Chargers Get Their McMahon at QB
Outrageous Fortune. No, not the movie. The trade.
It happened Friday when the Chicago Bears shipped injury-prone quarterback Jim McMahon and all his psychological baggage to the Chargers for a 1990 draft pick that will be a first-, second- or third-rounder depending on how the Chargers do when McMahon plays this year.
The deal was done Thursday night after two days of hard negotiations. Then the Chargers spent all day Friday crowing about their good fortune in acquiring McMahon, who is known for his outrageous behavior.
McMahon, you might remember, is the guy who wears sunglasses because he stuck a fork in his eye when he was a child. He’s the guy who wears his hair the way Cher wears clothes. He’s the guy who criticized his own parents in his best-selling autobiography.
He’s also the guy who mooned a helicopter in New Orleans the week before he led the Bears to a 46-10 victory over New England in the 1986 Super Bowl. It was an act that defined the personality McMahon has cultivated like a child’s garden.
McMahon, who will turn 30 Monday, has always been theatrical. Some of his best theater has occurred on the football field. And that’s the act the Chargers bought Friday.
To make room, they waived quarterback Mark Malone. Without saying it in so many words, they also made it clear that rookie Billy Joe Tolliver will not be a starter in the NFL this season.
McMahon almost certainly will not play tonight against the Bears at Soldier Field in the second exhibition game for both teams. But Charger Coach Dan Henning said he might play Wednesday night when the Chargers face the 49ers in Candlestick Park. And, he said, it’s likely McMahon will play in the Chargers’ final exhibition game Sept. 1 against the Phoenix Cardinals.
“It was just a matter of time before somebody was in here,” Tolliver said of the Chargers’ ongoing efforts to acquire a proven NFL starter.
Ted Tollner, the Charger quarterbacks coach, worked with McMahon as Brigham Young’s offensive coordinator in 1981. And, Tollner said, “if he (McMahon) produces the way I think, he’ll be ready for the Raider game.”
The Raider game will be played Sept. 10 in the Los Angeles Coliseum and will be the regular season opener for both teams.
The Bears wouldn’t say so publicly, but the consensus among observers close to the team is they feel they are well rid of McMahon, his erratic personality and his voluminous medical history. Bear Coach Mike Ditka clashed frequently with McMahon. Bear defensive end Dan Hampton publicly questioned McMahon’s durability and toughness last year. And Bear President Michael McCaskey, also a target in McMahon’s book, never liked the quarterback’s style.
As late as Wednesday, Charger owner Alex Spanos said: “From a personality standpoint, it doesn’t seem like he gets along with people.”
That tune changed abruptly after the trade.
“Listen,” Spanos said, “I think this trade is probably as exciting as anything that has happened in the last five years. The kid’s a winner. We’re excited to have him.”
The personality?
“Hey,” Spanos said. “All I want to do is see him win.”
“To me,” said Steve Ortmayer, the Chargers’ director of football operations, “his personality is 35-3.” That’s his record as a starter over the past five years.
McMahon’s career record as a starter is 49-17 (46-15 in regular season games). But injuries have prevented him from starting 16 games in any one season during his seven years in the league. After each of the past three seasons, he has received treatment from Dr. Frank Jobe, the noted Los Angeles orthopedic surgeon, for shoulder and knee problems.
McMahon’s worst injury occurred in 1984 against the Raiders, when he took off out of the pocket and got sandwiched by Raiders Bill Pickel and Jeff Barnes. He wound up with a lacerated kidney, and for a brief period doctors weren’t sure he would ever play again. The next year, he was the winning quarterback in the Super Bowl and the NFC starter in the Pro Bowl.
McMahon’s strength is clearly not his durability. It’s his skill in reading defenses and convincing the 10 players around him he can do what he tells them he will do in the huddle.
But the Chargers don’t have the kind of offensive line the Bears did to protect McMahon. Bear linemen Jim Covert and Jay Hilgenberg have played in the Pro Bowl. Right tackle Keith Van Horne is a former first-round draft choice.
The Charger line that blocked for Malone last year consisted of four free agents and a fourth-round rookie.
“We’ll give him the best protection we can give him,” Charger right tackle Brett Miller said.
Moreover, McMahon has always been a “touch” quarterback. More than half of the league’s starting quarterbacks can throw the football harder and farther than he can.
Henning has always preferred strong-armed quarterbacks. And the offenses he helped design while an assistant in Washington were built around quarterbacks with powerful arms.
But, he insisted Friday, “I think we made a positive deal for the team. The key players around him will become more competitive because of the atmosphere he creates.”
Henning said he wasn’t worried about McMahon’s reputation for candor. “His personality is such that he says what he thinks,” he said. “Other people think the same things but don’t say them. Everybody’s different. We’re looking for football players, not conformists.”
The Bears decided McMahon was expendable because of the continued improvement of younger quarterbacks Mike Tomczak and Jim Harbaugh, their first-round selection in 1987.
“Jim McMahon is a starting quarterback, and I couldn’t give him that guarantee here,” Ditka said. “It was a tough decision. But I think he’ll be happier in San Diego.”
McMahon has always talked fondly of San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. He played his first exhibition game there as a rookie against the Chargers in 1982 just one year after leading BYU to a wild, 38-36 victory over Washington State in the Holiday Bowl. In that game, he completed 27 of 43 passes for 342 yards and three touchdowns. The year before, he completed 32 of 49 passes and four touchdowns in an equally pulsating 46-45 Holiday Bowl victory over SMU.
“The way things were (in Chicago), no, I wasn’t going to be the starter,” McMahon said. “I think Ditka believes he can win with anybody that gets it done. So now I don’t have to deal with that anymore.”
The Chargers do.
Ortmayer said they have checked McMahon’s physical status out with doctors and are convinced he is healthy. He also said they watched McMahon closely in the Bears’ 28-20 victory in Miami Monday night. In that game, McMahon completed four of six passes for 47 yards.
Before the McMahon deal, the Chargers also had been talking to Dallas about acquiring quarterback Steve Pelluer. But the Cowboys reportedly wanted Charger defensive linemen George Hinkle, Karl Wilson and a second-round draft pick, a price the Chargers were unwilling to pay. So they turned their attention back toward McMahon, whom they were interested in last spring during the period leading up to the college draft.
“The Bears are a straightforward, no-bull operation,” Ortmayer said. “They don’t try to nickel-and-dime you. When you have two operations like that, you can get it done.”
McMahon has one year left on his current contract. His base salary for 1989 is $800,000.
Scott Miller, in San Diego, and the Associated Press contributed to this story.