Chris Doleman: Lack of Super Bowl Rings Keeping Me Out of Hall of Fame

Chris Doleman was an eight-time Pro Bowl defensive end who topped 150 sacks in his NFL career and was named a member of the 1990s NFL All-Decade Team. And yet every time his name comes up for consideration on the Pro Football Hall of Fame ballot, he's voted down?

Why? Doleman thinks it's because he never played on a team that won the Super Bowl.

"Some guys, they get a couple of Super Bowls and they are ushered in," Doleman told the Pioneer Press. "I don't know if one guy wins a Super Bowl by himself."

Doleman makes a very good point: Super Bowl rings are often discussed as if they're individual accomplishments, when in reality an individual player, even a great player, doesn't have a whole lot of control over whether the team he plays on is good enough to win the Super Bowl.

Consider Doleman compared to Richard Dent, who was elected to the Hall of Fame this year. Doleman and Dent played defensive end at the same time, for much of the time in the same division. Doleman finished his career with more sacks and more Pro Bowl selections, and at the time they played, Doleman was generally recognized as the better player. And yet Dent, who has a Super Bowl ring and a Super Bowl MVP award, was selected to the Hall of Fame while Doleman wasn't.

Through the luck of the draw, Dent was drafted by a good Bears team and Doleman was drafted by a bad Vikings team. And the result, years later, is that Dent is headed to Canton, and Doleman isn't.