Jim McMahon`s sore arm again prevented him from throwing in drills Thursday. The Bears can`t predict how often he might throw in the coming days of camp.
The mood remains cautiously optimistic. But if the frequency of his throwing doesn`t increase soon, the team might be faced with an early crisis. ”It has nothing to do with the shoulder,” trainer Fred Caito said of the surgery last December. ”It`s a muscle spasm in the back of the shoulder. He`s healing, but the strength isn`t there yet. We know he has no velocity on his throws yet. That`s obvious.”
McMahon didn`t throw in Tuesday`s workouts, but he did throw Wednesday, then had a massage treatment that night to relax the spasm. Caito said he needs to ”get back on the weights and build up some strength.”
Coach Mike Ditka still expects McMahon to play in Saturday`s team scrimmage. And he says it remains ”realistic” to him to start him Aug. 16 in the preseason opener at Miami.
”I`d hoped he could throw once a day and work once a day, but right now, we better get his arm to where he`s comfortable with it,” Ditka said. ”I haven`t sat down and talked to Jim about starting at Miami. If he feels he doesn`t want to play then, I wouldn`t force him.”
Ditka was unimpressed by what he saw Thursday from quarterbacks Mike Tomczak, Doug Flutie and Jim Harbaugh. ”Nobody`s jumping out at me,” he said. ”We`re having a hard time completing passes. Once in a while we look good. But we aren`t doing it consistently, and that bothers me.”
Unsigned cornerback Mike Richardson and his agent, Ethan Lock, will be in Lake Forest Friday to talk with Bears finance director Ted Phillips about a new contract. ”We think it`s best that Mike hear from me as far as why we`re offering him what we are,” Phillips said. ”And I want to hear from him why he thinks he`s worth what he`s asking.”
Ditka extended curfew a little Wednesday so his players could enjoy a longer nightlife. He thought that affected Thursday`s practice. ”It was kind of sluggish,” he said.
McMahon and Dan Hampton were seen huddling in a local saloon Wednesday night. As Hampton has said, the feud the pair had last year is history.
Walter Payton and Hampton have set a tone of dedication with their work habits early in camp. They`re going all out.
Observed Ditka: ”When you get older as a player, you can say, `Well, I don`t have to work as hard.` Or you can say, `I have to work twice as hard.`
And that`s the way Dan and Walter look at it.
”I think Walter is working harder, but he`s always worked hard. When you`ve accomplished what he`s has and then people in the media have the audacity to say we should do other things with other people . . . I just think he`s going to shove that down people`s throats.”
Signs have gone up on the main road through the university campus here proclaiming it ”Payton Parkway.” It intersects with Halas Lane.
Rookie Tim Jessie has impressed Ditka, but it`s hard to see where the 11th-round running back can fit on the roster. He also lined up as a wide receiver Thursday.
”He`s very quick,” Ditka said. ”He looks faster than other people to me. At least he runs somewhere with the football. He`ll run 20, 25 yards. That`s impressive. A lot of the guys run a few steps and stop. The way you become a good back is you learn to break into the open and you run. He`s done that pretty well. He doesn`t catch the ball perfectly, but he has run good routes.”
