Five Bears and two ex-Bears were named to the All-Madden team Sunday by CBS commentator John Madden.
Center Jay Hilgenberg, receiver Tom Waddle, running back Neal Anderson, kicker Kevin Butler and defensive tackle William Perry were honored for displaying various ”Maddenesque” qualities on the football field, including ”mud, grass stains and blood.”
The ex-Bears are Philadelphia quarterback Jim McMahon and Washington linebacker Wilber Marshall.
Butler was the only kicker named to the 51-man team, which has grown in size as well as popularity in the eight years since Madden invented it. Butler caught Madden`s eye for his tackling more than his kicking.
Waddle made the team for catching passes, taking smelling salts and checking immediately into a hospital after the Bears` playoff loss to Dallas. – The two-week layoff between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl was restored this season after last year`s one-week lag to accommodate the first 17-week schedule.
Next year, the league is scheduled to return to a one-week format because its television contracts call for an 18-week schedule. That means two bye weeks during the 16-game season. But the league is negotiating with the networks about staying with 17 weeks because of the difficulty in selling advertising.
As of now, the 1992 championship games are scheduled for Jan. 24, with Super Bowl XXVII in the Rose Bowl Jan. 31.
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– Temperatures here are balmy for this time of year. Sunday`s high was 29 degrees. The normal high is 20. The forecast is for 30 on Monday and 40 on Tuesday with no snow expected until Wednesday, when there could be flurries.
– The Super Bowl will bring more than 58,000 out-of-town visitors to the Twin Cities, and they are expected to spend nearly $30 million.
According to a study by University of Minnesota economist Wilbur Maki, the event will bring more than $2 million in sales and sales-related taxes to the state treasury and $47 million from direct spending into Minnesota in the first quarter of 1992.
New business generated by visitors will bring new dollars to the state which will circulate and recirculate, creating an estimated total economic activity in excess of $100 million.
– Little-known fact: With all its lakes, Minnesota has more shoreline than California, Florida and Hawaii combined. More ice, too.
– The Vikings finally won a Super Bowl game Sunday. Alumni from the 1974 team that lost Super Bowl VIII to the Dolphins avenged the 24-7 defeat with a 24-20 victory over Dolphins alumni in a touch game on a 50-yard field at Target Center, home of the NBA Timberwolves.
Wide receiver John Gilliam caught two touchdown passes and set up quarterback Bob Lee`s 1-yard scoring run with 1:01 left to pull out the game. ”I waited almost 10 years for my Super Bowl ring, and I`ve finally got it,” Gilliam said.
– Sherman Lewis and Ray Rhodes, who spent most of the last decade as assistant coaches with San Francisco, are rejoining their friend and fellow 49ers staffer Mike Holmgren with the Packers. Holmgren, who became Green Bay`s head coach Jan. 11, has appointed Lewis offensive coordinator and Rhodes defensive coordinator.