Jim McMahon doesn’t have a lot of regrets about his NFL career. He played a long time, made some good money, and has a couple of Super Bowl rings. To this day he is revered as one of the best leaders the Chicago Bears ever had. A rebel who didn’t take crap from anybody. However, McMahon is also a man who can hold a grudge if he feels wronged in some way.
That part of his personality got him in trouble with Bears ownership as his career went along. It seemed to reach a fever pitch right as the team was peaking in the mid-1980s. So much so that he feels then-team president Michael McCaskey was looking for ways to get rid of him. This right after the team had won the Super Bowl. He told McNeil & Parkins of 670 The Score why.
“As far as I’m concerned, they wanted to get rid of me in ’86. Before ’86 after my book came out. I guess McCaskey was a little upset.”
The book in question was “McMahon!: The Bare Truth About Chicago’s Brashest Bear.” It was released on August 1st, 1986 right before the season began. In it, the quarterback took potshots at late-founder George Halas for being cheap and having nasty contract negotiating tactics. Then he sniped at McCaskey, stating he’d much prefer 45 players with no personality. A bunch of robots.
Apparently McCaskey didn’t take that well. At all.
So where did the vitriol truly come from? McMahon explained one fateful encounter he had with the Bears owner that forever altered his perception of the organization.
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“I just remember the only meeting I ever had face to face with the guy. He’s telling me, ‘You know, we don’t really mind if we don’t win every year as long as the stadium is full.’ You don’t tell your players that…We’ve only got, according to the averages, like three or four years to make something. To tell your players we don’t care if we win every year? I don’t want to be part of that organization.”
Jim McMahon was on borrowed time after that
Most will believe that injuries were the primary driving force for McMahon eventually leaving Chicago. There is no question they played a big part. However, his icy relationship with McCaskey seemed to play a far bigger role than people might realize. It was somewhat puzzling when the Bears brought in Doug Flutie that year to join the quarterback room. McMahon believes the only reason he wasn’t traded was because Coach Ditka argued they had nobody to replace him. Signing Flutie was the first attempt to find that guy.
A year later the Bears drafted Jim Harbaugh in the 1st round. That is likely where things accelerated. McMahon saw less and less playing time and finally by the end of the 1988 season, it was over. Things reached a breaking point with McCaskey and he was traded to the San Diego Chargers. He went on to a journeyman career as a spot starter and backup. The Bears regressed into a mediocre franchise for most of the 1990s, haunted by quarterback problems ever since. Not to mention accusations of being cheap and not committed enough to build a winner.
