Putting a dent in the Silver & Black

A new "For Pete's Sake" blog appears each Thursday.

While working on some information about Class of 2011 Enshrinee Richard Dent, something jumped out at me. Dent must have really enjoyed playing the Raiders. That’s because the most sacks he ever recorded in a single game were 4.5 and it came against the Raiders. Twice.

The first occasion was during the Chicago Bears’ win over L.A. in Week 10 of the 1984 season. The Bears defense was on a roll as they held their opponent to fewer than 10 points for the sixth time in 10 games. Chicago’s D forced five Raiders turnovers and registered 9 sacks, half credited to Dent. The onslaught came fast and furious as the Bears defense, for the second straight week, sent the opponent’s starting QB to the sideline. The victim the week before was the Minnesota Vikings Archie Manning while in this game Dent and linebacker Otis Wilson converged on L.A.’s Marc Wilson and sent him to the locker room with an injured throwing hand. His replacement passer David Humm took over but didn’t last long. He too was taken out by the Bears as he suffered a knee injury. Although the Raiders punter Ray Guy was warming up his arm, Marc Wilson left the locker room and returned to finish the game.

Three seasons later, Dent’s big day came in the 1987 season finale. The game marked the last of legendary Walter Payton’s career and was crucial for Chicago who limped into the game coming off of two lopsided losses. Dent’s 4.5 sacks again accounted for half of his team’s sacks that day as the Bears added 9 sacks to finish the year with a league-best 70 sacks. Chicago won 6-3 courtesy of a Kevin Butler field goal with just over 4 minutes to play. Originally the score sheet had Dent with 3.5 sacks but after a review of the game video, a sack that had originally been credited to the Bears Steve McMichael was giving to Dent.

For the record, division rival Tampa Bay Buccaneers topped the list of sacks by team for the Hall’s newest defensive end. He registered six multi-sack games and amassed a total of 19.5 sacks against the Bucs.