DAN POMPEI
September 08, 2020
Champ Kelly Makes Dreams Reality
Wearing navy blue and orange, Champ Kelly moves between two fields as the Bears practice for the 2020 season. Danny Trevathan jogs by. It was Kelly who lobbied general manager Ryan Pace to sign the inside linebacker when Trevathan was a free agent in 2016.
RECENT STORIES
How Ryan Tannehill Turned It Around
July 28, 2020
This is where Ryan Tannehill is now: somewhere near the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic on his boat, Going Deep.
He escapes here, where it’s easy to forget what should be forgotten. When he walks into his home, he will be carrying a cooler full of mahi-mahis on ice, and not a worry or care.
Hayden Hurst, born again. Again.
July 24, 2020
It was Jack Daniel’s. Or Maker’s Mark. Whatever. There was a lot of it. And it was mixed with Xanax, as it had been many times before. Hayden Hurst had recently completed his freshman football season at South Carolina, but still was carrying the yoke of a failed baseball career. Getting high until he blacked out was a part of his routine.
The Evolution of John Harbaugh
July 07, 2020
At the age of 57, John Harbaugh is in a Zoom meeting with Lamar Jackson. Harbaugh is not a quarterback specialist and never has been an offensive coach, but he is talking offense with his quarterback. They are watching tape, and he wants to know why Jackson was dropping back so quickly in one game compared to another. Harbaugh explains why it’s so important that Jackson throw more consistently outside of the numbers. He tells him he needs to learn more about how defenses are designed.
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OTHER MEDIA
The Chicago Bears Centennial Scrapbook
You might think you know it all about the Bears, but there is plenty of new material here, some of it coming from more than 15 hours of interviews with team matriarch Virginia McCaskey, who spoke at length about her team for the first time in her 96 years. She also provides the forward to the book. There are sections about the draft, rivalries, how the 1985 team was built, the characters and many of the greats like Halas, Payton, Butkus, Sayers and Ditka. Co-author Don Pierson and I provide an all-time Bears team, and a list of the top 100 Bears of all-time. This book celebrating 100 years of Bears football is unlike anything previously published.
Fearless: How An Underdog Becomes A Champion
Dan and Doug reveal the principles that guided Doug through the ups and downs and tough times of his career, and what it took to become a champion. Fearless captures Pederson's coaching and leadership philosophies and reveals the brilliant mind and indomitable spirit of a man who has entered the pantheon of great coaches. Available at Amazon.com and bookstores everywhere.
Mully and Haugh Show
Dan joins the boys on 670 AM in Chicago in the 6:00 hour on Wednesdays to talk Bears and NFL.
Pro Football Weekly On TV
Dan joins host Pat Boyle and Hub Arkush, Dan Hampton and Dave Wannstedt for a weekly look at the NFL in-season.
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ABOUT DAN
You might read Dan’s NFL stories at The Athletic. He writes NFL
features and Bears stories for them. You might have read his book
with Don Pierson: Chicago Bears Centennial Scrapbook. You might
have read his New York Times best-seller Fearless: How An
Underdog Becomes A Champion, with Doug Pederson.
Maybe you remember reading him at Bleacher Report,
Sports on Earth, in the Chicago Tribune, in The Sporting News
or in the Chicago Sun-Times.
You may have heard him on WSCR. He is one of the station’s football
experts. You may watch him on Pro Football Weekly on TV.
Dan has been covering the NFL for more than 30 years. His first NFL
interview came in 1980 with Doug Plank, who taught him how to lead
with his head. He has covered more than 500 NFL games in more
than 60 stadiums, including venues in London, Germany and Sweden.
He has sat in the press box for 33 Super Bowls. He has come to know
some fascinating people, from Joe DiMaggio to Adrian Peterson. He
has had in-depth strategy talks with many of the game’s most
accomplished coaches, including Bill Belichick, Bill Walsh, Jimmy
Johnson, Jon Gruden, Mike Martz, Pete Carroll, Mike McCarthy, Jim
Harbaugh, Buddy Ryan and Mike Ditka.
Along the way, he served as a pool reporter at six Super Bowls, getting an exclusive look at the participants’ practice weeks prior to the game. He watched two teams run their drafts from inside their war rooms. He went behind the curtain at the Senior Bowl and scouting combine to observe team player interviews. He was named one of 48 members on the Pro Football Hall of Fame board of selectors, one of nine members on the seniors committee and one of 25 members of the Blue Ribbon Centennial committee. He is a longtime voter for Associate Press NFL awards and all pro teams. He was elected vice president of the Pro Football Writers of America.
He had a bit role as a reporter in the Mark Wahlberg movie Invincible. He did promotional work for the country band Lonestar.
He is a cancer survivor.
Dan was given the Dick McCann Memorial award for long and distinguished contributions to pro football in 2013. His name is written on a plaque in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Here is the story Dan wrote when he received the McCann Award.
Here is an interview with Dan from when he won the McCann Award.
WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT DAN
Tony Dungy
Pro Football Hall of Fame coach, NBC analyst
“During my NFL career I always enjoyed talking to Dan Pompei. Dan has been one of the premier voices covering NFL for quite some time, and I have tremendous respect for his work. He was one of the writers who always took the time to investigate stories and write informative and balanced pieces. I still enjoy his work and I believe you will too.”
Dan Hampton
Pro Football Hall of Fame Defensive Lineman
“In a career of over 30 years, Dan Pompei has been the “Voice” of Chicago football scribes. From the early days of covering the Super Bowl-bound Bears to being inducted into the Pro Football HOF, he has used a keen insight and sharp wit to entertain the masses in print, radio and television.”
Peter King
Editor-in-chief, The MMQB, Pro Football Hall of Fame Writer
“There have been a few people in my 31 years covering the NFL who are appointment reading for me. When Dan Pompei writes something--about any NFL person, team or trend--I immediately read it. Reading Dan, I find insight about the game I find from only a small handful of people in the media. When I say small, I mean four, five, six people. For me, Dan's on my Mount Rushmore of football writers, and football commentators. You know what I else I like about Dan's words? He progresses. He learns. He moves on to the new and interesting and compelling, rather than be stuck in the nineties or some other supposedly golden era. He understands that for readers and listeners who follow football avidly, today is the most important day, and today's stories are the most important stories.”
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