Jim McMahon Returns, Accounts for 4 Scores in Impressive Victory! (Bears vs. Bengals 1986, Week 4)

1986 Week 4 game highlights between the Chicago Bears and Cincinnati Bengals.

[@SECRETARIATguy224]

Given what I mentioned in my previous comment about Jim's shoulder for this game [he was functional, but not truly healthy], I have always felt that history lost out on one the greatest conference championship matchups of all-time if THIS version of McMahon was on the field for the playoffs in 86. With this version of Jim, there's no way the Bears lose that home divisional game to Washington, and that would've setup a Bears at Giants NFC Championship Game. Holy Cow, what a battle of heavyweights that would've been . . . every bit as titanic a matchup as the 1990 NFCCG Giants@49ers was. There would've been so much intrigue and drama leading up to that game. So tantalizing to think about. However, I want to make it very clear: had the Bears somehow, someway won that game against Washington with Flutie/Fuller/Tomczak or any combination of the three, the Bears would've had no chance whatsoever to beat the Giants in the NFCCG, at home or on the road. When that Giants defense could clamp down on the run because they didn't have to respect a passing game, you weren't gonna beat them just by running the ball.

[@awlstylz4044]

I agree, a healthy McMahon, the bears repeat even with the departure of Buddy Ryan

[@benito73]

I was at this game with my dad. I was 13.

[@dantheman5745]

14:06 This was Bengal rookie QB Doug Gaynor's only NFL appearance. He went 3-for-3 for 30 yards in mop-up duty, adding 4 more yards rushing on a single carry. This gave him a career QB Rating of 108.3. This game also featured the oddity of both teams combining to use 6 QBs. McMahon, Fuller & Tomczak for the Bears, and Esiason, Anderson & Gaynor for the Bengals.

[@SECRETARIATguy224]

I wonder how many games in NFL history have both teams using three quarterbacks? Can't be many.

[@sheliarogers8013]

My fav Jim McMahon

[@bobbauer2287]

Me too Sheila

[@eddyhernandez8872]

I still can't believe that team only won, one Super bowl, it should've been at least 3.

[@djansen73]

I appreciate you posting all of these classic Bears games. Brings back some memories when they we're actually a really GOOD team. #BearDown

[@dapunkyqb1679]

Definitely all about the good/fun memories, brother. Glad you can appreciate them.

[@azazel21379]

I was 7 years old,watching this game with my dad. Were from Chicago, and he was tryn 2 get me 2 become a Bears fan, but this game back fired, ive been a die hard Bengals fan,ever sence, and on my 43 bday,this Sunday get 2 see them in the Superbowl vs the Rams.

[@dantheman5745]

Nice!

[@SECRETARIATguy224]

This game shows what kind of a team those Bears were with McMahon. Sadly, it just wasn't meant to be.

[@bobbauer2287]

Yes Mcmahon was very underrated

[@SECRETARIATguy224]

@@bobbauer2287 Through the years, a very reliable measure of the effectiveness of a quarterback, and an offense in general, is average yards per pass attempt. The Bears with McMahon didn't throw very much compared to the other elite teams in football at the time, but they were at or near the top of the league in avg yds/pass in 85, which shows that when they DID throw, they were very effective. That's because of McMahon.

[@bobbauer2287]

@@SECRETARIATguy224 Yes

[@SECRETARIATguy224]

A key point about McMahon in this game . . . he was functional, but he wasn't actually healthy. He was hit by a Cleveland defensive lineman in the 4th quarter of week one, and his shoulder was never right again that season, though he repeatedly tried to play through it. Jim himself has said many times that what he should've done was get the operation on his shoulder [essentially Tommy John surgery; he had a partially torn rotater cuff] done after that Cleveland game, and try and see if he could make it back late in the season. But Jim was a competitor and tried to keep playing, and the shoulder steadily kept getting worse, and then of course the shoulder was pulverized by Charles Martin in week 12 and that was that.

[@edpinkerton7947]

A key point in this is your boy jimmy showed up for training camp fat & out of shape ( reported at 230 lbs ) if he had half the commitment as Walter bears win 3 Super Bowls. Have a love/hate thing with Jim

[@SECRETARIATguy224]

@@edpinkerton7947 What you say in your comment doesn't change the fact that his shoulder injury was serious, and he played through the pain until it was obliterated by Martin in week 12.

[@dantheman5745]

@@SECRETARIATguy224 What Martin did was beyond dirty. It was literally criminal. That is probably the 1 play in all my years watching the NFL where I think it would've been 100% appropriate for police to go out onto the field, arrest Martin for assault, handcuff him and perp-walk him out of the stadium. Jimbo Covert took a shot at Martin, but apparently referee Jerry Markbreit also saw what happened and later recounted, "After the play, I took a hold of Martin's arm and said, ‘Ninety-four, you're out of game. I'm ejecting you.' And he pulled away and said, ‘I'm not going anywhere with you.' I looked at him and, tongue-in-cheek, I said, ‘If you don't come with me, I'm going to let the Bears kill you.' He said, ‘Let's go.' "

[@SECRETARIATguy224]

@@dantheman5745 Markbreit sealed his Super Bowl XXI assignment that day, no question. That play is the biggest cheap shot I've ever seen in my lifetime.

[@SECRETARIATguy224]

@@edpinkerton7947 Him being out of shape doesn't have anything to do with him having a partially torn rotator cuff. The hit he took in the 4th quarter of the wk1 Cleveland game would've damaged his shoulder regardless of the kind of shape he was in, and the Martin hit pulverized that shoulder, which was already barely holding together.

[@SECRETARIATguy224]

When Jim was healthy the Bears' offense was very dynamic. They had the great running game. Everybody knew that, but with McMahon healthy, the running game was particularly effective because defenses knew if they started tightening up on the running game, McMahon was good enough to burn them badly. And if he burned teams 4-5 times in a game that was devastating because their defense was so incredible AND once they got ahead, particularly a 10 point lead, then their running game kept them in good field position/took time off the clock, AND the defense could really be turned loose [they knew they could afford to be extra aggressive because if they gave up a score, Jim could bring them right back]. Even though he didn't have great hands, Gault was so fast that if they sent him deep, teams had to have a safety deep to help the corner or Gault would just run right by the corner. Jim could audible to a play just like that if he got to the line and saw safeties cheating to stop the run. Other Bears quarterbacks were too afraid of Ditka's wrath, and defenses would get away with stuffing the run. Jim was also one of the very best at looking off the safety.

[@bobbauer2287]

I think your exactly right

[@SECRETARIATguy224]

@@bobbauer2287 Thank you. Only people who actually watched that team, and had actual maturity [in other words weren't 5 years old] really understand Jim's effect on that offense, cuz without actually watching them, all you have left is McMahon's numbers, which were pedestrian at first glance.

[@bobbauer2287]

@@SECRETARIATguy224 yw can't agree with you more on this, I was a sophomore in 85 so fond memories of them teams, I keep saying you have to have a good quarterback to win , he was good , the Bears did not treat him good, he said the other teams he went to were good to him, I think it's a shame, anyway what memories that team gave us , I especially remember that come back against the Vikings!

[@SECRETARIATguy224]

@@bobbauer2287 You bring up the wk3 game against MIN . . . his first play from scrimmage in that game is THE quintessential example of exactly why Jim was so crucial to that Bears' offense [Everybody always talks about that 85 defense, but their offense was easily the best offense in Bears history]. Of course, everyone always talks about the Payton block, and they should because it is far and away the best block by a halfback in the history of football AND the most important block in that 85 season and in Bears history, HOWEVER the stunning greatness of that block overshadows McMahon's particular brilliance. Watch it again closely: the play was just a simple fullback screen to the left to Matt Suhey. Gault was lined up wide left, and his job was simply to run deep down the middle to draw the cornerback and/or safety to him and create room for Suhey once he caught the ball. The Vikings were blitzing their safeties on that play, along with their linebackers. After the snap Jim stumbled [the Payton block happened as he was righting himself while he was dropping back]. Once he righted himself he quickly looked down the middle and saw that there was no safety there. He never actually saw Gault; he just knew where Gault was supposed to be. Instead of following through on the design of the play and throwing it to Suhey [which would have resulted in a nice gain], Jim knew that without safety help there was no possible way the corner could run with Gault, so he righted himself, set his feet, and threw the ball as hard and far as he could deep down the middle. It's important to note how quickly all of this happened, because even WITH the Payton block, Jim got clobbered the INSTANT the ball left his hand . . . and the pass was absolutely perfect. 70 yard touchdown. The other two td passes were also improvised plays, but that first play . . . that play demonstrated to defenses in the whole NFL that when you played the Bears with McMahon healthy, you were REALLY playing with fire if you loaded up on the line of scrimmage to either stop the run or the short passing game, because he could torch you . . . and remember, he didn't NEED to torch you that many times in a game. Just a couple/few times was enough because of how great that defense was. Just the THREAT of McMahon being able to burn a defense for stacking against the run is one of the key factors that allowed the Bears to just STRANGLE teams with their running game once they got a 10 point lead. It was a classic pick your poison situation: to really stop that Bears running game, you had to get the safeties up close to the line, but if you DO that, then McMahon was good enough to beat you, either deep or with medium range passes. That was an element that the Bears' offense had ONLY with McMahon during the entire time Walter Payton was with the team. Avellini was . . . well, Avellini. Mike Phipps couldn't keep the starting job after playing very well in 79. Vince Evans had the physical talent, but just couldn't read defenses well enough.

[@bobbauer2287]

Yes exactly

[@jimwong2823]

Marshall is 😁😁 best blitzing linebacker

[@ezsmith3765]

4:06 Gault was so fast that all McMahon had to do was lead the CB by 6-8 yds and Willie would shift gears and get it 🏈

[@ezsmith3765]

Holy crap I’m 3:15 in and thinking if McMahon and Boomer just switched teams it’d be 21-21 about now. So many interceptions 😂

[@truthof7382]

I’ve never seen so many player hit when they are already down.

[@camoanddonuts7894]

Doug Flutie coming in was Ditka signaling to the team his desire to be a geniud if Flutie Flakes was a success, but it didn't work out, and Mike McCaskey was pissed and demanded they draft a quarterback in 87, which they did with Jim Harbaugh. By 89 McCaskey was looking for any reason to get rid of Ditka and McMahon because they were already Chicago legends, Harbaugh was serviceable but never better than Mac, well you know what happened on Jan. 4, 1993

[@glennkovacs1328]

Ironic isn’t it that most of the McMahon comments, were in defense of his underrated abilities, only short passes etc. ie most thought he was a bum for a reason

[@dapunkyqb1679]

Some call it intangibles, I call it brains and balls. His teammates admittedly played better when he was around simply because they knew that he wouldn’t allow poor offensive play calling to get in the way of winning a ballgame.

[@SECRETARIATguy224]

Who the hell are these _most_ you're referring to? Madden and Summerall certainly didn't, and they were both NFL lifers.

[@jimlascola]

27 wins 4 loses in 31 starts for all you jim haters lol

[@peterwall583]

I love Jim McMahon as a quarterback but what turn me off was when Doug Flutie was there he divided the team instead of embracing doug and helping him the Chicago Bears were 14 -2 going into the playoffs and of course Jim was hurt as usual he was just jealous of flute definitely not a team player McMahon

[@dapunkyqb1679]

"He felt that his buddies at the time Steve Fuller and Mike Tomczak should've gotten the opportunity instead of me." -Doug Flutie

[@keithglass4891]

There was loyalty to the QBs that were already there. How can you say he wasn't a team player always player hurt, disregarding his body going for first downs? And when he finally got health leave it to the Packers' thugs to cheap shot him and essentially end his career. That QB situation was created by management not Jim. He stays healthy and they win more than one superbowl

[@SECRETARIATguy224]

@@dapunkyqb1679 And he was right. Fuller _won a road playoff game_ against the very same Redskins in 84. The way Ditka treated Fuller in 86 was just disgusting.

[@SECRETARIATguy224]

You're absolutely wrong that McMahon wasn't a team player.

[@crmay72]

@@SECRETARIATguy224 Fuller also started at quarterback when they played at Dallas in '85, and won 44-0. I realize that a lot of that game was due to the Bears' defense side but still, they won with #4 starting the game.

[@mesocorny4366]

McMahon showed boomer how to play that day

[@realtyranny3310]

McMahon wasn't facing the Bears defense that day.

[@keithglass4891]

@@realtyranny3310 But it was obvious to see who the better talent was, that day.

[@SECRETARIATguy224]

@@realtyranny3310 Great point.

[@realtyranny3310]

@@keithglass4891 A simple glance at the career stats of both McMahon and Esiason will tell you who was the better talent.

[@SECRETARIATguy224]

@@realtyranny3310 False. Those numbers don't tell the whole story.

[@keithfullmer1058]

Why is the video quality so poor?

[@dapunkyqb1679]

Lol, because it’s 36 years old.

[@SECRETARIATguy224]

​@@dapunkyqb1679My God . . . some people, I swear.

[@crmay72]

@@SECRETARIATguy224 🤣😉👍