Jim McMahon Explains Why He Absolutely Despises Bill Belichick
Former Chicago Bears Super Bowl champion quarterback Jim McMahon lasted 15 years in the NFL. He played for seven different head coaches. Although he played for Mike Ditka for seven years, he said the best coach he played for was Mike Holmgren. When it came to the coach he liked the least, he didn’t even hesitate. He said he has no respect for Bill Belichick because he was a “lying piece of s**t.”
Jim McMahon’s football career
Jim McMahon played his college football at BYU and was a first-round pick of the Chicago Bears in the 1982 NFL draft. He was selected with the fifth overall pick. The oft-injured quarterback spent the first seven years of his pro football career in Chicago and had some big-time success in the mid-1980s.
Despite playing in just 11 regular-season games, McMahon helped guide the Bears to the Super Bowl during the 1985 season. McMahon went 11-0 as a starter that season, earning the lone Pro Bowl honor of his career. In that season, McMahon threw for a career-high 2,392 yards and added 15 touchdown passes. His team cruised to a 46-10 victory over the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.
McMahon then went on to play one year with the San Diego Chargers before hooking on for three seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles. He earned another Super Bowl ring when he was a backup to Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers went on to defeat the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl after the 1996 season.
McMahon wasn’t expecting to land with the Bears
Jim McMahon wasn’t sure how football was going to work out for him. His first love was baseball and he wanted to play both sports in college. “My main focus when I was going to college was to play baseball,” McMahon said during an interview on Golf Sub Par. “I loved the game of baseball, still do. The only two schools that said I could play both sports was Nevada Las Vegas and BYU.”
McMahon began playing both sports at BYU. When he was a freshman on the football team, he was mainly the punter. When Marc Wilson got injured, McMahon took over and had a stellar career with the Cougars. He knew he was going to be drafted high in the 1982 NFL draft, but was expecting to be selected by the Baltimore Colts.
“I was very surprised to be in Chicago to begin with,” McMahon said. “All indications ere that I was going to the Baltimore Colts. They were drafting right before the Bears. I had done all the workouts and I had dinner with Johnny Unitas at his restaurant in Baltimore. At the time, my agent also had a running back from Baltimore, Curtis Dickey, and they were having trouble signing Curtis. So my agent told them don’t even bother drafting me because they’ll never sign me. On draft day, I was like wow, Baltimore passed. I didn’t even know who was picking next. It was Chicago and that’s how I ended up there.”
McMahon hates Bill Belichick
If you look at Jim McMahon’s stats, one team you don’t see him playing for is the Cleveland Browns. In 1995, however, he was with the Browns under then-head coach Bill Belichick. That relationship didn’t last long as McMahon said he has zero respect for the man after the quarterback said Belichick lied to him.
“I played for Belichick in Cleveland in 1995 and I don’t have any respect for him,” McMahon said on Golf Sub Par. “He’s a lying piece of s**t, for one. At the end of training camp, he said ‘We have to release you. We have so many guys hurt and we need roster spots. But I need you here. All we have is (Vinny) Testaverde. If Vinny gets hurt, I need you.’ I said if I’m going to be here I need to move my family. I have to find a hockey team for my son. There’s a lot of stuff I gotta do. He said, ‘We’re going to take care of you. We’re going to pay you to sit out.’
“My attorney said to take him at his word. So I found a house, moved my family. First week goes by and I called in for my check. They gave me the runaround. Second week, I called again on Friday and they gave me the runaround again. Seven weeks, I’m doing nothing in Cleveland and I’m working out at a local Gold’s Gym. I dressed the next three games and I got my check (for those three weeks).”
The next day he left the QB meeting to use the bathroom. “Here comes the little GM that’s been giving me the runaround. I corner him and I said I need the money. He looks at me like a smart ass and said, ‘Maybe we’ll pay you, maybe we won’t.’ I snapped and I grabbed him by this throat and start banging his head against the wall. I looked to make sure there were no cameras and there weren’t, so I whacked his ass again.” McMahon demanded to be released and when he walked back in the meeting, he said goodbye to everyone. The QB coach asked if he had told Belichick he was leaving. “I said, ‘you can tell Bill to kiss my ass, that lying piece of s**t. I’m outta here.'”
Stats courtesy of Pro Football Reference.
