THE Jim Everett (RVR Photos/USA TODAY Sports).
You may have thought that the most epic sack in NFL history wouldn’t be a phantom sack. That is not true. The phantom sack takes the cake over any real sack any day.
Introductions
Have you met the phantom sack? If not, let’s make the introduction.
It’s 1990. You’re at Candlestick Stadium, and it’s 53 degrees and sunny. It’s probably one of the warmer places to play in the winter, but the field is a soupy mess, so everyone is wet, and there’s still a chill in the air in San Francisco. The sun is an unexpected surprise. Too bad it couldn’t come in time to dry out the field.
The NFC Championship obviously has the Joe Montana-run San Francisco 49ers in it. Who are they competing against? The wild-card Los Angeles Rams, with Jim Everett at the helm, of course. They have literally crawled their way into the playoffs, leaving behind a trail of shocking upsets. Can it happen again?
No. No, it can’t. But we will talk about that in another article, because that game is pure cinematic gold. Right now, we need to talk phantom sack.
Did You Say… Jim Everett?
That name might ring a bell in the recesses of your mind. It’s not because he’s Gerald Everett’s dad or uncle (that would have been a cute story).
If you hear the names Jim Everett and Jim Rome together, does that help? The infamous 1994 video has become a bit of a viral sensation lately; do you recognize it?
Violence is never the answer. But Jim Rome had a phantom sack coming.
But who’s Chris Evert, and what does she have to do with a phantom sack and Jim Everett?
Evert and Everett
Chris Evert is a world-renowned female tennis player from the 1970s and 1980s who was number one worldwide and was in the Olympics. She has nothing to do with Jim Everett or the NFL; her name was just a cheap joke from an obtrusive media personality who was making a sexist joke.
Jim Rome was trying to come up with a way to tell the Ram QB that he played like a girl, and that’s what he came up with. Was that what women in the Victorian era did when they collapsed without warning? Faint and phantom sacks are synonymous? If the “joke” was funny, it would be worth looking into more.
It’s ironic that Jim Everett’s wife at the time was named Christin – Chris for short.
What About The Darned Phantom Sack?
On the day before Sam Darnold was born (probably), another QB saw ghosts. And that QB was, of course, Jim Everett.
A Little Game Background
The 49ers were taking no prisoners, and the Rams were getting it. It would be as lopsided as the Rams and the 49ers in the NFC championship game this season.
While Joe Montana had key talents like Ronnie Lott and Jerry Rice on his side, the Rams had… heart. Montana hardly had the Rams look at him, much less a sack. The man had all of 1990 to make a throw with his A-1 O-line. Everett had a lot of wet turf in his face.
Although Everett only had one recorded sack in the game, he had his face reunited with the turf at the hands of a 49ers defenseman at least three times by the third quarter phantom sack. Two sack-like events happened in the third quarter before the infamous one.
It doesn’t sound like a justification for a phantom sack. It still might not be after you hear that Everett expressed that he thought Charles Haley was breaking free once again. Jackie Slater of the Rams reported that Haley had threatened to break the quarterback’s leg. Maybe Jim Everett knew that his limb was on the line.
Either way, the Rams QB folded to the ground without the help of a 49ers defenseman. It was one of the most bizarre moments in the NFL, hence the “phantom sack” nickname. It was odd enough that it was roughly another 30 years before the NFL would see anything like it again.
Some say that Jim Everett never played the same after the phantom sack. It does seem like a moment that would stick with the rest of a football player’s career and life.
Where Is Jim Everett Now?
Jim phantom sacked his way mostly out of the media’s eye after exposing Jim Rome in 1994. Allegedly, a burger chain wanted to use the altercation in an advertisement, but Jim Rome’s ego couldn’t handle it. That would have been something great to see.
Everett got his MBA and adulted his way into a fancy asset management business. He recently married his wife Laura, and the couple are both bringing three children into the relationship. Jim is also a grandpa to two.
What’s one thing the former QB would have wished happened differently? The three joint replacements he’s had after his NFL career We hear you, Jim. It might have been the falling when no one was hitting you thing. But maybe not.
