Maybe Trace Armstrong wouldn’t have 10 sacks if he still played for the Bears. With the Miami Dolphins, the 35-year-old Armstrong leads the NFL with 10 after only six games. At this rate, he would break Mark Gastineau’s record of 22 for a season.
Maybe Bobby Layne would have become a sober benchwarmer had George Halas kept him with the Bears instead of sending him away.
Maybe George Blanda would have grown old before he turned 30 if he had stayed in Chicago.
Maybe Greg Maddux would have led the league in wild pitches had he remained a Cub.
Maybe Lou Brock would be famous for getting picked off base had the Cubs not traded him.
The Bears have more of their No. 1 draft choices playing elsewhere in the NFL than they do in Chicago. If the Bears weren’t 1-6, you might not notice that besides Armstrong in Miami, Jim Harbaugh and Curtis Conway are starting for San Diego, Mark Carrier is a mainstay in Washington, Alonzo Spellman is starting in Dallas and John Thierry is starting in Green Bay.
The Bears retain Walt Harris, Cade McNown and Brian Urlacher. Curtis Enis is still on the team, according to rumor.
Armstrong is the most egregious mistake because he is still doing what the Bears haven’t done well since he was traded in 1995–rush the passer. But Armstrong is not gloating. Always thoughtful and analytical, he points out that his surprising success this year has much to do with teamwork, no surprise at all.
“I think it is mostly the guys around me are playing so much better,” Armstrong said. “Our inside guys are doing a tremendous job of getting push in the middle. When you’re an outside-edge rusher like me, if a quarterback is able to drop back to six yards, seven yards and step up and throw from five, it’s very difficult to get sacks. But when you’re getting push in the middle, he has to stay back there in his drop, and that gives you more opportunities to get to him.
“Everybody is playing well, and when you have that you create sack opportunities for each other.”
The Dolphins have Tim Bowens and Kenny Mixon inside plus Daryl Gardener when healthy.
When Armstrong left Chicago, he was playing on a line with Al Fontenot, Carl Simpson and Chris Zorich at tackle. He managed 7 1/2 sacks in his final season, 1994. In 1993, Armstrong had 11 1/2 sacks playing alongside Steve McMichael and Zorich. In 1992, Armstrong had 6 1/2 sacks in the final season of the Fridge, William Perry. In 1990, Armstrong had 10 sacks with Perry and the great Dan Hampton inside.
So the erosion of the Bears is more than the departure of Armstrong, who was sent packing because the team couldn’t figure out how to fit three million-dollar defensive ends–Armstrong, Thierry and Spellman–under the newfangled salary cap. It seemed like a logical idea at the time, except they traded their best pass rusher in favor of keeping two potential pass rushers.
Funny how things work out. Armstrong heard rumors of a possible trade and called coach Dave Wannstedt about it. Wannstedt assured Armstrong it wasn’t going to happen. When it did, Armstrong had trouble figuring out whether Wannstedt intentionally misled him or didn’t know himself. It was a glimpse at one of the little miscommunications that seem to plague the Bears’ front office.
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Reunited with Wannstedt, Armstrong now credits the coach for turning around the attitude of a Miami team that had become complacent and confused under Jimmy Johnson.
“The biggest thing is guys believe in Dave’s approach,” Armstrong said. “They believe in what he’s doing. That’s one of the keys to success in any organization. The people who are out there [playing], they have to believe you’re doing the right things.
“Dave has done a great job with this group of getting them to buy into his system from the way we practice and prepare. Every aspect of what we do, guys are excited about it and believe in it. I think that goes a long way.”
Apparently it is going further than it went in Chicago for Wannstedt. Maybe Wannstedt would be 1-6, too, had he stayed.
Armstrong was traded for second- and third-round picks in the 1995 draft. The Bears selected punter Todd Sauerbrun and offensive lineman Evan Pilgrim. The Bears needed a punter because in 1991, they spent a third-round pick on Chris Gardocki, whose average slipped from 42 to 38 to 37 yards under Bears coaching and he fell out of favor. Before the Armstrong trade, the Bears had signed a free-agent punter by the name of Mitch Berger. But after landing the extra second-round pick, they decided they could afford the thunder-footed Sauerbrun, so they released Berger.
Upon discovering Sauerbrun’s head wasn’t always communicating with his foot, the Bears sought another punter during last year’s draft. Wannstedt to the rescue. The Dolphins gave the Bears injured punter Brent Bartholomew for a seventh-round pick. The Dolphins didn’t need him because they had signed free agent Matt Turk.
Alas, Bartholomew is injured again and the Bears are still looking for a long-term answer to their punting problems. It is difficult to kick in Chicago, yet Bobby Joe Green and Bob Parsons did it very well from 1962-83.
Maybe Cleveland’s Gardocki wouldn’t be leading the league in punting as he is now had he stayed in Chicago. Maybe Berger wouldn’t be selling his own candy bar and booming touchbacks in Soldier Field the way he is for the Vikings. Even Sauerbrun is averaging a career-best gross of 46 yards for Kansas City, and everybody knows he wouldn’t be doing that for the Bears.
Armstrong is at the bottom of all this, of course. Had he stayed, Gardocki might still be here. Or Berger. Then the Bears would be rushing the passer and punting, too. Maybe not, but there is a Trace of evidence.