Publication Date: 11-25-2025

The Shuffle (2025) review

Dir. Jeff Cameron

By: Steve Pulaski

Rating: ★★★

It was the summer of 2005. Maybe 2006. Memory is fungible. All I know is that my parents sent me to YMCA camp for multiple weeks across multiple summers as a prepubescent kid, and I was forced into a barrage of indoor and outdoor activities. During one particular week of camp, our counselors decided it would be fun if we, as a group, would reenact the Chicago Bears’ famous “Super Bowl Shuffle” for our parents when they returned to pick us up on the final day.

At that point in my life, sports meant very little to me, but my grandmother was a die-hard Bears fan, so I had reason to be excited. After drawing names out of a hat, I ended up with the role of “L.A. Mike” Richardson, Chicago’s greedy corner, who went on to live a life straight out of the song that reps his hometown of Compton. I rapped my lines while reading off a note-card, having a blast, and bonding with other kids who played the likes of the great Walter Payton, Mike Singletary, Gary Fencik, etc. I can still remember my father — a 49ers fan with a venomous hatred for the Bears — saying to me on the car-ride home that afternoon: “I didn’t spend money on this camp so you could sing garbage music for a garbage team.” That’s what I recall him saying. In actuality, it was probably more vulgar.

Haters be damned. “The Super Bowl Shuffle” remains the most iconic song attached to any NFL team in the league’s storied history; sung by the greatest team in football history. Even the now-die-hard yet deeply disillusioned Bears fan in me — too young to have witnessed the 1985 team first-hand, and simultaneously starving for a franchise so stuck in the past to move forward onto a path of modern glory — couldn’t help but smile watching The Shuffle. This pithy, sub-50-minute HBO documentary on a novelty hit, which could’ve eventually been viewed as a jinx on a once-in-a-generation team, gives acute insight into the makings of an unlikely, national sensation.

Of all the crazy things the 1985 Chicago Bears did — from starring in a plethora of TV commercials, making late night TV appearances, and being the subject of a recurring bit on Saturday Night Live — the wackiest remains “The Super Bowl Shuffle,” a one-off song that was the brainchild of the late Dick Meyer. Meyer was the advertising executive behind Jōvan musk oil, who, upon retirement, pursued his passion of music and founded Red Label Records in Chicago. Inspired by contemporary charity projects like “We Are the World” and Live-Aid, Meyer pitched the Bears a funky rap tune accompanied with a line dance that would fittingly compliment there then-undefeated season. They were a dominant team with all the personalities and playmaking to back it up. Many football players would scoff at the idea, but Meyer wanted to direct the proceeds raised from the song and video to go directly to the Chicago Community Trust to help those in need of food, shelter, and clothing.

The song itself was reworked from an unreleased recording called “The Kingfish Shuffle,” based on the character from Amos ‘n’ Andy in the 1950s. A drum machine was intermixed with the groovy beat, and with the agreement from some of the most famous Bears, such as Payton, Singletary, Jim McMahon, and the inimitable William “The Refrigerator” Perry, “The Shuffle” was born, with that iconic chorus: “We are the Bears Shufflin’ Crew, shufflin’ on down, doin’ it for you, we’re so bad, we know we’re good, blowin’ your mind like we knew we would.”

While the song was recorded in Meyer’s basement during Week 7 of the season, the music video shoot wasn’t set until early December. Of course, it fell on the Tuesday after the Bears suffered an embarrassing 38-24 loss to the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football, which soiled their undefeated season. Singletary and Bears wide receiver Willie Gault recall trying to rally the team to honor the commitment of shooting the video. Easier said than done after a deflating loss like that one.

Jeff Cameron’s short treats us to a wealth of behind-the-scenes footage I’m not sure has seen the light-of-day prior to this documentary. The fact that so much extraneous footage was captured during the production of the music video is astonishing. Ultimately, McMahon and Payton were no-shows on the day of the shoot. Meyer implored they record their parts in front of a blue screen at a Halas Hall. Although it’s abundantly clear they’re not in the same room as their peers, the editing, for the time, in this guerilla fashion, was commendable.

Upon release, “The Super Bowl Shuffle” was an immediate hit in Chicago and beyond. The single sold for $1.99; the VHS for $19.95. The song itself reached #41 on the Billboard charts, and was nominated for a Grammy. Most importantly, it racked up $300,000 for charity, later becoming the second-best-selling music video ever, behind Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” An unfathomable success to say the least.

Joe Namath’s guarantee. Tom Brady and the Patriots’ improbable Super Bowl comeback against the Atlanta Falcons. “The Super Bowl Shuffle.” What would the unwritten book of the NFL say if any of these circumstances went the other way? This song was recorded almost two months before the NFL playoffs occurred, the video released on the heels of the team’s first (and only) loss of the year. Had the Bears lost in the playoffs, or that year’s Super Bowl — instead of bludgeoning the New England Patriots by a score of 46-10 — what would’ve been made of the “Super Bowl Shuffle?” Would we even remember it? Would it be an oddity to be discovered like the 1985 New England Patriots’ song, recorded as a rebuttal?

The Shuffle is 42 minutes long. Its release on the week of Thanksgiving is fitting as well. It’s the perfect appetizer to pair with a typically relaxing time of the year for millions, capped off by great food, great people, and everlasting memories of things that bring a smile to our faces. For me, the 1985 Bears, and the “Super Bowl Shuffle,” will always be one.

My review of 30 for 30: The ’85 Bears (2016)
My review of ’85: The Greatest Team in Football History (2018)

Directed by: Jeff Cameron.