In the first round of their first-ever NFL draft, the Baltimore Ravens selected middle linebacker Ray Lewis, a seven-time All-Pro and two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year in what’s likely to soon become a Hall of Fame career.

Fifteen years earlier, in the second round of the 1981 NFL draft, the Chicago Bears selected middle linebacker Mike Singletary, an eight-time All-Pro and two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year in his own Hall of Fame career.

Football returned to Baltimore with the creation of the Ravens franchise in 1996 and, since then, they’ve been practicing a style of football that the Bears laid as a cornerstone to the “new” NFL all the way back in 1922.

Run the ball.

Control the clock.

Unleash a ferocious, attacking defense.

Convert turnovers into field position and points.

Win ugly.

Rinse.

Repeat.

After selecting University of Miami standout Lewis as the architect to their own brand of “Harm City” defense, the Ravens took only five seasons to reach – and win – the Super Bowl and NFL championship.

Linebacker Ray Lewis has been the ringleader of the Ravens' feared defenses.

Linemen like Sam Adams and Tony Siragusa, linebackers Lewis and Peter Boulware, and All-Pro defensive back Rod Woodson set the pace for a dominating, fearsome defense that led the NFL across most statistical categories.

Fifteen years earlier, linemen Dan Hampton and Richard Dent, linebackers Singletary, Otis Wilson and Wilber Marshall, and defensive backs Dave Duerson and Gary Fencik were doing precisely the same for the Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears.

In many ways, it’s as if the 2000 Ravens conjured up the 1985 Bears from 15 years before and unleashed them on an unwitting NFL, only to wind up with eerily similar championship results.

When the Bears and Ravens meet this weekend, there will be little at stake – at least for the Bears. They’re en route to a disappointing third-place finish and another season outside of the playoffs looking in.

The Ravens, on the other hand, still have an opportunity to earn a late wild-card berth in the AFC playoffs – something that 2000 team rode all the way to the NFL championship.

The Bears and Ravens have only met three times since the Ravens joined the league in 1996. There’s typically been a gap of between three and four seasons before each contest – hardly the time or stuff to engender much of a rivalry.

But when the two have met, the results are certainly within each team’s defensive-minded character.

The Bears won the first game 24-3 in 1997 but that was when both teams were last place finishers and the Ravens were still taking the training wheels off their expansion franchise.

They met again to open the 2001 season, and everyone knew the Ravens were good because they’d just won the Super Bowl. Nobody thought much of the Bears – who lost 17-6 – but then turned around to reel off 13 wins against only two more losses en route to a surprising NFC playoff berth.

The Ravens – of course – were led by middle linebacker and NFL Defensive Player of the Year Ray Lewis. The Bears countered with their own second-year phenom and NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, middle linebacker Brian Urlacher.

The third and most recent time they played was in 2005, when the Bears won a nasty 10-6 battle en route to another 11-5 season and playoff berth, while the Ravens were bottoming out to finish at the back of the pack at 6-10.

So the one time they did play with something on the line – to open the 2001 season – nobody was really aware of the Bears as a threat. The great Ray Lewis vs. Brian Urlacher, Ravens defense vs. Bears defense never much made it into the storyline – at least on the field.

But when it comes to barrooms and sports radio, the epic battle between the Bears defense and Ravens defense – well, that’s a whole different story.

And that’s because with their selections fifteen years apart, middle linebackers Mike Singletary and Ray Lewis – and the defenses they anchored – became virtually mirror images of one another.

Which is more fearsome?

Which was more dominating?

Which created the most All Pros and Hall of Famers?

Which is – simply put – the greatest defense in NFL history?

Let’s consider some of the evidence:

Linebacker Mike Singletary was the ringleader of the Bears' feared defenses of the 1980s.

The 1985 Bears defense throttled its regular season opposition, surrendering the least points in NFL history at 198. The also gave up the fewest rushing yards (1,319), the fewest rushing touchdowns (6), the fewest touchdowns overall (23), the fewest first downs (236) and intercepted the most passes (34).

The Bears defense also finished within 75 yards of leading the league in overall pass defense, finished second in sacks with 64 and tied for third in fumble recoveries with 20.

They shut out two teams during the regular season and another two in the playoffs.

The 2000 Ravens were equally as dominating against their regular-season competition, surrendering the least points in NFL history at 165 – 33 less than the prior Bears record. The Ravens also bested the Bears mark for fewest rushing yards allowed (970) and also finished tops in the league for fewest rushing touchdowns allowed (5), fewest touchdowns overall (18), forced the most fumbles (45) and recovered the most fumbles (26) as well.

The Ravens defense also finished within 155 yards of allowing the fewest yards in a season (3,813) and also within one first down of allowing the least (215).

The Bears sent five of their eleven starters to the Pro Bowl after the 1985 season: linemen Dan Hampton and Richard Dent, linebackers Singletary and Otis Wilson, and defensive back Dave Duerson.

The Ravens sent three of their eleven defensive starters to the Pro Bowl following the 2000 season: linebackers Lewis and Boulware and defensive back Woodson.

The 1985 Bears have two defensive starters enshrined in the Hall of Fame – Singletary and Hampton – and Dent continues to draw nearer to earning his own brass bust in recent votes.

The 2000 Ravens have already sent Woodson to Canton, and Lewis is widely considered a first-ballot Hall of Famer as soon as he retires and becomes eligible.

With a combination of Hall of Famer Walter Payton running the ball and controlling the clock, coupled with the Bears' attacking defense, the Monsters of the Midway finished the 1985 NFL regular season nearly unbeaten at 15-1.

With a combination of Jamal Lewis and Priest Holmes running the ball and controlling the clock, coupled with the Ravens' attacking defense, the no-name Ravens finished the 2000 NFL regular season at 12-4. That record included a five-game stretch at midseason when the Ravens offense could not score a touchdown, and yet the defense still held on in two of those games to earn a win.

Conversely, at one point of the Bears 1985 Super Bowl run, they outscored three teams by a total of 104-3 and knocked half a dozen quarterbacks out of those contests to boot.

Colorful personalities including rookie defensive tackle William “The Refrigerator” Perry and “Mongo” Steve McMichael led the Bears defense.

The Ravens are the only legendary defense in NFL history that still lacks a signature nickname. Even the unbeaten 1972 Super Bowl Champion Dolphins are known as the “No-Name” defense today.

When it came time for the playoffs, both the 1985 Bears and the 2000 Ravens – who’d each held their opponents to the least points in the regular season in NFL history – somehow found a way to turn the screws down even tighter.

The 2000 Ravens made the playoffs as a wildcard and so had to play a total of four games to win the NFL title. During that run, the Ravens defense gave up a total of one touchdown and three field goals. During the Super Bowl, when they clobbered the Giants 34-7, the only Giant score came on a special teams play.

When the Bears were shuffling to the Super Bowl title fifteen years before that, they shut out the Giants in the first round of the divisional playoffs 21-0, then shut out the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship Game 24-0, and finally walloped the AFC Champion New England Patriots 46-10 to win Super Bowl XX in New Orleans.

In winning their one and only Super Bowl, the Ravens ended every one of the Giants’ 16 possessions with either a punt or a turnover, and held the NFC Champions to 152 yards in total offense overall. The Ravens had four sacks and forced five turnovers in the championship game.

In winning their own one and only Super Bowl, the Bears held the Patriots to minus-19 yards in the first half and 123 yards overall. They also sacked the Patriots quarterbacks seven times, forced six turnovers, returned an interception for a touchdown and – fittingly – scored their final two points in a championship season on a safety.

By keeping the Giants out of the end zone, the Ravens became only the third defense in NFL history to achieve that feat in a Super Bowl, following the Super Bowl VII Dolphins and Super Bowl IX Steelers.

The only time the Patriots scored on the Bears in Super Bowl XX was with a field goal after the Bears fumbled deep in their own territory to begin the game (taking a 3-0 lead) and a meaningless touchdown in the fourth quarter when the Bears defensive starters were already on the sideline celebrating. In between those two scores, the Bears ran off 44 unanswered points.

Ray Lewis won the Super Bowl XXXV MVP trophy. Richard Dent won the same honor following Super Bowl XX.

Lewis also won Defensive Player of the Year (his first of two) to conclude the 2000 season. Mike Singletary won Defensive Player of the Year (his first of two) to end the Bears’ legendary 1985 campaign.

Singletary won the honor on the basis of 161 solo and combined tackles, three sacks, one interception, three fumble recoveries and ten pass deflections.

Lewis was equally as driven a leader, earning his Defensive Player of the Year on the basis of 137 tackles, two interceptions, three fumble recoveries and nine pass deflections.

When all is said and done, the 1985 Bears and 2000 Ravens are virtually mirror images of one another. About the only reason the Ravens are compared to the Bears is that the Bears came first. The two are ultimately the same.

They dominated.

They were feared.

They were champions.

-- THOMAS TYRER