By Sarah Force
Medill Reports
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Seattle Seahawks assistant head coach Leslie Frazier knows what it takes to beat the New England Patriots in a Super Bowl. This year’s championship game marks the 40th anniversary of the Chicago Bears’ 46-10 victory over the Patriots in Super Bowl XX, when Frazier started at cornerback for Chicago.
Frazier, now 66, signed with Chicago in 1981 and became a key member of the Bears’ seminal “46” defense. He says there are still remnants of the 46 in the Seahawks’ defensive strategy. Frazier led the Bears in interceptions for three consecutive seasons between 1983 and 1985. One of those interceptions was a 1984 pick against the Packers that John Madden called “probably the greatest interception that (he’s) ever seen.”
Frazier, the only member of the ’85 Bears still working in the NFL, said he hopes to serve the Patriots another Super Bowl loss on Sunday, this time from the sidelines. To Frazier, the parallelism is significant.
“One of my former teammates texted me about the fact that this is the 40th anniversary and it was New England that we played, and it hadn’t really dawned on me as we were getting ready to play the championship game against the Rams,” Frazier said. “Then afterwards it hit me. You know, it’s full circle in a lot of ways. Here we are playing New England 40 years later, and it’s just a special moment to be in this position, to be able to compete for another world championship, which would be my third as a coach and player. So it’s just very humbling in so many ways.”
The 1986 win — the only Super Bowl victory in Bears history — was bittersweet for the cornerback. Frazier suffered a career-ending knee injury in the second quarter that ultimately led him to a coaching career.
Frazier didn’t initially aspire to coach. After some convincing, he founded the Trinity International University football team in 1988 and was head coach until 1996, winning two conference titles.
“It took me about six months before I finally agreed to do it (coach), and it was the best decision I ever made in my life, and it’s taken me to where I am now, so I’m very, very thankful,” Frazier said. “That injury probably had a lot to do with my going into coaching.”
He now boasts more than 30 years of coaching experience, notably as the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings from 2010-13 and as the Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator from 2017-22. He won his second Super Bowl in 2007 as the defensive backs coach for the Indianapolis Colts — against the Bears, in another moment of Super Bowl symmetry.
Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald is also thankful Frazier chose coaching. Frazier and Macdonald worked together on the Baltimore Ravens coaching staff in 2016, when Frazier served as secondary coach and mentored Macdonald in his role as a defensive assistant. When Macdonald was hired by the Seahawks in 2024 as the youngest head coach in the NFL, Frazier was one of the first people he called.
“Man, I love Leslie Frazier,” Macdonald said. “Talk about someone that you look up to as a role model in your life. He’s right there, and he’s been a steadfast presence for me personally. He’s just been a steady and rock for me and the rest of the team. Great communicator, just understands the game and what matters, what works, what doesn’t, and he’s been a great sounding board this whole process.”
Frazier’s impact is also felt by Seahawks players. Devon Witherspoon — a cornerback, like Frazier – said, “To have an OG like that in the room to instill ‘veteranism’ and put his foot down about certain things, you can’t teach that. He’s just a great role model, a great person to look up to, to ask questions, he’s everything you want in an OG.”
For Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold, Frazier’s leadership through Seattle’s dominant season has been invaluable.
“He’s unbelievable, just what he’s meant to this team. He means the world to us as players,” Darnold said. “The advice that I’ve gotten from him throughout the season — I know Coach Mike says the same thing about him. He’s kind of one of those secret weapons on our team that not a lot of people know about.”
Frazier still keeps in touch with the “Shufflin’ Crew” of 1985, who reached pre-internet virality with their “Super Bowl Shuffle” music video.
“Guys like Gary Fencik, Tyrone Keys, Jim Osborne the other day, just different guys shoot me texts and calls all the time,” Frazier said.
It wasn’t the dance rehearsals, or even the Grammy nomination, that solidified Frazier’s lasting relationships with his Bears teammates — it was the Super Bowl ring. Frazier hopes to give that lifelong bond to his Seahawks with a win on Sunday.
“This team, praying that we go ahead and win it on Sunday, will be forever abundant by this game and these relationships will last forever, because that’s exactly what it’s been like for me with the guys I played with in the 1986 Super Bowl,” Frazier said. “That relationship, even though we’re not around each other all the time, it’s like we are. As soon as one of them calls or shoots a text, it’s like we see each other all the time. It’s a special, special feeling.”
Sarah Force is a sports media specialization graduate student at Medill.