Richard Dent deserves a ticket to the Hall of Fame

The 85 Bears, the Monsters of the Midway, have their place in history as arguably the most dominant team in history. They were the complete team – a head coach that personified the game, a balanced offense led by the greatest running back of all time and a defense that imposed their will on everyone. Not only were they a complete team, they had swagger and backed everything up on the field. Their Super Bowl victory was won by the largest margin of victory at the time and the MVP was Richard Dent.

Yet, despite the 85 Bears’ dominance, that team only has three Hall of Famers – Walter Payton, Mike Singletary and Dan Hampton. Some people argue that most of the players on that team had marginal careers since the Bears dominated in the late 80’s and others were productive players but not Hall of Fame material. If anyone deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, Richard Dent should be voted in.

In the Super Bowl season, Dent had 17 sacks, 2 interceptions and 1 touchdown in addition to being the MVP in the Super Bowl, he was an All Pro first teamer. He is 6th all-time in sacks with 137.5 and a 4-time Pro Bowler. In addition to his individual achievements, he won another Super Bowl ring with the 49ers.

Dan Hampton, was inducted into Canton in 2002 and his career stats are very comparable to Dent’s. He too is a 4-time Pro Bowler and earned first-team All Pro honors once. Hampton recorded 57 sacks, 80.5 sacks less than Dent. If Hampton deserves to be a Hall of Famer, which he does, Dent does too.

This year, fans have the opportunity to help vote inductees into the Hall of Fame. Given this opportunity and with the number of the passionate Bears fans there are, there is no reason why Richard Dent shouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame. Go to Van Heusen Fan’s Choice website, www.fanschoice.com, to cast your vote. Participants can vote once a day. Dent is currently a disappointing 13th on the list of 25 semi-finalists. Let’s vote him in!

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