Tampering with Doug Buffone's Totals
In 2015 Chicago lost a real legend when Doug Buffone passed away at the age of 70.
His popularity while serving as outside linebacker for the Bears over 14 seasons might have been surpassed only by the daily outpouring of affection he received from Bears fans who heard him on WSCR-AM over the years, or while doing post-game analysis with former teammate Ed O'Bradovich.
Simply put, Doug was a hoot.
He could get anyone to laugh at his antics or comments. Doug was a whacky guy and loved telling some of his favorite tales, like his fabled UFO story or the family feud involving the Pittsburgh Pirates' 1960 World Series win over the New York Yankees.
When Doug died, WSCR operations director Mitch Rosen was quoted in a story by the Tribune's Fred Mitchell as saying, "When you met Doug Buffone you fell in love with him, and that's how we feel."
PRO FOOTBALL REFERENCE'S REVISION TO SACK TOTALS
All Bears fans who ever talked to Buffone or heard him on the radio knew this was true.
One story Buffone liked to tell was how he had 17 or 18 sacks one year but didn't keep track of them, and the league didn't keep the totals until 1982.
He didn't tell the tale as if to brag about what he did. He was almost apologetic about it because he didn't know the total.
When he saw all the sack totals being piled up by modern players, he'd say he wished he kept track of his or the league had. Actually, the Bears were keeping some records from that era and his sack totals were available dating back to 1970, when Willie Holman was their sack leader with 12.
Finding three more years of them out of play by play, game film and the like for the team wasn't a huge task and they had Doug at 37 career sacks when he retired. This total was listed then in his obituary.
The 1968 total was 18, a Bears record but not an official one since league stats don't include that year.
The 1968 season was the same year Gale Sayers suffered his knee injury on the hit from Kermit Alexander, and the Bears made a run at a playoff berth only to be denied in the final week by Green Bay.
It's too bad, but now the popular and highly respected stats website Pro Football Reference has taken away Buffone's production numbers.
Relying on members of the Pro Football Researchers Association, the website claims they have new sack totals for everyone dating back to 1960.
For some Bears this is good.
Dan Hampton gained 25 sacks to 82, which makes more sense for a Pro Football Hall of Fame member. Jim Osborne's total is now 81, and considering he played from 1972 with Dick Butkus and retired in 1984 when he was part of the defense with Mike Singletary and Hampton, the number makes sense.
And Doug Atkins now is at 64 1/2 sacks with many from the 1950s still no doubt unaccounted for by the records geeks.
The research from 1966-69, when Buffone first started in the league, is said by Pro Football Reference to be about 95% accounted for and that is both in the NFL and AFL.
I didn't have much contact with Buffone, maybe just three or four times. But once he was at a press conference regarding the new Soldier Field's construction and I asked him about the 18 sacks. He said it was true and he had no reason to inflate them, while choosing some different and more interesting words than those to express this thought.
When they opened the new Soldier Field in 2003 I did a one-on-one interview on the field prior to the game with his former teammate, the legend, Butkus. At the end I was just chatting a bit and asked Butkus if Buffone's 1968 sack total had merely been a case of the years inflating his totals.
Butkus told me: "He had at least that many, maybe more." Then Butkus also talked a bit about how great of a pass rusher Deacon Jones of the Rams had been.
Now we come to the PFRA totals and they have determined Buffone really had only four sacks in 1968 and only 15 for his entire 14-year career.
That's quite a discrepancy. Fourteen seems rather low.
Let's see, stat keepers or Butkus' statement and Buffone's recollection? Hmmmm, stat keepers or Butkus' statement and Buffone's recollection?
Let's see.
Hmmm.
When the official NFL Record and Stat Book comes out and they've changed all of those totals to reflect what Pro Football Reference says, and when the league itself gives Buffone 15 sacks, then it will be 15 sacks. When the NFL itself gives Buffone four sacks for 1968 instead of 18, then it's four.
Until that happens—if it actually does—Buffone had 37 sacks for his career and made 18 in 1968.
If you don't like it, take it up with Butkus or any of the other players of that era such as Buffone's former radio sidekick, OB.
Fortunately, no one is disputing Buffone's 24 interceptions, the highest total ever by a Bears linebacker.
By the way, O'Bradovich was another of those receiving a boost in this recount or audit, as Pro Football Reference gave him credit for a career-high 12 sacks in that 1968 season.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
