PHOENIX — Jim McMahon doesn’t watch a lot of football anymore. But he knows that the Bears finished with the worst record in the NFL.
“That’s not good for the city,” the former quarterback said Wednesday. “I know Chicago is a big Bear town. I know there’s a lot of frustrated fans out there. …
“I think the whole city’s a lot happier when the Bears are doing well. They suffer when they don’t do well.”
As for quarterback Justin Fields, consider McMahon one of the few people associated with the NFL who doesn’t have an opinion.
“I didn’t watch any of [the season],” he said. “I haven’t seen him play.
Really?
“I don’t watch [football],” he said. “I like playing it. I don’t care to watch it.”
For the second straight year, McMahon was pushed around radio row in a wheelchair. It was for the same malady — McMahon had right ankle surgery 15 months ago, and an infection necessitated two more surgeries.
“It’s a little bit better, but it’s taking way too long,” he said. “I’m not used to being this laid up.”
McMahon is able to walk, and to travel, but admitted that “it’s a pain, getting through the airports on a crutch.”
McMahon was promoting his own cannabis line, Revenant, and a Friday charity golf tournament benefiting the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund. Former Bears coach Mike Ditka is an emeritus member of the fund’s board of directors.
It will be a chance for McMahon, who lives in the Phoenix area, to show off his city to out-of-towners. Chicago’s never too far from his mind, though.
“I still love the city,” he said. “I just don’t like the weather.”
Mahomes on ankle
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes continued to sound optimistic about recovering from his right high ankle sprain.
“It’s going to be definitely better, more mobile — [I’ll] be able to move around a little bit better for sure,” he said. “And then we’ll see on game day how close to 100 percent I can be.”
Head coach Andy Reid said “he can really do just about everything” with the ankle, which he injured in the second round of the AFC playoffs.
Anti-Combine
At the NFLPA’s annual news conference, executive director DeMaurice Smith called for the end of the Scouting Combine.
Smith said the combine requires players to “waive your medical rights” while being examined by team doctors whose goal is to “decrease your draft value.”
Smith said he would support the union putting on regional pro days instead. That doesn’t seem likely any time soon.
Hamlin honored
Just five weeks after he collapsed during a game and almost died, Bills safety Damar Hamlin received the NFLPA’s Alan Page Community Award. He was honored for his help in raising $9 million through his foundation; fans donated in the days after he went into cardiac arrest.
Hamlin spoke briefly when he accepted the award inside the Phoenix Convention Center, saying that “giving back to my community has always been a big part of who I am.”
