BEARS YOU COULD BELIEVE IN
AS THE CURRENT CREW FIGURES OUT WHERE IT’S GOING, WE TAKE STOCK OF THE LEGACIES OF SOME PAST STARS
JIM MCMAHON’S LEGACY: HE WAS A WINNER
How many Super Bowls would the Bears have won if Jim McMahon had stayed healthy? That might be the ultimate retrospective question about the Mike Ditka-era Bears, even more than “Was the ’85 Bears defense the best of all time?”
McMahon was just another character on Ditka’s Bears teams, but the power of his personality can’t be overlooked. He was a winner. He instilled a confidence in his teammates. He commanded the respect of even those who didn’t like him. And though he thought like a linebacker, he had a knack for playing quarterback.
Pro Football Weekly’s scouting report by Joel Buchsbaum in 1982 had him pegged: “Tremendous field presence and awareness. Can improvise when the set play breaks down. Fine leader, with excellent huddle command . . . . Has the athletic ability to turn a busted play into a big gain . . . . Has the killer instinct . . . . True gamer who plays best in the clutch . . . . Erased a 20-point deficit in the last four minutes of the Holiday Bowl . . . . Plays taller than his size.”
Those were accurate attributes — probably never more apparent than in the classic Thursday night game against the Vikings at the Metrodome in 1985. Benched by Ditka to rest a sore back and bruised leg on a short week, McMahon talked his way into the game in the third quarter with the Bears trailing 17-9 and lit a spark like never before. He threw three touchdown passes in seven attempts in a span of 6:40 on the game clock — a 70-yard touchdown pass to Willie Gault on his first pass; a 25-yard touchdown pass to Dennis McKinnon on his second pass; and a 43-yard touchdown pass to McKinnon to give the Bears a 30-17 lead en route to a 33-24 victory.
McMahon did not put up Hall of Fame numbers; in seven seasons with the Bears, his passer rating was 80.4, with 67 touchdowns and 56 interceptions. But his legacy in Bears history is indelible — the Bears were never better than when he was healthy.
In the heart of the Ditka era — from Week 11 in 1983 through their last serious Super Bowl run in 1988, the Bears were 41-6 (.872) when McMahon started and had two more victories with him in relief against the Vikings in 1985 and the Buccaneers in 1987. (In four of the six losses, he did not finish because of injury.) In the same span, they were 22-11 (.667) when McMahon was out.
McMahon missed the playoffs in 1984 (fractured hand/bruised back) and 1986 (shoulder). He played in the postseason after long layoffs for injury in 1987 (pulled hamstring) and 1988 (sprained knee) — and lost both times. Only one time did McMahon play in the postseason when he wasn’t coming off an injury: 1985.