Tomczak Is Ready to Prove That He Can Bear the Load

Even if you don’t know Mike Tomczak, you’ve probably seen him. He’s the guy who comes over to the Bears sideline after throwing an interception or otherwise messing up and stands there facing the considerable wrath of Coach Mike Ditka right there in front of the whole world.

Tomczak is the most utilized understudy in the big time -- “the most precious backup in the league,” one teammate says -- because he backs up the oft-injured Jim McMahon. He’ll be starting for the Bears Sunday against the Washington Redskins in a trip to RFK Stadium, but his coach-mentor-antagonist will be back here recuperating from his recent mild heart attack.

And that’s a shame, because Tomczak is just now ready to show Ditka that he isn’t flustered any more by those sideline undressings, that he’s finished throwing silly interceptions, that somebody other than Gen. McMahon can make the Chicago Bears march on.

Becoming comfortable with himself as a man and a football player hasn’t been easy for Tomczak. “It’s difficult at times playing in the shadow of Jim McMahon,” he said. “Guys wondering who the quarterback was going to be when McMahon was not around the last couple of years.”

But football is only part of it. Tomczak, a fourth-year pro from Ohio State who joined the Bears as a free agent, talked at length this week about seeking counseling help last summer from a psychiatrist and psychologist.

“There were some things in my life,” he said, “that I needed to get straightened out: dealing with stress, dealing with motivation and confidence. I needed to talk to people that were positive, people who knew exactly (what they were talking about).”

“You can talk to teammates all you want, but it’s tough to really open up and give your intimate thoughts. It’s a very humbling profession. Last week (after a 30-7 loss to New England, during which Ditka yanked him from the game while he was in the huddle) football was the last thing on my mind. This week (after leading the Bears over Tampa Bay, 28-10) everybody’s telling me how good I played. Go out tomorrow and get chewed out by the coach, and it’s like, ‘Jeez, I’m back in the doghouse.’

“At the tail end of last year I really had some doubts in my mind,” he said. “I didn’t let my friends or even my coaches know because that would have been even more demoralizing. I just needed to get away.”

“When you’re a little kid, you look up at these guys and you think they havethe Life of Riley. A lot of professional athletes won’t admit they’re insecure or have problems.”

Part of the problem may be that Tomczak grew up right here in Chicago, idolizing Walter Payton and Dan Hampton and many of the men who became his teammates. He is a strikingly handsome guy, running a close second behind Michael Jordan as the city’s most eligible bachelor. His personal appearances are among the most well-attended. Even though he’s No. 2 on the depth chart, he has his own television show on WGN, the superstation that reaches millions of homes. He’s marketable, likable, the perfectly cuddly Bear.

But he’s not Jim McMahon. Before Sunday’s game he had won 11 of 13 games he’d started including the Bears’ two most important wins last season, over the Giants and Vikings. But seven touchdown passes and 23 interceptions led people to believe the Bears were winning in spite of, not because of, Tomczak. A local radio call-in poll last week drew more votes for third-stringer Jim Harbaugh than Tomczak -- a native son -- to start in relief of McMahon.

The fans probably don’t know very much about either quarterback’s strengths and weaknesses. But they can see Ditka in Tomczak’s face, as he was in San Francisco last season when four Tomczak interceptions led to a 41-0 trouncing of the Bears.

He says emphatically that he did not seek counseling because of Ditka’s tirades, but they certainly couldn’t have helped his confidence.

“Coach Ditka and I have had a love-hate relationship; love him today and hate him tomorrow because he chews you out,” Tomczak said. “When you sit down and think about it, you realize he’s been playing and coaching much longer than I’ve been alive. But at the time you think, ‘He never played quarterback. How’s he know?’

“I think the best way to deal with Coach Ditka is to stand up for what you believe. He always respects it. The first couple of years I was intimidated.

“I’d been around (Ohio State) Coach Earle Bruce and my father (his coach in high school), but they were never that blatant. They would say it over breakfast or something, but not in front of millions. On TV and everything. Then you walk around town and people are saying, ‘Tomczak, what the hell is Ditka saying to you?’

“I can’t explain it. Maybe I had a problem with that in the past, I just kept it within myself and it was tearing me up inside. It’s tough to go back in a huddle and say, ‘Okay guys, here’s the play, let’s go and do it.’ You call the play but you’re thinking, ‘Jeez, what the hell happened on the sideline just now?’ ”

Tomczak says the best way to handle similar situations may be to just scream back at Ditka and forget the incident. He did at New England, even demanded Ditka put him back in the game. And Ditka apologized on the plane ride home.

But the most important thing Tomczak had to realize was that he wasn’t McMahon, and won’t be. Tomczak said the counseling helped him understand who he is, in or out of the huddle.

“I finally realized what my limitations are and I’m playing within them. Limitations for Mike Tomczak are a lot different than they are for Jim McMahon. Jim McMahon really has no boundaries. Myself, I’m a nickel and dime guy; dump a pass here, scramble there, get the ball downfield.”

Actually, that’s all the Bears need. Right guard Tom Thayer, one of Tomczak’s good friends, said, “He’s a lot better as a starter. ... When he gets thrown in if Jim’s been injured, he tries to make big plays too quickly, to win the game right away. If they let Mike play the game without pressure, just leave him alone and let Mike play his game, he’s fine.”

However, no matter how well Tomczak plays, McMahon probably will take back the job when he returns in two or three more games from his sprained knee.

“I know I can be a starting quarterback in this league and maybe that’s why I’ve pressed,” he said. “Maybe I was saying, ‘Hey, this is my opportunity!’ But now, I’ve realized this is my fourth year. Maybe my role with the Chicago Bears is just a backup. Maybe it’s tilted that way, but I don’t think of it that way. I don’t picture myself like the rest of the backups around the league because I’m playing so much.

“When I’m watching television and see a backup go in the game I’m like an average fan; ‘Oh well, if he does well, great, because he’s an underdog. But if he doesn’t, it’s expected.’ Then I say, ‘Wait a minute, T-Zack, you’re in the same situation as this guy, even though your ego doesn’t want to let you think that.’ ”

Actually, Tomczak’s ego is very well under control. Not many professional football players would even privately admit vulnerability, much less address it publicly.

Bears players, after Sunday’s game, said they saw a confident, in-charge quarterback. And not one talked about how much the team missed McMahon.

Tomczak heads into Week 11 against the Redskins with a completely different outlook than last year. And, with a lot tighter grip on his life, he can’t wait until Ditka comes back.

When asked if he expects a change in their relationship in light of Ditka’s heart attack, Tomczak said, “I think there’s going to be some significant changes, but to what degree we won’t know until he gets back.

“Professionally speaking, I don’t know. When push comes to shove and it’s a fourth and one and we should have gotten it, he’s not going to say, ‘Oh well.’ That’s not the Mike Ditka we know.”