Scouting Report

Forget all the summer speculation. We won't know for sure until Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon takes the field—or does not take the field—in the opener against the Giants on Monday night. Has it been a smoke screen, this talk about how he has come all the way back from his shoulder injury? Or could he really be the old McMahon who instills a feeling of invincibility in everyone around him?

His stats were miserable while he was battling injuries last year. His 61.4 rating was the worst of his career. Since the Bears first became a playoff team in 1984, he has missed 25 of 54 starts, counting postseason games. But here's another statistic to think about: No matter how McMahon has played, the Bears have won every one of the last 23 games he has started.

If he's well, he's guaranteed No. 1. Behind him in camp was a mad four-way QB scramble. Eight-year pro Steve Fuller went down early with a shoulder. Mike Tomczak, who got the call when McMahon was first hurt last year, subsequently went through an ego-crusher when Doug Flutie was pulled in off the street to replace him. Everyone remembers those bananas Flutie threw when the Bears were trying to catch up against Washington in the playoffs, but the fact is, he finished with the highest ranking of any Chicago quarterback. He was also the only one who threw more TD passes than interceptions.

The knock on little Doug was that the team seemed to take on a hangdog look when he was in command. No. 1 draft choice Jim Harbaugh, on the other hand, exudes take-charge energy. He has that eagle-eyed, can-do, bring-on-them-terrorists look. Plus a major league arm. All this will be academic if McMahon has an injury-free season.

There's also the matter of the keynote running back. The Bears have relied for so long on Walter Payton to perform the phenomenal that they don't know how to live with just another ordinary good back. And that's all Payton was at the end of 1986. He ended the season with seven straight sub-100-yard games. Neal Anderson, the No. 1 draft choice in '86, will spell Payton at times and play alongside him at times. Either way, he's no replacement for Walter. Watch this sleeper: Anthony Mosley, a free agent from Fresno State.

Chicago's defense was the best in the NFL again; it even allowed five fewer yards than Buddy Ryan's bunch had in '85. At a trimmed-down 320 pounds, William Perry murdered 'em in the one-on-one drills in camp this summer, and end Dan Hampton, who was inconsistent last season after two consecutive Pro Bowl appearances, had his best camp in years. Todd Bell, the former All-Pro safety, is back in shape.

The schedule is not the cream puff it has been in recent years. The opener against the Giants could set the Bears up for an early letdown, but they don't play another team that finished better than .500 last fall until the fifth game. However, their final four opponents—Minnesota, San Francisco, Seattle and the Raiders—are all potential killers. Then again, maybe they will serve as a launching pad to the Super Bowl.

Last season was the Year of the Defensive Coach. Five of the six rookie head coaches who started the season were former defensive leaders. Alas, not one of them had a winning record. The sixth rookie and lone winner was Jerry Burns, who had run the Minnesota Vikings offense for 18 years. Ironically, under Burns the Minnesota defense finished in the top half of the league's stats for the first time since Bud Grant's old Purple Gang back in '78. O.K., defensive coordinator Floyd Peters gets credit for that. But Burns hired Peters and let him put in his old-style 4-3.

Quarterback Tommy Kramer rubbed his eyes, saw that the men in purple were stopping people for a change and proceeded to produce the finest season of his 10-year career. His 92.6 rating led the league. But his sterling ways did not extend beyond the field. He missed the first three weeks of camp undergoing alcohol rehabilitation. Burns says he isn't worried because Kramer has won bouts with the bottle in the past. Burns figures that since the Vikings are a serious threat to make the playoffs for the first time in seven years (unless you count that tournament thing in the '82 strike year), Kramer will find a way to pull himself together again and have another big season.

Last year Minnesota made a couple of trades to get former USFL left tackle Gary Zimmerman, and he did such a thorough job sealing off the backside pressure on Kramer that the offense came alive. It should be even better this season, with No. 1 draft choice D.J. Dozier splitting time at running back with Darrin Nelson. However, what I like best about Minnesota is the defensive front four. They are, from left to right, Doug Martin, Tim Newton, Keith Millard and Chris Doleman. They will be relieved by last year's top draft pick, Gerald Robinson, and by this season's No. 3, Henry Thomas.