Dennis Lewis McKinnon (born August 22, 1961) is an American former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

and

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Florida State Seminoles The Florida State Seminoles are the athletic teams representing Florida State University (FSU) located in Tallahassee, Florida. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I, prima ...

Early life

McKinnon attended South Miami High School. He accepted a football scholarship from

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

. He registered 53 receptions for 888 yards and 8 touchdowns in his career as a part-time starter at

. As a junior in 1981, he had his best season, recording 28 receptions (second on the team), 377 receiving yards (second on the team), 13.5-yard average (sixth on the team) and 4 receiving touchdowns (led the team). As a senior, he collected 10 receptions (tenth on the team), 263 receiving yards (third on the team), 26.3-yard average (led the team) and one touchdown. In the

1982 Gator Bowl The 1982 Gator Bowl was an American college football bowl game played on December 30, 1982, at Gator Bowl Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida. The game pitted the West Virginia Mountaineers and the Florida State Seminoles The Florida State Se ...

, he had 2 receptions for 36 yards, one receiving touchdown and one carry for 65 rushing yards.

Professional career

Chicago Bears

McKinnon was signed as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

by the Bears in

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

. He was the last undrafted free agent to score more than one touchdown for the Bears until Dane Sanzenbacher in 2011. He won

Super Bowl XX Super Bowl XX was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Chicago Bears and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for ...

as a member of the 1985 Chicago Bears. In his eight seasons, McKinnon caught 194 passes for 3,012 yards and 22 touchdowns. He also returned 129 punts for 1,191 yards and three touchdowns, and scored a rushing touchdown. He caught 31 passes for 555 yards and seven touchdowns during the Bears' championship season in 1985. McKinnon missed the entire 1986 season with a knee injury. After spending the 1986 season on injured reserve, McKinnon returned in 1987 and scored on a 94-yard punt return in the season opener against the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

. In Week 7 against the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

, he scored again on a 65-yard punt return touchdown. His best season was in 1988, when he caught 45 passes for 704 yards and three touchdowns, while also returning 40 punts for 405 yards and a franchise record two touchdowns (this record was later surpassed by Devin Hester in the 2006 season). He went on to catch four passes for 108 yards and a touchdown in Chicago's 20-12 postseason win in a game known as the Fog Bowl. At the time of his retirement, McKinnon's 1,191 punt return yards were the second-highest total in Chicago franchise history. , he held many playoff franchise records, including yards per reception and yards per game (17.3 and 43.1, min 20 receptions), receiving touchdowns (4 career; 2 in one season tied with Bernard Berrian), and most postseason games with a touchdown reception (3, tied with

Willie Gault Willie James Gault (born September 5, 1960) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons with the Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Raiders. Considered one of the fa ...

Dallas Cowboys

On March 3,

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

, the

signed McKinnon as a Plan B free agent. He appeared in 9 games with 7 starts, making 14 receptions for 172 yards and 2 touchdowns. He was released on November 14.

Miami Dolphins

On November 15, 1990, he signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

with the

. He was released on November 19.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Personal life

In August 2019, McKinnon released his autobiography, ''Chicago Bear #85 Silky D Bares All''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McKinnon, Dennis 1961 births Living people American football wide receivers American football return specialists Florida State Seminoles football players Chicago Bears players Dallas Cowboys players Miami Dolphins players People from Quitman, Georgia Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state)