1966: Redskins Defeat Giants 72-41 in Highest Scoring NFL Game

The New York Giants team that played the Washington Redskins at DC Stadium on November 27, 1966 was far below the caliber of the Giants teams that had won three consecutive Eastern Conference titles from 1961-63. For that matter, it was far less impressive than the squad that finished 7-7 in 1965.

The Giants, under Head Coach Allie Sherman, stood at 1-8-1 coming into the game, with the only win having come over the Redskins at Yankee Stadium five weeks earlier. Washington was 5-6 after having lost the last three contests under first year Head Coach Otto Graham, the Hall of Fame quarterback.

What transpired was a thoroughly wild game, filled with turnovers and big plays. The final score was 72-41, the highest total in NFL history at 113 points. Redskins HB A.D. Whitfield had three touchdowns on the day, leading all players, including a 63-yard run in the first quarter plus a one-yard run and five-yard pass reception from QB Sonny Jurgensen that started the scoring onslaught. Rookie safety Brig Owens scored two TDs for Washington, on a 62-yard fumble recovery in the second quarter and 60-yard interception return in the fourth quarter. Split end Charley Taylor also added two TDs to the Redskins total, on passes covering 32 and 74 yards from Jurgensen. The special teams contributed a touchdown as DB Rickie Harris ran a punt back 52 yards in the fourth quarter.

31-year-old flanker Bobby Mitchell, who hadn’t played running back since leaving Cleveland for Washington after the 1961 season, got in on the action when Coach Graham told him to play halfback (against his wishes). The second time he carried the ball, he ran 45 yards for a score.

The team statistics were surprisingly even. In fact, the Giants outgained the Redskins (389 total yards to 341) and had more first downs (25-16). Washington led 34-14 at the half, and yet had -5 net passing yards (at that point Jurgensen had completed just four of nine passes for a mere five yards). But turnovers continually put the Giants in a hole. They turned the ball over six times, five of them by interceptions, with the fumble recovery and one of the interceptions by Owens (he had three) directly leading to scores and three of the pickoffs giving the offense good field position for short scoring drives.

All in all, Jurgensen recovered from the poor first half to put up respectable numbers, if rather ordinary (for him), completing 10 of 16 passes for 145 yards with three TDs and no interceptions (backup Dick Shiner had his lone pass picked off). Whitfield, not surprisingly, was the top rusher with 74 yards on just six carries. Mitchell was second with 54 yards on his two rushes. The eccentric HB Joe Don Looney had the most carries, 10, and gained 46 yards, including a nine-yard score. Charley Taylor accounted for most of the pass receiving offense, with six catches for 124 yards and the two TDs.

As for the Giants, Gary Wood and Tom Kennedy split the quarterback duties. Kennedy completed 13 of 21 passes for 165 yards with a TD and three interceptions, while Wood was successful on 7 of 12 passes for 146 yards with two touchdowns and two picked off. Wood’s two TD passes provided the big plays for New York; they covered 41 yards to HB Joe Morrison and 50 yards to the speedy split end, Homer Jones. Three Giants had over 80 yards receiving – Morrison, with 98 on four catches; Jones, who had 85 yards on a team-leading 6 receptions; and TE Aaron Thomas, who accumulated 82 yards on 4 catches including a touchdown.

Washington placekicker Charlie Gogolak (pictured) tied a record with nine extra points (he missed one), while his brother Pete, kicking for the Giants, added another five. He also topped off the scoring with a controversial 29-yard field goal with the Redskins leading 69-41 with seven seconds left in the game.

The Giants surrendered the ball on their own 23 yard line after QB Kennedy threw the ball away on a fourth down pass, having lost track of the downs (not that it mattered at that point). LB Sam Huff, the Redskins defensive captain, shouted for the field goal team to go in (guard Vince Promuto also claimed to have done likewise). Huff still harbored bad feelings toward the Giants for the trade that sent him to Washington after the 1963 season, while Promuto, a native New Yorker who had been with the Redskins since 1960, had endured too many games early in his career when the Giants, in their contending years, had run up big scores. It was payback time, and there were Washington players who wanted to exact every bit of revenge that they could. Regardless of who called for the coup-de-grace field goal, it allowed the Redskins to pass the 70 points scored by the Rams in a 1950 game and lay claim to the highest total in a regular season contest.

It was the ultimate humiliation for the Giants, who were on the way to the bottom of the Eastern Conference in ’66, finishing with a franchise-worst 1-12-1 record. Washington concluded the season at 7-7, putting them in fifth place in the East.

While this was not one of his better passing days, Sonny Jurgensen ended up leading the NFL in passing attempts (436) and completions (254) as well as yards (3209). Charley Taylor led the league in pass receptions for the first of two consecutive years with 72. Charlie Gogolak went over the 100-yard scoring mark, ranking third in the NFL with 105 points and 22 field goals. Homer Jones of the Giants had an outstanding season for a terrible team, catching 48 passes for 1044 yards (an average gain of 21.8) with 8 TDs.

1925: Red Grange Debuts With Bears

The degree to which halfback Harold “Red” Grange enhanced the stature of the young NFL can be debated, but there is no question that he had been a huge college talent at the University of Illinois, with his speed and outstanding open field running ability, and was a major drawing card when he went professional with the Chicago Bears. Pro football was still largely a Midwestern small-town phenomenon in the mid-20s and it was by no means assured that top college players would turn professional, nor was it encouraged – Grange’s coach at Illinois, Bob Zuppke, warned him away from it.

But through the efforts of his agent, C.C. “Cash & Carry” Pyle, and the Chicago Bears, who weren’t yet restrained by the need to wait for a draft of college talent, Grange went from college to pro player quite literally in the same weekend. On a Saturday, he played his final college game against Ohio State in Columbus, gaining 235 total yards and intercepting a pass on the final play to preserve a 14-9 Illinois win. The next day he was sitting on the Chicago Bears’ bench, having signed a contract that guaranteed him $3000 a game (a staggering amount for the time – per game salaries typically ranged from around $50 to $400) against a cut of the gate receipts.

Grange didn’t play in that first game, but he did play five days later at Wrigley Field on Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 1925 against the crosstown rival Chicago Cardinals. 36,000 fans were on hand for his debut, the largest crowd up to that time to witness a pro football game.

Grange didn’t do much in his first appearance; Paddy Driscoll, the halfback who also handled the punting for the Cardinals, did an admirable job of kicking away from the player known as the Galloping Ghost. He gained 36 yards rushing in all and failed to complete any of his six passes, although he did make an interception deep in his own territory, and the Bears and Cardinals deadlocked in a scoreless tie. As Driscoll put it afterward, “Kicking to Grange is like grooving one to Babe Ruth. It was a question which of us would look bad – Grange or Driscoll. I decided it would not be Paddy.”

The Bears played one more scheduled game, a 14-13 win over the Columbus Tigers in front of 28,000 on a snowy day, with Grange accumulating 140 total yards and throwing a 37-yard touchdown pass to HB Laurie Walquist. They finished with a 9-5-3 record, in seventh place in the 20-team NFL. But they weren’t quite done yet.

Grange and the Bears headed out on the first of two grueling barnstorming tours in which they played eight games in 12 days, starting in St. Louis on December 3 against a team called the Donnelly Stars and ending back in Chicago on December 13 against the New York Giants. The schedule was brutal, especially since the squad numbered just 18 players and they (other than Grange) had already put in a full season. Turnout ranged from 5000 in St. Louis (Bears 39, Donnelly Stars 6), Washington (Bears 19, Washington All-Stars 0), and Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh All-Stars 24, Bears 0) to 65,000 at the Polo Grounds in New York (Bears 19, New York Giants 7).

The Galloping Ghost started strong, scoring four TDs and running for 86 yards against the Donnelly Stars and putting on a solid all-purpose performance before the large crowd in New York with 53 yards on 11 carries, 23 yards on a pass reception, and a 35-yard interception return for a score. However, wear and tear had an effect, especially a lingering arm injury suffered against the Giants. Grange was booed for subpar performance while playing hurt in the next three games and didn’t play at all in the final two (9000 tickets were turned in for refunds in Detroit as a result). While some of the games were mismatches, others were brutal affairs against teams gunning for the Bears in general and Grange in particular. The Bears staggered through with a 4-4 record.

A second tour ran from December 25 in Coral Gables, Florida (against the Coral Gables Collegians, who held the Bears to a 7-0 win) until January 31, 1926 in Seattle (an easy 34-0 victory for the Bears over the Washington All-Stars). The Bears went 8-1 and drew the largest crowd in Los Angeles (75,000) for a 17-7 win over the Los Angeles Tigers. The pace was more reasonable, Grange stayed healthy and, while not up to the standards of his spectacular college performances, played well.

The Bears certainly squeezed all the money and publicity they could get out of the star halfback, but Grange and Pyle sought to squeeze back for 1926 – they demanded a one-third ownership of the franchise. George Halas, the co-owner, head coach, and still an active player, refused, and Grange not only left the Bears but, with Pyle, started a rival league. It was the first to be called the American Football League, with Grange playing for the New York franchise, and it folded after a year. The Galloping Ghost would eventually return to the Bears in 1929, after a knee injury had robbed him of his elusiveness as a runner, and he stayed until 1934, more noted by this point for his play in the defensive backfield. But in 1925, he certainly kept pro football in the headlines and spurred interest across the country.

1993: Dolphins Top Cowboys Thanks to Leon Lett’s Miscue

The weather was hardly conducive to football on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1993 as the Dallas Cowboys (7-3) hosted the Miami Dolphins (8-2) at Texas Stadium. The temperature was below freezing (well below when factoring in the wind chill) and a wintery mix of precipitation caused the field to be covered with a layer of snow. Needless to say, footing was unsure at best.

The Dolphins scored first on a 77-yard run by FB Keith Byars to take a 7-0 lead. Rookie WR Kevin Williams responded for the Cowboys with two second quarter touchdowns, first on a four-yard pass from QB Troy Aikman to culminate a 12-play, 74-yard possession and then with a 64-yard punt return just before halftime.

Dolphins placekicker Pete Stoyanovich narrowed the Dallas lead to 14-13 with a pair of field goals in the second half. Cowboys safety James Washington forced a fumble by Miami RB Terry Kirby on his own 30 yard line with just over four minutes to play, but Dallas was unable to capitalize when a field goal that would have provided a four-point cushion was missed.

However, when Dallas DE Jimmie Jones blocked a 41-yard field goal attempt by Stoyanovich in the final seconds of the game, it appeared that the Cowboys would prevail. But as the ball skidded down the field, Dallas DT Leon Lett attempted to recover it at the seven yard line and failed; Dolphins C Jeff Dellenbach fell on it at the one. Miami had possession; had Lett not touched the ball, it would have gone over to the Cowboys. The Dolphins made the most of the reprieve and Stoyanovich kicked a 19-yard field goal on the next play to give Miami a 16-14 win.

Byars was the star on offense for Miami, gaining 77 yards on six rushes and catching 7 passes for 80 yards. Kirby also caught 7 passes, for 76 yards, while WR Mark Ingram had the most receiving yards for the victors with 85 on three receptions. QB Steve DeBerg completed 24 of 41 passes for 287 yards; while two of them were intercepted, his performance under the conditions was solid.

On a day that was difficult for the passing game, Troy Aikman completed 28 of 43 passes for Dallas, accumulating 181 yards with a TD and an interception. RB Emmitt Smith was slowed by a thigh injury and gained just 51 yards on 16 carries; he split time with Lincoln Coleman, who led the team with 57 yards on 10 rushes. FB Darryl Johnston was the top receiver with 11 catches for 75 yards; Smith caught another 9 out of the backfield for 46 yards.

Afterward Dallas Head Coach Jimmy Johnson said “This was a very disappointing loss. In fact, I don't know whether I've ever had a loss that hurts like this one right now…The play by Lett, it was a mistake and we all make 'em and it's part of the game. There were hundreds of mistakes made in the ball game before that. It just so happens that that came at the end and it will be remembered as the one that cost us the ball game."

Lett’s miscue may have provided the Dolphins with a fortuitous win and the Cowboys a jarring loss, but the fortunes of the teams diverged from there. While the loss was the second in a row for Dallas, the Cowboys didn’t lose again as they finished atop the NFC East with a 12-4 record and went on to defeat Buffalo in the Super Bowl for the second consecutive year. Miami came out of the game with the league’s best record at 9-2, but lost the remaining five games to finish at 9-7, in second place in the AFC East and out of the playoffs.

As for Leon Lett himself, the error against the Dolphins, combined with his return of a fumble recovery for an apparent touchdown in the previous year’s Super Bowl, only to slow up, prematurely begin his celebration, and as a result have Bills WR Don Beebe knock the ball out of his hand for a touchback, made him the subject of a great deal of ridicule. However, he remained with the Cowboys for another seven seasons and was selected to the Pro Bowl twice, certainly making up for the early mistakes.

1957: Rookie Jim Brown Rushes for 237 Yards vs. Rams

Cleveland Browns Head Coach Paul Brown had gone into the 1957 draft with the hope of picking Purdue quarterback Len Dawson. Without retired star QB Otto Graham, the Browns went 5-7 in 1956 - the first losing season in team history. Getting a replacement seemed a priority.

However, the Pittsburgh Steelers snagged Dawson with the fifth pick in the first round, and with the sixth Brown chose Jim Brown, the star running back from Syracuse, instead (who else was chosen ahead of Brown? In order: Paul Hornung, Notre Dame QB, by Green Bay; Jon Arnett, halfback from USC, a local star by the LA Rams; John Brodie, Stanford QB, by the 49ers; and Ron Kramer, end from Michigan, also by the Packers). It didn’t take Paul Brown long to realize that he had something special in Jim Brown - after the rookie ran 40 yards for a touchdown against Pittsburgh in the second preseason game, Coach Brown called him over and said simply, “you’re my fullback”.

Jim Brown’s emergence during his rookie season was steady. After eight games, he had run the ball 130 times for 532 yards (4.1-yard average) and four touchdowns. His first hundred-yard rushing day had come three weeks before against Washington. In the ninth game, on November 24, he gave his first significant evidence of greatness.

The Browns were 6-1-1 as they faced the Los Angeles Rams (4-4) at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium. Brown scored his first TD of the day, a 69-yard run, in the second quarter to stake the Browns to a 14-7 lead. The Rams pulled ahead and were leading in the third quarter by 28-17 after DT Art Hauser recovered a Cleveland fumble and ran it 29 yards for a score.

It was virtually all Browns after that, however, and Jim Brown scored on three more short touchdown runs to give him four on the day. More significantly, he set a new NFL record with 237 yards on 31 carries as the Browns defeated the Rams, 45-31.

Cleveland closed out the season at 9-2-1, handily returning to the top of the Eastern Conference standings although losing decisively to Detroit in the NFL Championship game. The Rams were 6-6 on the year, finishing fourth in the Western Conference.

Jim Brown led the league in rushing with 942 yards on 202 attempts for a healthy 4.7-yard average gain and nine touchdowns (he also had a TD on a pass reception) – while the big game against the Rams put him out of reach, the runner-up, Rick Casares of the Bears, was 242 yards behind with an even 700 yards. Brown was selected as not only NFL Rookie of the Year, but as MVP by the Associated Press and The Sporting News as well. It was only a sneak preview of sorts; he established a whole new set of rushing standards while leading the league in eight of his nine seasons.

His performance was certainly the key to the team’s success in ’57 – Paul Brown’s solution to the quarterback dilemma was to use nondescript veteran Tommy O’Connell, who statistically was the best passer in the NFL that year but only threw the ball 110 times before an injury finished his regular season two weeks after the Rams game (he returned for the championship contest); rookie Milt Plum filled in and inherited the starting job in 1958.

As a footnote, Len Dawson’s road to the Hall of Fame would be less direct than Jim Brown’s. He threw just 17 passes in three seasons in Pittsburgh before Paul Brown finally acquired him for the Browns. Stuck behind Plum, he appeared to be a flop when he tossed 28 passes in two years and was granted his release so he could join the Dallas Texans of the AFL in 1962; there he was re-united with his former backfield coach at Purdue, Hank Stram. The rest, as the saying goes, is history.

1995: Scott Mitchell Leads Lions Past Vikings with 410 Yards and 4 TD Passes

Quarterback Scott Mitchell had shown enough potential as a backup to Dan Marino in Miami to warrant a great deal of interest when he became a free agent after the 1993 season. The Detroit Lions won the bidding war for his services, awarding him a three-year contract worth $11 million dollars (he would stay for five seasons). At 6’6” and 240 pounds, with a strong and accurate arm, he had the tools but had problems with consistency, durability, and command of the offense during 1994.

Mitchell and the Lions got off to a 3-6 start in ’95, but then caught fire. On November 23 the record stood at 5-6 as the Minnesota Vikings (6-5) arrived for a Thanksgiving Day matchup at the Pontiac Silverdome. Detroit scored the first two touchdowns on passes from Mitchell to WR Brett Perriman covering 2 and 20 yards respectively. After the Vikings countered with a 55-yard TD pass play from QB Warren Moon to WR Jake Reed, the Lions extended their lead to 21-7 in the second quarter with Mitchell’s third TD pass of 16 yards to WR Johnnie Morton.

The second quarter turned wild as the Vikings scored two non-offensive touchdowns to knot the score at 21-21. First, WR David Palmer returned a punt 74 yards and then free safety Orlando Thomas recovered a fumble and ran it 17 yards into the end zone. The Lions re-took the lead, 24-21, thanks to a 32-yard Jason Hanson field goal, but Minnesota was back in front at the half, 28-24, due to a 10-yard Moon touchdown pass to WR Cris Carter.

After the teams traded field goals in the third quarter, Mitchell put the Lions in the lead with a 27-yard pass to WR Herman Moore that made the score 34-31. When RB Barry Sanders ran 50 yards for a touchdown with 5:18 left in the game to give Detroit a ten-point margin (41-31), it appeared that the Lions would prevail, but the result remained in doubt as Moon connected with Carter again to cut the lead to three points. A 39-yard Hanson field goal provided the final margin of the 44-38 game, but it still came down to Detroit intercepting a Moon desperation pass in the end zone on the last play to nail down the win once and for all.

In all, it was a wild offensive show as both teams combined for 919 total yards; the Lions accounted for 534 of that total. Mitchell set a new Detroit single-game passing yardage record (since broken) with 410 as he completed 30 of 45 passes. Four of them went for touchdowns, while one was intercepted. Perriman led all receivers with 12 receptions and was one of three Lions receivers to accumulate over a hundred yards, with 153. Moore had 127 yards on his 8 catches and Morton contributed 102 on 7 receptions. The ground game contributed significantly as well thanks to Sanders rushing for 138 yards on 24 carries (virtually all of which came in the second half).

For the Vikings, Warren Moon completed 30 of 47 passes for 384 yards with three TDs and two interceptions. RB Amp Lee caught the most passes with 9 for 92 yards, while WR Reed accumulated the most yards with 149 on his 6 receptions. Minnesota didn’t do as much on the ground, however, rushing for just 34 yards on 15 attempts.

It was the third of seven consecutive wins to close out the regular season for the Lions as they finished at 10-6 for second place in the NFC Central and a wild card berth; they were embarrassed by the Eagles in the first round by a score of 58-37. Minnesota ended up in fourth place in the division with an 8-8 record.

For Scott Mitchell, it was a career year as he achieved highs in pass attempts (583), completions (346), completion percentage (59.3), passing yards (4338), TD passes (32), and passer rating (92.3); the yardage and TD totals were also team records. While the season accented his strengths, his weaknesses also became apparent, especially in the postseason loss when he was benched in favor of backup Don Majkowski after throwing four interceptions.

Mitchell was helped a great deal by his outstanding receiving corps, especially when they went to three wide receivers as their basic offense. Herman Moore led the NFL with a then-record 123 receptions for 1686 yards and 14 touchdowns. Brett Perriman hauled in 108 passes for 1488 yards and another 9 scores; in combination with Moore, the 231 receptions were a record for two teammates. Johnnie Morton, in his second year, was hardly a slouch with 44 catches for 590 yards and 8 TDs, while Barry Sanders grabbed another 48 passes for 398 yards and a touchdown.

Of course, Sanders contributed most significantly on the ground, reaching the thousand-yard mark for the seventh time in as many seasons with an even 1500 yards on 314 carries with 11 TDs.

While Mitchell never again approached his 1995 numbers and would ultimately be considered a disappointment in Detroit, it is a testament to the other key offensive contributors that they expanded on their performances. Moore caught over a hundred passes in the next two seasons and again led the league in 1997. Morton stepped up and had three thousand-yard receiving seasons from 1997 to ’99 and four in five years. Perriman caught 94 passes for 1021 yards in ’96, although his career was essentially over after that. Sanders, arguably the best running back of his era, never had less than a thousand yards rushing in any of his ten seasons, and reached the 2000-yard mark in 1997.

1945: Jim Benton Catches 10 Passes for 303 Yards vs. Lions

End Jim Benton had been a solid receiver for the Cleveland Rams (and one season with the Chicago Bears) since coming into the league in 1938, when he led the league in yards per reception (19.9 on 21 catches). The Rams had not been a winning team, with a 5-5-1 record in 1939 their best since joining the NFL in 1937. But both Benton and the Rams rose to new heights in 1945.

By the time the Rams met up with the Detroit Lions on November 22 for a Thanksgiving showdown at Briggs Stadium, they were sporting a 7-1 record under the guidance of Head Coach Adam Walsh. The Lions were 6-2 and, with just one more week to play in the ten-game season, control of the Western Division was at stake.

Benton had caught 27 passes for 645 yards, resulting in a very healthy 23.9-yard average, with six touchdowns and three hundred-yard games. Coach Walsh had installed the T-formation, and the offense benefited from the arrival of rookie QB Bob Waterfield from UCLA to run it. The 6’3”, 200-pound Benton was his favorite target.

Earlier in the season, Green Bay’s Don Hutson had scored four TDs and accumulated 144 yards against the Lions, which had exposed a deficiency in their pass defense. The Rams took advantage. They broke out to a 21-7 lead in the first half and went on to win 28-21. Benton scored on a 70-yard touchdown pass from Waterfield in the second quarter and, when it was all done, had caught 10 passes for 303 yards.

The 303 yards not only set a new single-game pass receiving yardage record, but remained the NFL record for 40 years until broken by Stephone Paige of the Kansas City Chiefs in 1985 (Cloyce Box of the Lions came within a yard of the record in 1950). It was also the first occasion that any player had accumulated over 300 yards from scrimmage in an NFL game.

Benton accounted for virtually all of Cleveland’s passing yards – Waterfield in all completed 12 of 21 passes for 329 yards and two touchdowns. A 17-yard throw to the other end, Steve Pritko, accounted for the second TD pass and most of the remaining yards that didn’t belong to Benton. The rookie quarterback’s showing was especially impressive because he was suffering from a painful rib injury and had been tightly wrapped up by the team’s trainer prior to the game.

With the win, the Rams clinched the West and won again in the season finale (with Benton chalking up his fifth hundred-yard receiving game of the year) to finish with a 9-1 record. They defeated the Washington Redskins in the NFL Championship game, as Benton capped his outstanding year with 9 catches for 125 yards and a TD. Detroit remained the runner-up in the Western Division at 7-3.

It was typical throughout the season for the Rams to not throw often – they were actually the league’s top rushing team with 1714 yards – but they passed very effectively. Waterfield threw 171 passes, averaged 9.4 yards per attempt and tied for the lead in touchdown throws with 14.

Benton ended up catching 45 passes for 1067 yards (a 23.7-yard average) and eight touchdowns. The reception total put him two behind the league leader, Hutson; the yards led the NFL and made him the second pass receiver to reach the thousand-yard threshold in a season. The mark is all the more remarkable in that Benton played in just nine games, missing a contest against the Bears earlier in the season due to injury, so his per game average was a gaudy 118.6.

While Benton’s outstanding season came in the last year of World War II manpower shortages, he proved it was no fluke in 1946 by leading the league both in pass receptions (63) and yards (981). At this point he was now playing for the Los Angeles Rams; in spite of winning the championship, the team had lost some $50,000 and owner Dan Reeves moved the franchise to the West Coast.

1982: Jim McMahon Leads Bears Over Lions in First Pro Start

The Chicago Bears finished with a mediocre 6-10 record in 1981, and the 86-year-old owner, “Papa Bear” George Halas, asserted his authority one last time to change the direction of the team and try and recover some of the past glory of the Monsters of the Midway.

First, he rehired the defensive coordinator, Buddy Ryan. Second, he replaced Head Coach Neill Armstrong with former star tight end Mike Ditka, who had been an assistant in Dallas and provided a very vivid link to the last Chicago championship team in 1963. And third, he and Ditka selected a quarterback in the first round of the 1982 draft, something the Bears had not done since 1951.

Jim McMahon had been a record-setting passer at Brigham Young. On the downside, he was just six feet tall, had a bad knee, and vision that had been impaired in a childhood accident. But his upside was that he had been operating in a sophisticated offense at BYU and showed tremendous potential.

The Bears started off with losses in the first two games. Veterans Vince Evans, the incumbent starter, and Bob Avellini had played at QB, although McMahon saw significant action in the second week. But then the season was interrupted by the eight-week player’s strike.

When the strike ended and NFL games resumed on November 21, 1982, McMahon was given his first starting assignment against the visiting Detroit Lions at Soldier Field. Things got off to a shaky start for the rookie as he threw two interceptions in the first quarter, one of which was returned for a touchdown by safety Ray Oldham. But McMahon brought the Bears back from a 14-3 deficit, first hitting WR Ken Margerum with an 11-yard TD pass in the second quarter and then TE Emery Moorehead on a 28-yard pass play that put Chicago in front, 17-14.

Detroit came back to tie the score with a 32-yard Eddie Murray field goal, but McMahon led the Bears on a drive that culminated in a game-winning field goal of 18 yards by John Roveto. The 20-17 win gave the Bears their first win of the season, Ditka his first victory as a head coach, and McMahon a win in his first start.

McMahon completed 16 of 27 passes for 233 yards with two TDs and three interceptions. FB Matt Suhey had the most receptions (6, for 46 yards) while Moorehead had the most receiving yards with 78 on his three catches, including the one TD. RB Walter Payton, who had been the team’s primary offensive weapon for the better part of seven years, had a typically solid performance with 87 rushing yards on 21 carries.

By contrast, QB Eric Hipple of the Lions completed just 15 of 32 pass attempts for 119 yards with a TD and two interceptions, and was sacked seven times for a loss of 62 yards – a testament to Ryan’s defense. Star RB Billy Sims gained just 67 yards on his 20 runs.

The Bears were still a work in progress and concluded the strike-shortened season with a 3-6 record. McMahon completed 120 of 210 passes (57.1 %) for 1501 yards, with 9 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. As modest as his numbers might appear, his passer rating of 79.9 was the best by a Chicago quarterback since 1965, the completion percentage was the second best in team history, and none of his last 105 passes were intercepted. He was selected to the NFL All-Rookie team. To be sure, the offensive line was a sieve and McMahon had to run far too often (the quarterbacks collectively were sacked a NFC-high 33 times).

McMahon would prove to be a successful quarterback for the Bears, if also a brittle and occasionally controversial one. But the pieces that Halas put in place in 1982 would culminate in a championship in 1985 (the “Papa Bear” wouldn’t live to see it – he died in 1983).