Bears Trade McMahon to Chargers : Quarterback Moved to San Diego in Return for ’90 Draft Choice
Jim McMahon, who led the Chicago Bears to the 1986 Super Bowl championship before falling out of favor with Coach Mike Ditka, was traded to the San Diego Chargers today for a conditional 1990 draft choice.
The former All-Pro quarterback is expected to be in uniform for the Chargers’ exhibition game against the Bears in Chicago on Saturday night, although it’s doubtful he will play.
“Ditka and I didn’t speak at all during training camp, and I figured something was going on,” McMahon said. “And I guess I was right.
“I’m very relieved. . . . I feel sorry for the rest of the guys who’ve got to put up with it,” he said.
McMahon, who will turn 30 on Monday, was competing with Mike Tomczak and Jim Harbaugh for the Bears’ starting quarterback job this season after being plagued by injuries for the last five years. He completed four of six passes for 47 yards in the Bears’ 28-20 exhibition victory over Miami on Monday night.
McMahon said he didn’t think he would have started for the Bears this season:
“The way things were going in training camp, no. I think he believes he can win with anybody. It’s his coaching that gets it done, so now, I don’t have to deal with that any more,” McMahon said at a news conference at the Northbrook office of his agent, Steve Zucker.
Ditka said that although he likes McMahon and respects him, “My feeling is Jim needs a change of scenery. I think he’ll be happier starting for the Chargers and being in a class organization.”
The Chargers have been searching for a quarterback since Dan Fouts retired before last season. Their quarterbacks--Mark Malone, free agent David Archer and second-round draft pick Billie Joe Tolliver--were ineffective in a 20-3 preseason loss to Dallas last weekend.
“The Bears are going in a different direction,” player Personnel Director Bill Tobin said. “Our quarterback situation is healthy.”
In addition to Tomczak and Harbaugh, they have rookie Brent Snyder. Tomczak figures to be No. 1 with Harbaugh the backup.
“We can get a No. 3 or even a No. 1 depending on the success of McMahon and the success of the Chargers,” Tobin said. “Jim McMahon is healthy.”
Tobin said the deal was in the works for several months and was discussed during the draft last April.
“But what San Diego was offering at the time was embarrassing,” Tobin said.
McMahon has had only two injury-free seasons--the first two after his selection in first round of the NFL draft out of Brigham Young in 1982.
In 1984, he sustained a serious kidney laceration in the 11th game and missed the rest of the season. Since then he has had a series of injuries every year, including shoulder, hamstrings and knees.
Nevertheless, he is a proven winner. The Bears have won 35 of his last 38 regular-season starts.
Last season, he started the first nine games, sustaining a sprained knee in the ninth against New England.
McMahon did not play again until the playoffs. He did not start but played in a 20-12 victory over Philadelphia in a fog-shrouded NFC semifinal game. He started the next week in the NFC championship game, a 28-3 loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers.