99 Days Until Kickoff: 99 In Bears History
We are officially in double digits days until Chicago Bears Football is back! As of June 4th, there are exactly 99 days until the season kicks off.
Let's travel back in the history of the Chicago Bears and present day to review the history of #99.
Present Day: Trevis Gipson-Trevis Gipson had his best season to date in 2021 in his Sophomore campaign. Gipson gained a tremendous opportunity with Khalil Mack being sidelined and made the most of his opportunity, recording 7 Sacks and forcing 5 fumbles. Gipson is set to jump-start his career in 2022 where he will be competing for a starting position and set to have a large role on this defense. Gipson strength and speed combination, along with being 6'-4" and 260 lb, this allows him to have the elite measurements to be the next great Chicago Bears pass rusher.
2010s: Lamarr Houston-Lamarr Houston was one of many failed Ryan Pace free agent signings. In 2014, Ryan Pace signed the edge rusher to a 5-year deal and he truly never broke out as the type of player he was signed to be. Houston will own one of the more embarrassing plays in NFL History. The Bears were playing the New England Patriots in October of 2014 in a blowout, the Bears were trailing by 25 points and Houston was celebrating a sack when he tore his ACL. This was the first of two ACL injuries Houston had as a Bear. In 4 brief seasons with the Bears over 2 stints, Houston had just 13 sacks.
Old School: Dan Hampton-The most notorious #99 in Bears history was the great Dan Hampton. Hampton was one of many Hall of Famers on the '85 Bears and one of the best defensive linemen of the 80s. Hampton earned multiple Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors in Navy and Orange, playing all 151 of his career games as a Bear. You could easily find 99 on every play with his ferocious style of play, Hampton was a man among boys. It's said that Hampton had as many as 10 knee surgeries and yet only missed 6 career games, this helped him earn is nickname "Danimal".
