Former Bears quarterback Jim McMahon has fired back at Dan Hampton for comments made last month in an interview with Artie Lange.
Hampton, who spoke critically of the Bears all season (see here and here, for starters), spoke positively of Jay Cutler and had nothing nice to say about McMahon, his former teammate.
“I would have gave anything to have him on our team,” Hampton said of Cutler in the Jan. 29 interview. “You give us Jay Cutler back in our day, not only do we win five Super Bowls in a row, but we don’t lose a game. Mark that down. If we had Jay Cutler – forget the Super Bowl: We don’t lose a game.”
Hampton, a defensive lineman, played for the Bears from 1979-90 and was part of the Super Bowl XX championship team.
Hampton also spent time during the interview bashing McMahon, who quarterbacked the Bears during their Super Bowl run.
“Unfortunately, McMahon was only healthy a handful of games throughout his career after ’86 and ’87,” Hampton said. “It was intolerable. … When he left I was glad.
“It’s a team. And everybody has to pull on the rope. Nobody can ride in the wagon. … Mike Ditka, as open minded as he is — and he was kind of a party guy when he played — but you cannot run an NFL franchise with a quarterback that you cannot depend on. It’s just impossible.”
McMahon shot back at Hampton via Twitter on Monday.
@ChrisDeLuca ha I think he shld go bck & play he's got a lot to say get mayb he shld coach cutler lmai
— Jim McMahon (@JimMcMahon) February 24, 2015
You can listen to Artie Lange’s full interview with Hampton below. I’ve skipped to the 20-minute mark, which is when he discusses Cutler, to wade through some foul language, but feel free to jump back to the beginning as you see fit:
