Lance Briggs gives his thoughts on the best cornerback in Bears' history
The Chicago Bears are one of the most historic franchises, especially when you talk about great defensive players. You would be hard-pressed to find a team that has this many Hall of fame calibre players on the defensive side of the ball.
A question that can create a few debates is: who is the greatest Bears cornerback of all time? Yesterday, Lance Briggs responded to a tweet asking this question with a simple "Peanut" emoji.
This means that, in his mind, it's very clear, Charles Tillman is the greatest cornerback in Bears' history.
It's pretty hard to argue with that. The other biggest candidates in that debate are: Leslie Frazier, Donnell Woolford, Tim Jennings and Mike Richardson. However, Charles deserves the highest spot in my mind. Tillman was so dominant. "Peanut" made a first-team all-pro and 2 other pro bowls. You could make a case that he should have been nominated a lot more times than that.
The best ability that Charles had was his natural talent for taking the ball away. He has 38 interceptions in his career and a staggering 44 forced fumbles. For a cornerback, 44 forced fumbles is absolutely crazy. That number is tied for sixth all-time and he is the only defensive back inside the top 10.
Tillman was a key part of pretty much all of the Bears' team in his career. He helped the Bears make runs to the Super Bowl in 2006 and to the NFC Championship game in 2010. During those years, it was the defense that was carrying the offense most of the time.
The Chicago native was truly feared by opposing teams. His special ability to turn the ball over was scary for all of his opponents. He did not have the best help from his team all the years. For the major part of his career, he played with a bad offense and an even worse quarterback. He still managed a way to affect the game in crucial moments and he literally won a lot of games with his game-changing plays.
I am aware that there is a great possibility he never gets in Canton, but I believe Tillman has made an impact that goes so much beyond the stat sheet and he deserved his shot in my mind.
Here are a couple of his best plays with the Bears:
Here is a highlight of his STAGGERING 4 forced fumbles in a single game:
| POLL | ||
4 AVRIL | 234 ANSWERS Lance Briggs gives his thoughts on the best cornerback in Bears' history Who is the greatest cornerback in Bears history? | ||
| Leslie Frazier | 21 | 9 % |
| Donnell Woolford | 20 | 8.5 % |
| Charles Tillman | 172 | 73.5 % |
| Other | 21 | 9 % |
| List of polls | ||
