Every day of the 2015 Chicago Bears season, Chicago Sun-Times Sports will revisit its coverage 30 years ago during the 1985 Bears’ run to a Super Bowl title.
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Finzer is looking for a job
Herb Gould
Originally published Aug. 28, 1985
Lightning struck again yesterday for Dave Finzer.
Among the 10 players the Bears cut was incumbent punter Finzer, which means he has lost a punting job to Maury Buford two years in a row.
Ironically, Buford, who beat out Finzer in San Diego last summer, and Finzer, a Loyola Academy graduate, have become close friends.
“It was a very awkward situation,” said Buford, who joined the Bears last week after losing the Charger job to fourth-round pick Ralf Mojsiejenko. “I think it’s better for Dave being cut this week, rather than next. There are still a lot of teams looking for a consistent punter.”
Said Finzer, “It hadn’t been a good camp, so it wasn’t a total surprise.” Despite his troubles this summer, Finzer said he hoped his performance last year, when he led the NFL in punts inside the 20-yard line, would help him latch on with another team.
“I’ve got to shake him off my tail,” Finzer joked about Buford, a fourth-year Texas Tech product who averaged 56 yards on two punts Monday. “No, there’s really no animosity. We became really good friends a year ago.”
Coach Mike Ditka said he wouldn’t have brought in another punter if Finzer had continued to punt this summer as he did last fall. “He’s a good punter when he’s punting well,” the coach said. “Dave’s having some problems. You never know, our paths may cross again. But right now, Maury’s punting the ball a lot better.”
Buford, who hasn’t punted in Soldier Field yet, said he doesn’t plan to be intimidated by the wind. “It’s like teeing off in golf. When the wind’s in your face, there’s a tendency to try and crank it. But you’ve got to stay in your rhythm and not overkick the ball,” Buford said.
MONGO KNOWS: Defensive tackle Steve “Mongo” McMichael has this theory about why the Cowboys proved so nasty in Monday night’s fight-filled encounter.
“They said in the papers down there that they used to be a finesse team, but now they’re going to be a physical team,” said McMichael, who didn’t shy away from the eye of the pugilistic storm. “But they’re just trying to do it. It’s not real, not like the Chicago Bears and our tradition. With us, it’s instinct. It’s how we feel right then. With them, it’s not real.”
Whatever Dallas’ aggressive bent was attributable to, linebacker Otis Wilson said there’s one Cowboy he’d like to lasso when the teams meet again Nov. 17.
“Ron Springs. He cheap-shotted me, clipped the devil out of me. I’ll be ready for him the next time,” Wilson said of the Dallas fullback. Wilson suffered a sprained ankle on the play, which came on the Cowboys’ third offensive play of the game. Wilson is doubtful for Saturday’s pre-season finale with Buffalo, but he expects to be healed for the season opener with Tampa Bay Sept. 8.
NO O: Here’s why the Bears didn’t stop the clock late in their 15-13 loss to Dallas in an effort to regain the ball. “We’d gone 58 minutes and put up 13 points,” Ditka said. “What makes anybody think we were going to put up anything in 1:50?” He added, “Don’t we get to carry over those time-outs? Don’t we get to use ‘em this week?”
While not upset with an offense that has managed just two touchdowns in three games, Ditka said he was concerned.
“We’ve got to put some points on the board. We should have scored 31 or 35 points against Dallas. Easily. But we didn’t. I don’t care how good you play defense. If you can’t get the defense more than 13 points, it’s over. Our goal is to get 24 points and say, `Hey, come get us.’”
To score more, Ditka pointed to execution. “It’s not the plays being called, it’s the execution. We had too many breakdowns on offense.”
IN, NOT-IN-YET: Wide receiver Ken Margerum drew Ditka’s praise, while rookie running back Thomas Sanders made too many mistakes.
“The essence of being a wide receiver is to go for the football and Margerum went after the ball,” Ditka said of Margerum’s three catches for 46 yards. “If he can continue to go to the football, he’ll be on the field a lot.”
Meanwhile, when Ditka was asked if Sanders had won a job on the strength of his 32 yards on six carries, the coach said, “Not really. On Monday night’s performance, he would have been cut. All you saw was one fumble. You didn’t see the three missed blocking assignments before that.”
