That Chicago Bears former defensive end and Super Bowl MVP Richard Dent once again failed to make the final cut for election to football's ultimate shrine is an insult to Bears fans everywhere.

In fact, it should be an insult to football fans everywhere.

Dent was more than just an eighth round pick success story, he was one of the finest pass rushers ever to grace the NFL.

For his part, Dent took the news in stride and was all class, as he was on the football field.

"I'm disappointed that the Chicago party has been delayed again,'' Dent said Saturday night. "You have to congratulate the guys who went in. I'll look for it next year."

While you can't argue with the selection of guys like Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith and even Ross Grimm, the decision to elect Saints outside linebacker Rickey Jackson and the Vikings John Randle before Dent is ridiculous.

Meanwhile, the Colonel is forced to wait, yet again.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame denied Dent entry into the class of 2010, the sixth time in the last seven years he had been a finalist.

Look, neither Randle, or last years HOFers Fred Dean or Andre Tippett had more sacks than Dent. And Da Coach knows that he belongs.

"It's tough news for Richard and it's tough news for me too because I really think he should be in there,'' Mike Ditka said. "You can't go and say the other guys don't deserve it. They deserve it too. But Richard Dent had a Hall of Fame career, no ifs, ands or buts. I don't know what the criteria is.''

As the Chicago Tribune's David Haugh pointed out, Dent's sack ratio was higher than top contemporary sack men Reggie White (0.87), Bruce Smith (0.75) and Michael Strahan (0.69).

Maybe those that vote on these matters suffer from the same mindset as the baseball writers, who think that the Cubs Ron Santo doesn't belong because there are already so many of his teammates in the Hall.

The failed logic says that if Santo was so great, how come they never won? Likewise, this thinking may be that, if the '85 Bears deserve yet another HOFer, why didn't they win more than one Super Bowl?

That is stupid, obviously, as a player's career should be measured based on his individual accomplishments, not just his teams success.

Yet even by this faulty standard, Dent stands out as the MVP of the only Super Bowl the Bears won.

If Dent was the MVP on a team that sported such defensive greats as Dan Hampton and Mike Singletary, why shouldn't he considered alongside them as a Hall of Fame worthy player?

Leave it to Ditka to sum it up so well.

"How a guy makes a team better is all that should matter,'' Ditka said. "It shouldn't matter if he had another Hall of Famer on the other side (Hampton) or if he had a running back on offense (Payton) that was the best-ever. It should be on what his contributions were, period, and Dent did enough to be in the Hall of Fame.''

Amen, brother.

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