This coming Monday night the Vikes will play the Bears in what could be the biggest game in the series since the Mike Ditka era. Ditka hated the Dome and referred to it sarcastically with such nicknames as The Rollerdome, The Tinkerdome, The stockyard.

This will be another fun game to watch as the Bears play the Vikings in this building. The stories of their visits already approach renowned status. Many of the games have featured a circus atmosphere, with Ditka as ringmaster.

"[Mike] Ditka hated that place," former Bears receiver Tom Waddle said. "He wasn't real fond of indoor facilities anyway, but for whatever reason, he really hated that one. I didn't think it was all that bad. It did get awfully loud and was hard to breathe in there."

Bears games at the Dome were about Ditka and Vikings cheerleaders on roller skates. There were plastic cows, horses and pigs. In 1998 there was dancing and prancing at the end of a blowout.

The games have seen heartbreak for Vikings fans with a below par Jim McMahon producing a mind-blowing comeback. The games have also produced euphoria for fans of the Vikings as well. Especially when it involved seeing Ditka at his worst such as when he directed a tirade at Jim Harbaugh on the sideline after a Harbaugh audible resulted in an interception returned for a touchdown. That was perhaps the loudest I have ever heard the Dome and I swear the roof was going to come off. More on that later.

Although the Bears' first visit to the Metrodome was in 1982, the fun didn't start until Sept. 19, 1985, the third game of the Bears Super Bowl season. It was a rare Thursday night game, and McMahon had hurt his neck four days earlier and been put in traction. Then he developed an infection in his knee.

The Bears were losing 17-9 midway through the third quarter and McMahon was beseeching Ditka to let him play. Ditka relented and inserted McMahon who threw a touchdown bomb to Willie Gault on the first play. On his next play, McMahon threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Dennis McKinnon. Five plays later, he threw another touchdown to McKinnon. The Bears won 33-24. I was heartbroken.

The next significant episode came in December 1987, when Ditka said the Metrodome was only good for roller-skating and called it the Rollerdome. Ditka in later years developed other names for the Dome. He compared the stadium to a stockyard, and the Vikings put up plastic animals. He called it a Tinkerdome, and someone erected a Tinker Toys monument.

Someone sent Ditka some Rollerblades after his Rollerdome comment, and he rode them around his office for the TV cameras. During the game that Sunday, the Vikings' cheerleaders wore roller skates, as well as headbands and sunglasses to ridicule McMahon. The Bears went on to win 30-24 on Dec. 6 on a last-minute pass from Mike Tomczak to Dennis Gentry. Another heartbreaking loss for the Purple.

Then things changed for the Bears and Vikes fans. Things started to curdle for Ditka at the Metrodome on Oct. 4, 1992. The Bears were leading 20-0 when Harbaugh changed a call at the line of scrimmage. Ditka had instructed Harbaugh not to call any audibles because of the noise in the dome. No one heard the change.

Harbaugh's pass was intercepted by Todd Scott and run back for a touchdown. Ditka went wacky, screaming at Harbaugh on national TV and on the Metrodome scoreboard. It prompted the crowd to yell even louder and helped bury the Bears, who lost 21-20. The clash was seen as the unraveling of the Bears and also of Ditka, who was fired at the end of the season.

Then there was December 1, 1994. Two plays after the Bears' Kevin Butler missed a 40-yard field goal attempt in overtime, the Vikings' Warren Moon passed 65 yards to Cris Carter for a touchdown and an improbable 33-27 victory on a rare Thursday night game at the Metrodome. The victory pushed the Vikings into a first-place tie with the Bears. It was more significant because it gave the Vikings the tiebreaker on the Bears by virtue of their two victories in head-to-head games.

The most recent significant moment came on Dec. 6, 1998, when the Bears were faltering under Dave Wannstedt. The Vikings won the Sunday night game 48-22, and late in the blowout, the Vikings Dwayne Rudd recovered a fumble and ran 94 yards for a touchdown. He slowed at the 10 for some dancing, and then walked into the end zone.

I recall the better story that the Vikings John Randle sat on Bears quarterback Steve Stenstrom's head and asked him if he "had a Snickers bar because they'd be there awhile".... as Rudd ran the fumble back the length of the field. Ah, those were the days.

No one on the Bears team retaliated against Rudd. Wannstedt was gone soon thereafter. But bad blood from the Rudd episode lingered for years.

So what now? Will bad blood linger from Adrian Peterson embarrassing the Bears back in October?

No one is promoting more clowning around, but for the Bears at the Metrodome--plastic animals or not--the circus music always is playing. Expect nothing less this coming Monday night. Expect a lot of Adrian Peterson jumping into the stands (yes, that is yours truly in the purple suit just after AP's first TD of his career against the Falcons).

Jottings: Join the Vikings team on Facebook! Create waves, take Vikings trivia, look at photos, talk smack. Check out Facebook if you haven't already.

Posted by maasx003 at December 15, 2007 01:44 AM