Richard Dent: His Hall of Fame Call Should Come Saturday

Tab Bamford

Feb 05 |14:00 PM

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On Saturday, the Pro Football Hall of Fame will announce the names of the players entering it's great museum this year. Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith are obvious choices to get in, but this should finally be the year that former Bear Richard Dent gets the call.

Dent played in the NFL for 15 years, of which 12 were in Chicago. He was the MVP of Super Bowl XX, leading the Bears defense in arguably the most dominant performance in the history of the game. In 1985, Dent went to his second Pro Bowl after leading the NFL with 17 sacks.
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Dent was drafted in 1984 by the Bears in the eighth round with the 203rd overall pick. When you consider that today, the NFL Draft has only seven rounds, his career is even more impressive.

In all, Dent would be voted into four Pro Bowls and would end his career with 137.5 sacks, currently sixth all-time in NFL history*. Some names that follow Dent on the career sack list: Lawrence Taylor, Derrick Thomas, Andre Tippett and Howie Long. All four of these players are in the Hall of Fame already.

Putting Dent into further perspective, the opposite defensive end on the great Bears defenses of the 1980s was Dan Hamption, who is in the Hall of Fame. Hamption had 57.0 sacks and 10 fumble recoveries in his career. Dent, meanwhile, had 80.5 more sacks, three more fumble recoveries and eight more interceptions than Hampton. While both were voted into four Pro Bowls, it was Dent that was the MVP in the Super Bowl.

Dent is still the all-time sack leader in the history of the Chicago Bears, with 124.5 of his sacks coming in a Bears uniform. To put that number in proper perspective, consider that Dent had more sacks in three years in the mid-80s than the active sack leader, Alex Brown, has in his entire career (43.5).

There are a few indicators that are usually used to determine whether or not a player is worthy of the Hall of Fame. The player must have been a game-changing player, considered one of the best at their position of their generation, and usually the player was part of good, if not great, teams. The Bears' defense in the middle of the 1980s was the best in the history of the NFL (yes, I'm biased), and Dent was the best pass rusher on the team. He was an elite end for over a decade, and jumps off film.

Dent was a Hall of Fame player, and now it's time for the Hall to bring him in. Another Chicago legend that was on the ballot way too long, Andre Dawson, finally got into the Baseball Hall of Fame. It's time another Chicago icon received his rightful place among history's greats.

(*-note: the NFL did not track sacks as an official statistic until 1982)