Jim McMahon and Mike Ditka made a pretty good quarterback-coach tandem.
But perhaps their relationship would have been better as quarterback-tight end.
During an interview with Chris Boden on Comcast SportsNet’s “Inside Look” (via the Chicago Sun-Times), the former Bears quarterback suggested his relationship with his boss wasn’t always pleasant.
“I would’ve loved to have played with Mike, he was a great football player,” McMahon said. “And had he ever been in my huddle, he would have understood me, I think. We would have gotten along a lot better as players.”
Despite riding one of the best defenses in the history of the game to a Super Bowl title, McMahon also said their predictability when he had the ball kept them from winning more than one.
“I think we just got tired of beating each other up, and that takes its toll after a while,” McMahon said. “Then [Washington coach] Joe Gibbs figured out how to beat us, or beat our defense. Our offense was so predictable. Unless I changed the play, everybody knew what we were going to run. Things just caught up to us.”
Of course, McMahon was the one telling this version of the story, and narrators are often unreliable witnesses to their own flaws. Ditka played it safe offensively in part because McMahon wasn’t always careful with the ball.
Even as he won all 11 of his starts that year, McMahon only completed 56.9 percent of his passes, and had 11 interceptions to go with his 15 touchdowns. So prudence when the ball was in his hands might have been advisable.
But the idea that a rebellious quarterback might clash with a coach who had a big personality as well shouldn’t stand as a surprise, either.