After the Philadelphia Eagles had just two sacks in the 2022 regular-season finale, Chicago Bears Hall of Fame defensive lineman Dan Hampton sent a photo to some former teammates showing him drinking champagne.
The Eagles had fallen short of breaking the Bears’ 1984 NFL record of 72 sacks in a season, finishing with 70. So Hampton was thrilled.
Come later this season, we’ll see if Hampton is sipping champagne after a Broncos game. The 8-2 Broncos, with 46 sacks in 10 games, are on pace to shatter Chicago’s record.
“I’m obviously interested in what the Broncos are doing as far as getting after the quarterback,’’ Hampton said. “Of course, I don’t want them to break (the record).”
When the Bears set the mark in 1984, one year before their iconic 1985 team won Super Bowl XX, the NFL played a 16-game season. But the NFL went to a 17-game slate in 2021.
“I think that if they don’t do it in 16 games, they’d have to put an asterisk on it,’’ Hampton said of the Broncos’ record quest.
Entering Sunday’s game against Kansas City at Empower Field, the Broncos are on pace to have 73.5 sacks in the first 16 games. Led by outside linebackers Nik Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper, who have 9.5 and 7.5 sacks, respectively, they are on pace to get to 78 in 17 games.
The legendary 1984 Bears defense had three eventual Hall of Famers who reached double digits in sacks. Defensive end Richard Dent had 17.5, Hampton recorded 11.5, and defensive tackle Steve McMichael had 10. McMichael died last April after battling ALS.
Dent said he isn’t following Denver’s pursuit of the record as closely as Hampton. But he agrees with Hampton that an asterisk should be put on the mark if the Broncos don’t get past 72 sacks in 16 games but do so in the regular-season finale.
“They say that records are made to be broken,’’ Dent said. “They might be on pace right now, but you still got to do it.”
The 1984 Bears are proud of their record. Tyrone Keys, a reserve defensive end who played for the Bears from 1983-85 and considers himself the unofficial historian of their defenses then, has put together photo collages from 1984 and sent them to former teammates.
One he sent out early this decade had the headline, “Unbreakable 72 Sacks 1984 Chicago Bears 16 game single season record.” It featured photos of the six top defensive linemen on that team and it was written, “Bond never to be broken.”
Keys had 2.5 sacks in 1984, including a rugged takedown of Broncos quarterback Gary Kubiak in Week 2. In a 27-0 shutout of Denver at Soldier Field, the Bears had three sacks.
One came in the first half, when Keys burst through the line and belted Kubiak. The quarterback was lost for the game with a concussion and taken to a hospital.
“Rough day,’’ said Kubiak, who started due to John Elway having a nagging shoulder injury, completed 3 of 6 passes, and was sacked twice before his exit. “I was screwed up for a few weeks after that. … I ended up in the hospital in Chicago and I remember (Bears quarterback) Jim McMahon being in the room next to me because he had something happen to him, and he came by and said hello. … I remember the team bus picking me up to take me home from the hospital and I was still half in uniform.”
After Kubiak left, the Broncos put in Elway briefly despite his injury. But with the Broncos down 27-0 at halftime, third-string quarterback Scott Stankavage finished up.
Kubiak said the Broncos “didn’t want John to get beat up anymore” and said Elway told him later that if he stayed in the game, “they’re going to kill me, too.” Kubiak lauded the legendary 46 defense the Bears were playing then under coordinator Buddy Ryan.
“They were exceptionally talented,’’ Kubiak said. “They were a really good defensive team.”
Keys, who said he didn’t mean to hurt Kubiak and was relieved when he was released from the hospital, certainly agrees.
“We had a bond on that defense,’’ Keys said. “It was a brotherhood. It’s been 40 years since that 72-sack season, but we’re still making T-shirts with that and giving them out.”
The Bears in 1984 ranked No. 1 in the NFL in total defense, the first of three straight seasons of doing that. But their offense was nothing special, with Chicago finishing No. 16 in the then 28-team league in points scored.
“With our offense, we never really blew people out,’’ Dent said. “If we had been able to get big leads and pin our ears back, we could have been in the 90s (in sacks) or in the 80s without a doubt.”
As for the Broncos piling up sacks now, Dent and Hampton both said there are more opportunities now since teams drop back to throw a lot more than four decades ago.
“There’s more attempts and more chances to get to the quarterback,’’ Hampton said.
Still, Hampton does like what he has seen from the Broncos’ defense. They have 16 different players with sack statistics, with Bonitto, Cooper, and defensive lineman Zach Allen, who has 6.0, leading the way.
“Zach Allen, he’s a fine player,’’ Hampton said. “He gives them inside pressure. (Bonitto) can get up and field and make some moves. (Bonitto and Cooper), obviously, they’re good edge players. With their pass rush, they’re doing it better than anybody else this year.”
Nevertheless, Hampton is hoping when the regular season ends, he again will be sipping champagne.
What I’m hearing
–Broncos tight end Evan Engram knows what it’s like to play in a big game against the Chiefs. When Engram was with Jacksonville in 2022, the Jaguars gave the eventual Super Bowl champions quite a battle before falling 27-20 in a divisional playoff game at Kansas City. “It was like the biggest game of my career at that time, but we had (two late turnovers) that hurt us,’’ Engram said. The tight end said “the atmosphere was incredible” at Arrowhead Stadium. Now, he’s excited to have the crowd on his side against the 5-4 Chiefs, who are seeking to stay in the AFC West race. “I’m looking forward to seeing our fans show up,’’ he said. “They always have an impact on the game.”
–Hall of Fame coach Bill Cowher is an analyst for “The NFL Today,’’ which will broadcast its pregame show Sunday live from Empower Field. Cowher, who coached Pittsburgh from 1992-2006, won his only Super Bowl when the Steelers won 34-17 at Denver in the 2005 AFC Championship Game. The Steelers then beat Seattle 21-10 in Super Bowl XL. “They shouldn’t,’’ Cowher said when asked if any Broncos fans might boo him. “I lost enough championship games to Denver before. I was on the Browns (as an assistant for losses in the 1986 and 1987 AFC title games) and (the Broncos) came to Pittsburgh to beat us (in the 1997 AFC title game). All (the Broncos) did was send me to Hawaii for the Pro Bowl (once coached by staffs from teams that lost championship games).”
What I’m seeing
–When receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey was about to become a free agent last March, he said the Broncos talked to him about perhaps playing tight end. But Humphrey, who had played for Denver the past two seasons, ended up signing with the New York Giants and wasn’t used at that position. He returned to the Broncos last Wednesday when they plucked him off the Giants’ practice squad. “(It) was kind of more me working toward that in the offseason and in training camp,’’ Humphrey said of the Broncos talking to him about tight end. “But I haven’t had any work on that, so I don’t see that happening (this season).’’
–With the way Broncos outside linebacker Dondrea Tillman has looked in returning two recent interceptions, it appears he also could play on offense. Tillman has had returns of 36 and 23 yards, in which he ran over would-be tacklers and around them. He did play tight end at Potomac Falls (Va.) High School. “Sometimes,’’ Tillman said about whether he ran players over then. “But I was trying to make guys miss.” The second-year man returned his first career interception 36 yards to the Denver 45 on Oct. 26 against Dallas and had a 23-yard return Nov. 6 to the Las Vegas 33. “Everybody loves it,’’ Tillman said of his teammates. “They want me to score.”
