Dan Hampton Says How Many Rings He'd Have With Cutler At QB

Dan Hampton has always been a big supporter of Jay Cutler. This isn't a surprise. The man has always admired football players who are tough like he was. If nothing else, Cutler proved beyond a doubt during his career that he's resilient to the mental and physical beatings of the NFL. Something former Hampton teammate Jim McMahon couldn't match. While no animosity exists between the two, it's hard not to say Hampton is a little resentful of McMahon. Not for being a bad player. He wasn't. More for not being available enough. The common trend throughout McMahon's prime NFL run was health. From 1984 through 1988, considered the peak years of that great Bears roster, McMahon missed 39 starts with various injuries. That's really a shame too because he was an astonishing 36-5 during that stretch. Suffice to say when the Bears got any sort of reasonable production at quarterback, they won. To have only one Super Bowl ring to show for it? That's tough to swallow.

Dan Hampton still dreams about having Cutler in the '80s

During an appearance at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Hampton talked about his career and of course the iconic '85 Bears. During the course of this Q&A the discussion came around to the quarterback situation and his thoughts on Cutler. For the second time in month he gave the former Bears QB a tip of the cap. This time by saying exactly how many rings he'd have if Cutler had been under center for those teams.

It's easy to brush such things off for some, but it's hard not to think about. Imagine it. Think about Cutler having Walter Payton in the backfield. Think about him having Jimbo Covert at left tackle, Jay Hilgenberg at center and the speedy Willie Gault at wide receiver. It truly is difficult not to see the tantalizing possibilities. He certainly never had anything near that level of talent during his run from 2009 to 2016. At the same time it's also fun to imagine how he would've handled Mike Ditka as head coach. Cutler was never a guy who enjoyed being criticized and jerked around. It's hard to imagine him being able to withstand the fury of Da Coach over a long period. Certainly not with the same backbone that McMahon did. All in all it's a fun idea that is left to the imagination and computer simulations. Perhaps Hampton will soon start wondering what his team could've done with Mitch Trubisky.