 attempts per game and exceeds 200 yards just twice in the first eight games. In Week 9 he suffers a knee sprain that lingers through the rest of the regular season.

1988: The quarterback is Jim McMahon, who once broke into Bob Hope's hotel suite for a midnight snack. In Week 1 he throws for 172 yards and no TDs, but does score two on the ground. In fact, the Bears collectively rush for 262 yards and 5 TDs in a 34-7 drubbing of Dan Marino's Dolphins.

None of this works, by the way. After a 4-0 start, the Bears close the season 6-10. Despite the QB chaos, the offense is basically competent, and it's the defense that has taken a step back. Neal Anderson has a career year at running back, with 1,275 yards and 11 TDs.

Tomczak continues to start but gets the quick hook twice more before Harbaugh gets a real start in Week 9. He gets the hook himself after three picks in Week 11 against, again, Tampa. A Tomczak rib injury brings back Harbaugh, who is then knocked out of Week 17, so Tomczak finishes the final game.

Tomczak throws a TD in his first six starts but misses the yardage in Week 3, a 38-7 win over Minnesota, and Week 5, a 42-35 loss to Tampa. Ditka benches him late in Tampa for having the temerity to call an audible, which will become a signature Ditka move. This time Harbaugh is the beneficiary.

1989: Mike Tomczak is the controversial starter, winning the job from Jim McMahon in training camp. Harbaugh, despite his 1st-round pedigree, is an afterthought, but the Bears like him enough to trade away McMahon. They beat the Bengals Week 1 but Tomczak only has 159 yards on 10/24 passing.

The Bears muscle past the Saints in the wildcard round, passing for 188 yards and rushing for 189 in a 16-6 win. That formula breaks down against Giants in the next round. Opposing backup QB Jeff Hostetler runs for more yards than the entire Bears offense, and they fall 31-3 to the eventual champs.

Harbaugh won't throw much as the Bears run for over 150 yards per game, nearly equal to their passing output. He also chips in 321 yards rushing and a career-high 4 TDs, but a separated shoulder ends his season at Detroit in Week 15. Mike Tomczak starts the final two games of an 11-5 year.

1990: Remember league-average passing? Those days are ahead of us. In Week 1, Harbaugh throws for 203 yards, but the end zone belongs to Neal Anderson. Only he and kicker Kevin Butler score in a clean 17-0 win over Seattle and future Bear Dave Krieg. www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/19...

My utmost respect to the Python folks for standing by their values on this one.

Saying "We're halfway home in Game 4!" is breathtaking hubris after Game 3 demonstrated that baseball games have no definite boundaries.

It's too much baseball. Now they're out of baseball. I'm out of baseball. The baseball is out.

The strike zone will get higher until morale improves.

6'3", a big arm, aggressive scrambling, and sometimes erratic decision-making? I'm increasingly convinced that Jim Harbaugh is, within the bounds of the football field, basically the same guy as Jay Cutler. Probably a bad idea to give Jay a Big Ten coaching gig, though.

Hosting the Cowboys for the wild card, the Bears dominate possession, but two trips inside the 5 net three points. The Bears get their first TD late in the 4th quarter on a Harbaugh pass to Tom Waddle. On the next drive, a pick with 1:12 remaining ends the comeback attempt, and they lose 17-13.

Harbaugh starts every game and turns in a season line of 3,121-15-16, the #11 Bears passing season. This is league-average passing for 1991. With a strong defense and a productive rushing attack led by Neal Anderson, it's enough for an 11-5 record and a wild card spot.

This is a better season for Harbaugh, but passing consistency is elusive. In Weeks 8-12 he has five straight games with a TD, but this includes a bizarre 5/22 for 61-1-2 performance in New Orleans. The Bears win that one 20-17. A majority of Harbaugh's completions come on the final drive.

1991: What if all the same guys were a year younger? We still stop at Week 1, although Harbaugh is an efficient 17/24 for 186-1-0 in a 10-6 win over the Vikings. The Bears run the ball 33 times for 2.7 yards a carry. www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/19...

Despite losing three starts to the likes of Peter Tom Willis and Will Furrer, Harbaugh's 1992 is the #20 Bears passing season, with a total of 2,486 yards, 13 TDs (10 in the first seven games), and 12 picks. He also has a knack for scrambling and adds 272 yards and a TD on the ground.

Harbaugh reaches 200+/1+ in four of the first six games, and the Bears are 4-3 with a Week 8 win over Green Bay. Then the whole wagon falls apart. Harbaugh struggles and clashes over play calling with Mike Ditka, who benches him twice. The backups fare no better, and Ditka exits on a 5-11 record.

1992: Ongoing QB situation Harbaugh is forced to throw more this year, but it starts well with a 227-2-0 effort to beat the Lions. In Week 2 the wheels come off, and not one of his 45 attempted passes is a TD. The result is a 28-6 loss to New Orleans. www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/19...

We join/part ways here with 6-year Bears coach Dave Wannstedt, a Super Bowl winner as DC with the Cowboys. As a head coach, he gets exactly one playoff win each with the Bears and later the Miami Dolphins (also built on running and defense), but he does have that classic Yinzer accent going for him.

178 yards is his third-highest total of the year, and he only reaches 200 yards once in 15 games. This is another Bears team that does not throw the football unless forced to, and it's not great when they do. Harbaugh's season line is just 2,002-7-11, and the team struggles to a 7-9 record.

1993: Our guy is Jim Harbaugh, current coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, college football national champion, all-around maniac, and certainly some kind of quarterback. In Week 1 Harbaugh throws for 178-1-1 in a 26-20 home loss to the Giants. www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/19...

I really had no idea what I was getting into when I started researching this. I was thrilled for the 1994 playoff win, but those '95 Bears are where I started to really latch onto the players, so that Kramer/Conway/Graham offense has an outsize place in my memories. But okay, onwards.

Before he tried to kill himself, Erik Kramer saved a kid battling his own darkness A salute to an N.C. State legend who battled depression and nearly took his own life in Calabasas before finding his way back. He has inspired The Times' Ben Bolch throughout his life.

The story of Kramer's post-football life is tragic and at times gruesome. Sportswriter Ben Bolch spoke with him and puts these struggles in the context of his childhood fandom. sports.yahoo.com/tried-kill-h...

Kramer's NFL career is a reminder of how violent a sport football was in the 90s. It continues to be so, but many tackles (and hits on quarterbacks in particular) that are now penalized were legal at this time. The long-term effects of concussions were also not fully acknowledged or understood.

Joe Alt implies a Joe Main.

For completeness, Kramer's 1997 is #13 in the Bears season ranks at 3,011-14-14. We skipped past that amid all the Rick Mirer drama. After the Bears, he signs in San Diego. He gets four more starts but then is hospitalized with neck spasms. On doctors' advice, he retires rather than risk paralysis.

In 49 games over five tumultuous years in Chicago, Erik Kramer throws for 10,582 yards, 63 TDs, and 45 INTs. That puts him 6th on the career passing list and makes him the only undrafted player in the top 10. In '91, he also leads the only Detroit Lions playoff victory between 1957 and 2023.