Jim McMahon

The Chicago Bears selected McMahon in the first round (fifth overall) of the 1982 NFL Draft. McMahon, thrilled to be free from what he considered a restrictive culture at BYU, strolled into his first public function with the Bears holding a cold beer in his hand. Head coach Mike Ditka was not impressed, nor was Bears owner and founder George Halas. McMahon was to find the atmosphere in Chicago almost as challenging as that at Brigham Young, and he would lock horns with Ditka routinely during his seven years with the Bears.

McMahon won the Bears' starting quarterback job as a rookie in 1982, and was named to several All-Rookie teams when he nearly led the team to the playoffs, despite the NFL only playing two games before a players' strike that cancelled nearly half the season. McMahon quickly displayed a natural ability to read defenses and an athletic versatility that surprised many.

McMahon, a rollout passer, explained that coaching in his youth had taught him to square his shoulders to the direction he wanted to throw the football, and he was thus able to execute passes with tight spirals and a high degree of accuracy when running to either his left or his right. The Bears finished the strike-shortened season at 3–6, and McMahon was named NFC Offensive Rookie of the Year, losing the league-wide honor to Marcus Allen.

In 1983, McMahon continued to improve as a passer and as a field general. He made a habit of changing the play both in the huddle and at the line of scrimmage, a practice which frustrated Ditka but usually led to success. His knowledge of the game and an instinctive, intuitive grasp of in-game situations were significant. He became a frequent scorer in goal-line situations, after the dying Halas instructed Ditka to make the quarterback sneak a bigger part of the Bears' offense. He also began to catch touchdown passes on option plays, and was the emergency punter. Chicago finished the season at 8–8, missing the division title and a playoff berth by one victory.

In 1984, the Bears broke through, reaching the conference title game before losing to the San Francisco 49ers. McMahon started the season strongly, though nursing minor injuries like those that would plague him throughout his career. In a violent game against the Los Angeles Raiders at Soldier Field, McMahon sustained a season-ending injury when he was brutally tackled by two Los Angeles defenders. He suffered bruised ribs and a lacerated kidney on the play, but limped to the huddle and breathlessly called the next play, despite difficulty breathing and increasing pain. The players could barely hear him in the huddle, and when McMahon attempted an audible at the line of scrimmage the Bears receivers were unable to hear his call. McMahon was on the verge of collapsing on the field, clutching his flank and rasping in his attempts to convey his situation. The offensive linemen helped McMahon stand and leave the field. McMahon went to the locker room, and reported urine that "looked like grape juice."

Jim McMahon dives into the end zone to score a touchdown during Super Bowl XX.

In 1985, the Bears had a tremendous season, later voted by Sports Illustrated magazine as the greatest of all time, winning their first 12 games and finishing at 15–1. McMahon became a media darling, not only for his outstanding play on the field, but also for his personality. He appeared in a rap record made by the team, "The Super Bowl Shuffle," in which he proclaimed "I'm the punky QB known as McMahon." In an early-season Thursday night game at Minnesota, McMahon was slated to back up Steve Fuller, as McMahon had missed practice time earlier in the week due to a neck injury that required an overnight hospital stay. Midway into the third quarter, the Vikings held a 17–9 lead. McMahon lobbied to get into the game until well into the third quarter. Once finally on the field, his first play was an opportunistic 70-yard touchdown pass to Willie Gault. After an interception by Wilber Marshall on the Vikings ensuing possession, McMahon's very next offensive play was a 25-yard touchdown pass to Dennis McKinnon, making him 2–2 for 95 yards and two touchdowns. He followed up with another successful offensive drive, including a crucial third and short sneak to set up another 43-yard touchdown pass to McKinnon. The Bears led 30–17 and went on to win the game 33–24.

McMahon played solidly, throwing for career-highs of 15 touchdowns and 2,392 yards in 13 games and running well (5.4 yards per carry, three rushing touchdowns).[9][10]

McMahon was notorious for head-first baseball-style slides when running the football, despite being coached to slide feet-first to protect his body. In the playoffs, McMahon heeded this coaching advice and was speared by a defender's helmet squarely in his buttocks, causing a painful deep bruise for which McMahon sought acupuncture treatment.[11] This led to a point of controversy before the Super Bowl in New Orleans, when McMahon "mooned" journalists who were inquiring as to the status of the injury. Thursday morning before the big-game, McMahon made more headlines when a local TV station reported that he had called women of New Orleans "sluts," an accusation he denied and which the announcer later admitted was made up.[12] McMahon claimed in an interview, that he received death threats and wore a different jersey number during practice.[13]

He ended the season with a strong performance in Super Bowl XX, which the Bears won 46–10 over the New England Patriots. In that game, McMahon became the first quarterback in the history of the Super Bowl to rush for two touchdowns.[14] McMahon earned a spot in his only Pro Bowl.

In week 12 of the 1986 NFL regular season, McMahon was playing against the Green Bay Packers, while dealing with an existing rotator cuff injury to his right shoulder. After throwing a third down interception and at least two seconds after his pass was thrown, Green Bay nose tackle Charles Martin grabbed McMahon from behind and body-slammed him to the turf, exacerbating his existing rotator cuff injury. McMahon briefly returned to the game, but it soon became apparent that he couldn't throw effectively, and he left the game in the third quarter, never to play again in 1986. Martin was immediately ejected from the game and later suspended for two additional games — the first multi-game suspension for an on-field incident in modern NFL history. Without McMahon, and despite finishing tied for the league's best record at 14–2, the Bears were unable to defend their Super Bowl championship and lost in the Divisional Playoff round to the Washington Redskins.

McMahon battled injuries for the rest of his career, although at one point between the 1984 and 1987 seasons, he won 22 consecutive regular-season (25 including playoffs and the Super Bowl) starts, the longest "regular season winning streak" by an NFL quarterback at the time, now held by Peyton Manning, who won 23 in 2008 to 2009 (but lost a wildcard playoff game to the Chargers during his "winning streak").

In 1987, McMahon came right back from a head injury and brought the Chicago back in the first game following the NFL players strike to defeat the Buccaneers, 27–26. The Bears went on to an 11–4 record, with many expecting McMahon to start and lead the Bears back to the Super Bowl. However, 1987 ended exactly the same way 1986 had, with the Bears eliminated by the eventual Super Bowl champion Redskins.

McMahon returned for the 1988 season with a much more serious attitude. His main offensive weapon in Walter Payton had retired and McMahon publicly expressed his desire to win a Super Bowl again. The Bears looked strong all season and went 12–4, again winning the NFC Central, and finishing with the NFC's top seed, ensuring they would host the NFC Championship Game at Soldier Field if they advanced that far. McMahon was unable to get the Bears back to the Super Bowl, as they were routed by the eventual Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship which saw McMahon benched in favor of Mike Tomczak in the fourth quarter.

During the offseason, McMahon and Bears president Michael McCaskey had a major falling out with each other. He also fell out of favor with head coach Mike Ditka, and after spending his first seven seasons in the league with Chicago, McMahon was traded to the San Diego Chargers.

As of 2017's NFL off-season, Jim McMahon held at least 15 Bears franchise records, including:

• Completions: playoffs (70)
• Passing Yards: playoffs (967), playoff season (636 in 1985)
• Passing TDs: playoffs (4), playoff season (3 in 1985; with Rex Grossman), playoff game (2 on 1986-01-05 NYG; with Steve Walsh and Jay Cutler), rookie season (9 in 1982; with Kyle Orton)
• Passer Rating: playoffs (77.1), playoff season (106.6 in 1985), rookie season (79.9 in 1982)
• Sacked: playoffs (10), rookie game (7 on 1982-11-28 @MIN)
• Yds/Pass Att: playoffs (7.61), playoff season (9.64 in 1985)
• Pass Yds/Game: rookie season (187.6 in 1982)

McMahon started 11 games for the 6–10 Chargers team in 1989. He went 4–7 in the games he started, though the team lost four of those games by a combined 11 points. He had only 4 games over 200 yards, but had 389 yards against the Houston Oilers in a Week 2 loss.

However, McMahon again found himself in trouble when he fell out of favor with his coach, Dan Henning, his teammates, and the team's front office staff. He was benched for the final four games in favor of Billy Joe Tolliver and finished the year with 2,132 yards, 10 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. McMahon was released after the season.

McMahon at the White House with President Obama in 2011.

McMahon signed with the Philadelphia Eagles, who were coached by former Bears assistant Buddy Ryan, for the 1990 season. For the first time in his career he served as a full-time backup, as Randall Cunningham was entrenched as the starter. After Cunningham tore his ACL in the opening game of the following season, new coach Rich Kotite named McMahon his starter. He helped the Eagles to a 10–6 record and earned the NFL Comeback Player of the Year award. McMahon stayed with the Eagles for one additional season in the backup role.

McMahon's last chance to be a full-time starter came with the Minnesota Vikings in 1993. Supplanting Sean Salisbury as the team's starter, McMahon led the Vikings to eight wins in twelve starts and returned to the postseason as a starter for the first time since 1988. However, the Vikings lost to the New York Giants.

After the season, McMahon joined the Arizona Cardinals, now coached by Ryan, for the 1994 season, where he made his final career start in Week 3, against the Cleveland Browns. He finished the season as the team's third quarterback behind Steve Beuerlein and Jay Schroeder and left the team at its conclusion. After failing to catch on with the Browns in the 1995 preseason, McMahon joined the Green Bay Packers. He retired following the 1996 season, which finished with a Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots in New Orleans, eleven years to the day of the Bears' Super Bowl victory over the Patriots in the same venue.

McMahon caused some controversy when he showed up to the Packers' reception at the White House wearing his Bears jersey, due to the rivalry between the two teams. McMahon later explained that he did so because he was unable to visit the White House when he led the Bears to victory in Super Bowl XX; two days after the Bears won the game, the crew of Space Shuttle mission STS-51-L were killed in the explosion of their craft, Shuttle Challenger, and the Bears' scheduled visit was cancelled. McMahon and his surviving teammates and coaches were eventually received in 2011 by President Barack Obama, himself a Bears fan.[15]

Since retiring from football in 1997, he has worked as a restaurant owner and motivational speaker. He was apprehended in Florida for drunk driving in 2003. Upon being pulled over, McMahon allegedly got out of his car and said to the police, "I'm too drunk; you got me."[16]

On April 9, 2012 it was reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, that McMahon was targeted by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) for $104 million in bad loans made by the now closed, Chicago-based Broadway Bank, of which he was a member of the board. The FDIC wanted to recover $104 million in loans made by the bank before it was shut down, according to the newspaper. In addition to McMahon, six other former Broadway Bank board members and two former bank executives had been targeted. It is said that McMahon had only approved one loan out of the 17 bad loans for a $28 million Miami beach condo project. The FDIC said the bank lost $19.5 million on the loan, according to the Sun-Times. McMahon said in a statement to the Sun-Times that the FDIC's claims were without merit and he expected to be vindicated. "I am proud to have served as an outside, independent director for a brief part of the bank's history," he wrote, according to the Sun-Times.[17]

In a November 6, 2010, interview, McMahon admitted to having memory problems due to injuries suffered on the football field. McMahon was quoted as saying, 'There are a lot of times when I walk into a room and forget why I walked in there.'[18] McMahon, along with six other retired professional football players, filed a class action lawsuit against the NFL in August 2011, citing the league's negligence and misconduct in its handling of concussion-related injuries; the suit followed lawsuits filed shortly before by 75 other NFL retirees making similar claims as well as asserting that the NFL knew about the dangers concussions posed to NFL athletes as far back as the 1920s and actively withheld the information from the affected and the general public until the summer of 2010. The August suit that McMahon joined seeks to expand the scope of the suit to potentially all NFL players who suffered game-related concussions or head injuries.[19]

He appeared in a Sports Illustrated cover article in September 2012 detailing his struggles.[20]

On September 27, 2012, it was reported that at age 53, McMahon had been diagnosed as being in the early stages of dementia.[21]

The Sports Illustrated article caught the attention of New York chiropractor Scott Rosa, who reached out to McMahon with an offer of treatment. Rosa believed that McMahon's neck was out of alignment caused by his years of playing football. Rosa performed an adjustment on his neck that repaired a blockage and allowed spinal fluid to drain normally. The procedure had positive results. “The first time he did it, my head was so full of stuff it literally felt like the toilet flushing,” he said. “I could actually feel the stuff draining out of my head.” McMahon had daily adjustments for a week and now only returns for an adjustment every three months.[22] This treatment has led to improvement in his short term memory and the elimination of his headaches.[23]

McMahon uses cannabis to treat the chronic pain and arthritis that he suffers from as a result of his football career.[24] He calls cannabis a "godsend" that allowed him to completely eliminate his painkiller habit which he says included 100 Percocet pills a month.[25] McMahon has been active in speaking about his experience using cannabis, serving as spokesperson for the Cannabis Sports Policy Project[26] and a member of the Gridiron Cannabis Coalition along with several other former NFL players.[27] McMahon appeared in a TV ad supporting cannabis legalization in the state of Arizona.[28]

In November 2016, McMahon was among the signatories of an open letter addressed to the NFL, urging a change in the league's policy towards cannabis.[29] The letter was penned by Doctors for Cannabis Regulation and signed by several other NFL players.[30] McMahon is also a member of the Doctors for Cannabis Regulation NFL steering committee.[31]

McMahon being greeted by the Commanding Officer of the 15th MEU during his USO tour in Iraq in December 2006.

In December 2006 McMahon went to Iraq with the USO to visit American forces in the field.[32]

During Super Bowl XLIV, McMahon joined other members of the 1985 Chicago Bears in resurrecting the Super Bowl Shuffle in a Boost Mobile commercial.[33]

In 2010, McMahon became a part owner of the Indoor Football League's Chicago Slaughter.

In November 2012, McMahon appeared on an episode of the sitcom The League called "The Tailgate."[34]

In August 2020, a documentary entitled Mad Mac: The Memory Of Jim McMahon by director CJ Wallis began shooting. The film covers McMahon's life in and out of professional sports.[35][36]