From today's Gazette:
the Philadelphia Eagles had just two sacks in the 2022 regular-season
finale, Chicago Bears Hall of Fame defensive lineman Dan Hampton sent a
photo to some former teammates showing him drinking champagne.
The
Eagles had fallen short of breaking the Bears’ 1984 NFL record of 72
sacks in a season, finishing with 70. So Hampton was thrilled.
Come
later this season, we’ll see if Hampton is sipping champagne after a
Broncos game. The 8-2 Broncos, with 46 sacks in 10 games, are on pace to
shatter Chicago’s record.
“I’m obviously
interested in what the Broncos are doing as far as getting after the
quarterback,’’ Hampton said. “Of course, I don’t want them to break (the
record).”
When the Bears set the mark in
1984, one year before their iconic 1985 team won Super Bowl XX, the NFL
played a 16-game season. But the NFL went to a 17-game slate in 2021.
“I
think that if they don’t do it in 16 games, they’d have to put an
asterisk on it,’’ Hampton said of the Broncos’ record quest.
Entering
Sunday’s game against Kansas City at Empower Field, the Broncos are on
pace to have 73.5 sacks in the first 16 games. Led by outside
linebackers Nik Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper, who have 9.5 and 7.5 sacks,
respectively, they are on pace to get to 78 in 17 games.
The
legendary 1984 Bears defense had three eventual Hall of Famers who
reached double digits in sacks. Defensive end Richard Dent had 17.5,
Hampton recorded 11.5, and defensive tackle Steve McMichael had 10.
McMichael died April 2025 after battling ALS.
Dent said he isn’t following Denver’s pursuit of the record as closely as Hampton. But he agrees with
Hampton
that an asterisk should be put on the mark if the Broncos don’t get
past 72 sacks in 16 games but do so in the regular-season finale.
“They say that records are made to be broken,’’ Dent said. “They might be on pace right now, but you still got to do it.”
The
1984 Bears are proud of their record. Tyrone Keys, a reserve defensive
end who played for the Bears 1983-85 and considers himself the
unofficial historian of their defenses then, has put together photo
collages from 1984 and sent them to former teammates.
One
he sent out early this decade had the headline, “Unbreakable 72 Sacks
1984 Chicago Bears 16 game single season record.” It featured photos of
the six top defensive linemen on that team and it was written, “Bond
never to be broken.”
Keys had 2.5 sacks in
1984, including a rugged takedown of Broncos quarterback Gary Kubiak in
Week 2. In a 27-0 shutout of Denver at Soldier Field, the Bears had
three sacks.
One came in the first half,
when Keys burst through the line and belted Kubiak. The quarterback was
lost for the game with a concussion and taken to a hospital.
“Rough
day,’’ said Kubiak, who started due to John Elway having a nagging
shoulder injury, completed three of six passes, and was sacked twice
before his exit. “I was screwed up for a few weeks after that. … I ended
up in the hospital in Chicago and I remember (Bears quarterback) Jim
McMahon being in the room next to me because he had something happen to
him, and he came by and said hello. … I remember the team bus picking me
up to take me home from the hospital and I was still half in uniform.”
After
Kubiak left, the Broncos put in Elway briefly despite his injury. But
with the Broncos down 27-0 at halftime, third-string quarterback Scott
Stankavage finished up.
Kubiak said the
Broncos “didn’t want John to get beat up anymore” and said Elway told
him later that if he stayed in the game, “they’re going to kill me,
too.” Kubiak lauded the legendary “46 defense” the Bears were playing
then under coordinator Buddy Ryan.
“They were exceptionally talented,’’ Kubiak said. “They were a really good defensive team.”
Keys, who said he didn’t mean to hurt Kubiak and was relieved when he was released from the hospital, certainly agrees.
“We
had a bond on that defense,’’ Keys said. “It was a brotherhood. It’s
been 40 years since that 72-sack season, but we’re still making T-shirts
with that and giving them out.”
The Bears
in 1984 ranked No. 1 in the NFL in total defense, the first of three
straight seasons of doing that. But their offense was nothing special,
with Chicago finishing No. 16 in the then 28team league in points
scored.
“With our offense, we never really
blew people out,’’ Dent said. “If we had been able to get big leads and
pin our ears back, we could have been in the 90s (in sacks) or in the
80s without a doubt.”
As for the Broncos
piling up sacks now, Dent and Hampton both said there are more
opportunities now since teams drop back to throw a lot more than four
decades ago.
“There’s more attempts and more chances to get to the quarterback,’’ Hampton said.
Still,
Hampton does like what he has seen from the Broncos’ defense. They have
16 different players with sack statistics, with Bonitto, Cooper, and
defensive lineman Zach Allen, who has 6.0, leading the way.
“Zach
Allen, he’s a fine player,’’ Hampton said. “He gives them inside
pressure. (Bonitto) can get up and field and make some moves. (Bonitto
and Cooper), obviously, they’re good edge players. With their pass rush,
they’re doing it better than anybody else this year.”
Nevertheless, Hampton is hoping when the regular season ends, he again will be sipping champagne.
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