Dennis Lewis McKinnon (born August 22, 1961) is a former professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

wide receiver in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

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 club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

and the

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 club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

. McKinnon played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...

and was signed as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player 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 contract at present but who is a ...

by the Bears in

1983 The year 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 Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

. He was the last undrafted free agent to score more than one touchdown for the Bears until

Dane Sanzenbacher Dane Sanzenbacher (born October 13, 1988) is a former American football wide receiver. He was signed by the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent in 2011. He played college football at Ohio State. High school career Sanzenbacher played high ...

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 club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

. In Week 7 against the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

, 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 Devin Devorris Hester Sr. (born November 4, 1982) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver and return specialist in the National Football League (NFL). He is widely regarded as the greatest return specialist i ...

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 Bernard Berrian (born December 27, 1980) is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the third round of the 2004 NFL Draft. He played college football at Fresno State. Berrian also played for the Minnes ...

), 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 f ...

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

References

External links

databaseFootball.com
{{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 People from Quitman, Georgia