Old Hamp can`t stand it. At 33, he ain`t old. At 10 knee operations, he ain`t Hamp. But he`s still better than most, and one thing`s for sure: The Bears ain`t the Bears without him.
This is one last stand for Dan Hampton, for the Bears as we know them, maybe for Mike Ditka. Hampton could write a song about it and probably will, just as soon as he straightens out those mangled fingers enough to hold a pen and pick his guitar.
Whether the Bears are the Bears with Hampton is the question everybody is waiting to answer. They looked like it last season when they got out of the gate 4-0, whipping Cincinnati, Minnesota, Detroit and Philadelphia. Then Hampton got hurt and the Bears finished 2-10.
”I have no idea what happened, except the team self-destructed,”
Hampton said. ”But all the good things that made us 4-0 we still have. We haven`t lost anybody.”
Hampton made that comment before Steve McMichael returned. Hampton also assumes his own knees will hold up, an assumption that some members of the Bears` organization fear is false.
”I knew in the fall of last year, if I decided to do it again, I`d have to do it with my teeth grit. And that`s the way it is,” Hampton said. ”I can be as good as ever, but I can`t do it 70 plays a game. I can do it 40-50 plays a game.”
That`s why he must try. Linebacker Mike Singletary calls him ”senile”, and guard Mark Bortz kids him about rarely having to practice anymore. Wife Terry laughs that she spent ”time on my hands and knees begging him to quit.” Club President Mike McCaskey hinted it was time for him to retire.
But Hampton knows deep down he still can do it. He swears he has suffered ”no drain bamage.” He still can wreak havoc in the middle of an offense the way only a few defensive tackles ever have, so he feels an obligation both to himself and to the team.
Defensive coordinator Vince Tobin and line coach John Levra will rotate Hampton to spare him. He`s as good against the run as he is against the pass, so there is no sentiment for using him strictly as a rush specialist in long- yardage situations.
”That`s only 8-10 plays a game,” Hampton said. ”I just hope they want to play me as much as I want to play.”
Besides, this is fun, and let`s face it, this is money. With a contract structured to pay him a smaller base salary than last year`s $850,000 plus a per-game active bonus, Hampton still can make plenty if healthy.
Terry said her husband was ”bothered” last year by drawing his salary after he got hurt. ”He felt he was getting paid for nothing,” Terry said.
”I didn`t. It didn`t bother me.”
”Why should they pay me if I get hurt again?” Hampton asked. ”I said,
`Fine, you`re scared of me getting hurt; I`m banking I`ll stay healthy. So let`s structure the contract for games played.` ”
The money`s nice, but it wouldn`t be worth the pain if it weren`t fun, too. If you don`t think this is fun for Hampton, you didn`t see him running halfway across the field to block somebody into the stands when Maurice Douglass intercepted a pass against the Miami Dolphins in the second exhibition game.
When it`s over, he will miss it. But this isn`t the sad saga of a veteran hanging on. Not yet. Not ever, he truly believes. If it were time to quit, he would. He even finds himself wishing for that time.
”I`m ready. I swear to God I`m ready. I`m tired of hurting,” Hampton said.
Until then, let the hurt begin.
”I`ve got a real crazy feeling about this year. That`s why I wanted to come back,” he said.
When it`s over, Hampton seems destined for a career in the TV booth. Not only is he quick with a quip, he studies teams, knows rosters and offers bold predictions that often are right on, including last year`s Bear collapse.
”Green Bay won`t win eight games,” Hampton said. ”Minnesota, they`ll be darn lucky to win 10. I think we`ll win 12. Detroit scares the heck out of me. Tampa could win 10 games. Tampa and Detroit are the teams that could affect our division more than any other.
”You could make a case for every team winning our division. But I`ll bet either Detroit or Tampa Bay will have a better record than Green Bay, and I`ll bet even more we`ll have a better record than Minnesota.”
Why the optimism for the Bears?
”We`ve got a great mix. We`ve got a bunch of old crusty guys and a bunch of good talented young guys. I like where we`re sitting. Nobody picks us. We don`t have to defend. We don`t have to do this or that. It`s like `84 again.” The circumstances fit Ditka`s coaching style perfectly, Hampton feels.
”This is his forte, playing off the deal. We had all the trumps for years and didn`t quite get there. He`s great at working up that mojo: `They don`t think much about you. You`re just has-beens, old and wore out. You`re just a bunch of kids.` ”
Hampton remembers Buddy Ryan`s motivational tactics on former linebacker Otis Wilson.
”He told Otis that O.J. Anderson was going to run over him like a Ford over a rooster. Otis almost killed him in the first quarter,” Hampton said.
That kind of emotion still works in the kind of football Hampton and Ditka practice and preach.
”Dan gets everybody revved up walking around the locker room mumbling, swearing at lockers and stuff,” Singletary said. ”On the field, he`s hyped up ready to go. Some guys need to hear somebody else fired up. Some guys can`t reach in and turn it on. He`s that guy for everybody.”
With Hampton gone, Ditka`s efforts to fire up people backfired. Ditka became sarcastic and ineffective and watched his prophecy of doom self-fulfill. Ditka has promised to back off and improve his relationship with his team. Hampton has a better idea.
”I`ll tell you how you handle Ditka. You just win,” Hampton said. ”If you lose, then all the crap is going to start. That`s fine. If you lose, you deserve it. But if you win, you don`t have to deal with it.”
Winning is hard under any conditions. To Hampton, it`s simply impossible if the team doesn`t come first.
”He works well to protect his linebackers and fellow linemen,” Bortz said. ”He believes in the team concept.”
When Bortz used to see more of Hampton in practice, the two had memorable standoffs. It is more than coincidence that Jim Covert and Richard Dent, Bortz and Hampton, Jay Hilgenberg and Singletary-players who often face each other in practices-all have been to the Pro Bowl.
”Dan has a lot of counters instead of just one pass-rush,” Bortz said.
”He`ll use two, three, four different types of techniques. But the emphasis is on team player. That says more about a guy. It`s more difficult to block if guys are jamming up a line and you`re trying to get to the linebacker.”
So the individual skills of teammates neither awe nor worry Hampton as long as everybody is rowing the same boat.
Quarterback?
”Least of my worries. I think either one of them will be fine,” Hampton said. ”Tomczak just needs to play with confidence, and Harbaugh is still on the come. Roger Staubach didn`t become a rookie until he was 28, and I closely associate Harbaugh`s talent with Staubach`s.”
Defensive ends Richard Dent and Trace Armstrong?
”I look for Richard to have a great year. He`s quick, quick, quick right now. Trace is coming on. I hate to say it, but he reminds me of me 10 years ago-works hard, has a real fast first step. Last year, he was a 5. This year he`s a 7.5 already in camp going to a 10.
”Our linebackers are going to be terrific. I like everything about how this team is falling together.”
Hampton notes how players like Donnell Woolford, Armstrong, Lemuel Stinson, David Tate, Dante Jones, John Roper, James Thornton, Wendell Davis and Brad Muster are all in their second or third years. He remembers the 1985 Bears with Covert, Willie Gault, Dent, Bortz, Dave Duerson, Dennis McKinnon, Mike Richardson, Wilber Marshall and Ron Rivera all in their second or third years.
It would be insane, of course, to enter one last stand thinking about Custer. Hampton might be crazy, but it has kept him from going insane. He could have written those lyrics for Waylon Jennings.
Even Custer was optimistic.
”The 49ers? I`ve got to take my hat off to them, but I`m not crazy about them,” Hampton said. ”They can be had. All you`ve got to do is be patient with them. If you get reckless, that`s their game. They`re smart and disciplined and capitalize on what you do wrong. I wish we played them this year. They`ll have their hands full with the Rams, and I bet the Falcons beat them at least once.
”It`s Washington and Philadelphia in the East. I`m not a Giants fan. I think Lawrence Taylor is the best defensive player of the `80s, but I`m not a Giants fan.
”In our division, it`s us and whoever else shows up. The NFC will win it all. AFC isn`t strong enough yet.”
Hampton tagged his predictions with a common disclaimer: ”Ask me again in a month.”
Optimism can end in a minute and will for every team but one. For the Hamptons, the last two surgeries made Terry ”more nervous” because, for the first time, there was doubt from the Bears about his future.
”I`m excited about the season, but it kind of scares me,” Terry said.
”Not that I`m used to it, but after 10 operations, it`s almost a way of life. Like it`s inevitable. But he`s the one who has to live with himself. I wanted no fingers pointed at me.
”We`re not the least bit worried about life after football. He`s never been lazy. He`s going to do something.”
