https://www.si.com/nfl/bears/news/steve ... e-electorsQuote:
Does McMichael Deserve It?
The bid by McMichael isn't merely a sympathy vote. Defensive tackle statistics are not necessarily extensive, but he has numbers on par with many of the defensive linemen who have made the Pro Football Hall of Fame from his era and later.
According to Pro Football Reference the average number of sacks for defensive tackles enshrined in Canton is 92.
McMichael played 15 seasons, including 13 in Chicago, and had 95 sacks. He had 92 1/2 with the Bears, ranking him second all time with the team behind Richard Dent.
[Joe} Klecko was just inducted and had 78 career sacks for 12 seasons. He never made a Super Bowl. Former Tampa Bay defensive tackle Warren Sapp is in the Hall and had 96 1/2 sacks for 13 seasons.
Stopping the run was key to what the Bears of the 1980s did on defense and there are few individual stats from that era on this aspect of football. However, McMichael, Dan Hampton and Mike Singletary were the vital cogs in how the Bears ranked first as a team against the run in 1984, 1985, 1987 and 1988. They were second in 1986.
The Bears have more people in the Pro Football Hall of Fame than any franchise, and this sometimes works against them with voters. There are 32 who either played, coached or held administrative positions and it's often speculated electors get tired of putting Bears in the Hall.
McMichael was not in the Pro Bowl as often as Klecko or Sapp. He made two Pro Bowls and two times was All-Pro. However, there is little doubt he was overshadowed in voting by the other defensive starters the Bears had who have made Canton: Singletary, Hampton and Dent.
The truth is, defensive linemen—and defensive tackles in particular—have been slighted in voting for the PFHOF over the years. There are only 19 defensive tackles in the PFHOF, although several were both ends and tackles.
The website Profootballreference.com tracks players eligible for enshrinement or already in with a "Hall of Fame Monitor score," combining numerous aspects of a player's career. McMichael's combined score is 60.18. A score of 100 is the average for a player named to the Hall of Fame at their position.
However, the scores are not always indicative of who gets into the Hall, especially since the advent of seniors voting.
Twelve of the top 15 defensive tackles in terms of score are in the Hall of Fame. McMichael's 60.18 ranks 18th on the chart in overall score.
Klecko and former Chiefs standout Curly Culp, who made the Hall of Fame in 2013, have scores well below McMichael's. Culp's score was 51.95 and Klecko's 46.58.