The news and opinions keep flowing in. After a couple years of flirting with the idea, the Chicago Bulls finally traded All-Star Jimmy Butler. He heads off to Minnesota while the team gets back young players Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and a top 10 draft pick. As always with big trades there are people on both sides of the fence. Some like it, others hate it. There really is no way to understand how the Bulls are feeling at this moment. As it turns out though another team in their home city might. Fans may not know there was a Chicago Bears Jimmy Butler type of trade at one point in time.
It’s true. The setup was almost identical. In the mid-’70s the Bears were a team hovering in mediocrity. In 1977, they made the playoffs and were absolutely dismantled by the eventual champion Dallas Cowboys. So GM Jim Finks decided a change was needed. Going into the 1978 draft he made the surprise decision to trade defensive end Wally Chambers to Tampa Bay.
At this point in time Chamber was 27-years old and already gone to three Pro Bowls. In return the Bears got tight end Bob Moore and the Buccaneers’ first round pick in 1979. A lot of people were critical of the move. Sacrificing a proven player on a future gamble.
Chicago Bears Jimmy Butler type deal paid off huge
If anything their move was even more bold. The Bulls knew they were getting the seventh pick in the draft for their deal with Minnesota. The Bears had no clue what pick they’d have. As it turns out, they got lucky. The pick become the fourth overall in the draft. Finks used it to take a big white kid from Arkansas by the name of Dan Hampton.
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Chicagobears.com can explain what happened after that.
“Hampton played all 12 of his NFL seasons with the Bears from 1979-90. He was voted to four Pro Bowls—two at defensive end and two at defensive tackle—and named to the NFL’s All-Decade Team for the 1980s. Hampton was an integral part of the Bears’ 1985 Super Bowl championship team and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2002.”
The point of it all being that the Bears know the risk the Bulls took by making this move. There’s a chance that Butler could go on to great success in Minnesota while they get nothing from their deal for him. The potential is there for things to take off if nurtured properly, just as it was with Hampton. Of course much of that depends heavily on whether Forman and Paxson can rebuild the rest of the roster within the next couple years.
Not exactly a reason to feel confident for Bulls fans.
