'nuff said!
Posted on 05/15/2006 10:40:54 AM PDT by 300magnum
"But as a football player, his instincts and scrambling ability have been off the charts. The Bears would have done well to keep him."
As I recall, his biggest problem with the Bears was the lack of support from his teammates. They resented him coming in at the end of the '86 season. The offensive line always gave 110% for McMahon, but fell off signficantly with Tomczak and especially Flutie...
i have to disagree. He didn't get a chance with Chicago to embarass Ditka, and he played pretty well at New England right after he left there, compiling a winning record there as a starter. The CFL was good for him, but he could have gotten seasoning in the NFL as well imo. Although I'll admit I'm out of my depth arguing CFL with a Yooper!
Did you hear about Tom (Iron Mountain)Izzo naming his son after Mateen Cleaves? Pretty awesome imo.
'nuff said!
Yeah, McMahon was constantly using his awesome charisma to undermine the other QBs, especially T-Zack and Flutie.
I heard that it really wasn't so much a 'retirement' as it was that Flutie was traded for some slightly-used sports equipment.
What's really pathetic about this is that I woulda sworn this guy had retired ten years ago.
He endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2000, at which point I basically wrote him off.
Flutie was always too small to play in the NFL (even in the mid-1980s a QB under 6'2" was considered "smallish," and a 5'9" QB was considered "tiny"), which was why the Bears got so much grief for drafting him.
In his stint with the Bears, his biggest problem was poor decision-making. He wasn't ready for the NFL. He scrambled around and then threw interceptions. McMahon scrambled around - and threw touchdowns.
After seasoning in Canada, when Flutie returned to the NFL he was a much better, smarter, savvier and more mature athlete. He was a pleasure to watch when he played for the Bills.
This might interest you from the Bears History Channel:
It has been well documented in several books on the subject that the off-field distractions played a part in the demise of a potential dynasty. Players envied others that received more attention (and money); even player's wives became competitive with each other. In a 2004 documentary, then General Manager Jerry Vainisi said he was very concerned about the team focusing too much on off-the-field issues, but with the Head Coach doing more endorsements than anyone, there wasn't much that could be done. In the same documentary, Ditka said "if you think I wasn't going to enjoy the fruits of my labor, you're crazy."
Then there was the trade for quarterback Doug Flutie, the mother of all distractions. Ditka and Vanisi engineered the trade for the diminutive signal-caller, reportedly against the advice of President Michael McCaskey and personnel boss Bill Tobin. Ditka and Vainisi felt they had to shore up the quarterback situation with McMahon's recurring injuries, so they traded '87 draft picks for the 1984 Heisman Trophy winner from Boston College.
The trade for Flutie did nothing but inflame the team, which felt to a man that Tomczak and Steve Fuller were capable of carrying the Bears to another Super Bowl.
http://www.bearshistory.com/seasons/1986chicagobears.aspx
I am not a football fan, but when Doug played for Buffalo, he just brought that team together and provided enthusiasm and excitement that I hadn't seen before or since. He was a leader who brought the team together.
The Bears won the '85 Super Bowl while rife with dissension. I remember Flutie on offense. I wanted to love him. He just didn't git r dun.
That is interesting! I don't disagree, but he still was just a rookie and QBs take time to develop. McMahon's yapping about "America's favorite dwarf" like so much of what (I think over-rated) McMahon said and did, was highly unprofessional, although on the field i must admit he did "git'r dun."
Votes and supports Democrats. F'im!
New England fans will never forget when he filled in during the strike season wining 75% of his games, coach Ray Berry benched him in favor of 'Champagne' Tony Eason who stunk the joint out to just miss the playoffs.
He was fun and he was tough, but given the defense that team had the fact they won only one Super Bowl is quite simply terrible. When T-Zack got his chance, he did just as well and in fact was a better runner than McMahon. he was good, but as far as wins you have to take into consideration the fact that the Bears were the most talented team that year, maybe of any year. It wasn't just the defense-- they were loaded at every offensive position, too.
Was that the Hail Mary pass?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.