Time Could Be Running Out for Payton

Running back Walter Payton carried the Chicago Bears on his back for 11 years. It is an undeniable truth, however, that the Bears carried Payton on their back in 1986.

While it is true that Payton, the all-time leading rusher in league history, ran for another 1,333 yards in 321 carries this season to pass the 16,000-yard mark, his was a season of diminishing returns.

Payton, at age 32, had just four 100-yard games this season, his fewest in a full season since 1981. Worst of all, Payton managed just one of those centennials over the final 12 weeks of the season--against Tampa Bay. He also suffered six fumbles in the Bears’ final seven games.

Instead of appearing like the old Walter Payton, he just appeared old.

Chicago General Manager Jerry Vainisi said the Bears are negotiating renewal with Payton, whose contract expired this season, “for one or two years, two at the most.”

It was telling, though, that Vainisi said there will be “an open competition” for Payton’s starting position in ’87. Asked the last time such an open competition existed at that position, Vainisi said, “About 12 years ago.”

The Bears have talented reserves in rookie Neal Anderson, Thomas Sanders and Calvin Thomas. Vainisi noted, though, “everybody is jumping on the Neal Anderson bandwagon now the way they jumped on the Doug Flutie bandwagon a few weeks ago. . . .”

Both Vainisi and Coach Mike Ditka publicly have said Payton still can be a productive member of the team next year. How productive remains to be seen.

Be surprised but not shocked if San Francisco quarterback Joe Montana opts to retire during this off-season. Only last week, Montana said: “Retirement is on my mind, but not in the front of it.”

Even though Montana, 31, has three years left on his reported $1 million per year contract, he already has made his mark (he has won two Super Bowl MVP awards), he is believed to be financially set, and he has had a physically ruinous season. He underwent back surgery in Week 2 and spent nine weeks in rehabilitation. The concussion he suffered against the Giants Sunday might have been his final football moment. . . .

It would be difficult to refute the argument that the Redskins’ Joe Gibbs has been the NFL’s finest coach of the ‘80s. Gibbs is the only one to have appeared in three conference title games and, with 71 wins in 99 games overall, has the highest winning percentage in the league (.717) over the past five years. It’s worth noting, too, that Dan Henning, recently fired as Atlanta’s head coach and rumored to join the Giants as an offensive assistant next season, is the only assistant coach to have left Gibbs’ staff over the past five seasons. . . .

It’s about time that recognition is coming to the Giants’ Carl Banks. He is not only the second-best outside linebacker on the team (Lawrence Taylor, of course, reigns supreme), but he was arguably the second-finest in the league this season. . . .

More Gibbs: One way to respond to the claim that the Giants outcoached Gibbs at RFK Stadium Dec. 7: swap Taylor for Rich Milot and see who outcoaches whom. . . .

In certain respects, there are striking similarities between the Giants of 1986 and the Redskins of 1983. Both finished a league-best 14-2, then both won their first playoff game by more than 40 points. The Giants of today, though, should take note of what occurred once the Redskins reached their peak in their 51-7 playoff victory over the Rams.

The feeling among many NFL observers was to forgo the Super Bowl and just hand the Lombardi Trophy to the Redskins right then. (Aren’t people saying the same thing now about the Giants?) However, the Redskins then barely got by the 49ers in the NFC title game (24-21), then got busted in the Super Bowl by the Raiders, 38-9. . . .

The now-eliminated Bears are living proof of the football axiom, “Defense gets you to the playoffs and the quarterback gets you to the Super Bowl.”

Doug Flutie completed just 44% of his passes in five games (two starts) for Chicago. That’s 4 percentage points below his completion rate in the Unityed States Football League. Nevertheless, Ditka reportedly said Sunday that Flutie would be “hard to beat out” as Bears starter next season. Either Ditka is bluffing and trying to light a fire under other players (take note, Jim McMahon) or there remains a huge difference of opinion about Flutie both within the Bears organization and around the league.

At the club owners’ meeting in early October, for instance, executive John Shaw of the Los Angeles Rams, the team that then owned Flutie’s NFL rights, asked the general manager of another team what he thought Flutie could bring in a trade. The official responded skeptically, saying, “Whatever you can get.” The Rams got a sixth-round pick and swapped their fourth-rounder for the Bears’ third, and walked away feeling plenty satisfied.

When the Jets ponder their flow-and-ebb 11-7 season, they’ll find no blunder more costly than the roughing-the-passer penalty assessed to defensive end Mark Gastineau late in the fourth quarter in Cleveland Sunday. The penalty may have cost the Jets their season. New York led by 10 points with less than four minutes to play when Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar threw incomplete on second and 24 from the Browns’ 18.

But Gastineau was cited for a 15-yard penalty for delivering a flagrant blow to Kosar on the play, giving the Browns a first down at the 33. Cleveland proceeded to drive for a touchdown, then drove for a tying field goal in the final seconds and won in overtime.

Defensive coach Bud Carson of the Jets said: “The ball game should have been over.” Defensive tackle Marty Lyons said: “That was an all-out effort by Mark. He just couldn’t hold up and he hit him.” Gastineau said he has hit quarterbacks later than he hit Kosar without a penalty being called. However, he stopped short of saying he was innocent of a roughing call. So ended the most disappointing season in five years for the erstwhile sack dancer. . . .

If the Redskins play the Browns in the Super Bowl, it will be a victory for all vagrant kickers. Mark Moseley was working in the travel-agency business only six weeks ago and Jess Atkinson was working in the mortgage-loan business three weeks ago.

Blooper-of-the-Week Award: It goes to former Bears receiver Johnny Morris, now a broadcaster on Chicago-based WBBM-TV. He spotted Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke talking to Bears Coach Ditka in the Chicago locker room after Sunday’s playoff game and described the scene as Ditka being consoled by Redskins owner “Edward Bennett Williams.”