Top Five Bears of All-Time
Top Five Bears of All-Time
Your collective rage has been heard, earlier this week I wrote an article titled Top Five Bears Draft Picks of All-Time which was based on productivity and surprising value. Where is Butkus? Singletary? Payton? Well, we knew they would be great, those were guys who surprised us. Now this time here is my list of the actual Top Five Bears of All-Time. Come at me, bro.
5. Mike Singletary
A second-round pick of the 1981 NFL Draft, Singletary went on to play 12 seasons with the Bears becoming the centerpiece of the 46 defense. He won player of the year the same year he won the Super Bowl and won it again in 1988. He played in ten Pro Bowls, 3 time NFC player of the year, and only missed two games his entire career. With 1,488 tackles he definitively deserves to be on this list.
4. Mike Ditka
A product of the 1961 Draft, Da Coach won rookie of the year and set the franchise record with 12 TD receptions as a rookie. He made the Pro Bowl his first five seasons and was first All-Pro in four of them, second All-Pro in his last two seasons. Ditka then went on to become the first tight end ever in the HOF in 1988 and coached everybody's favorite Bears team to our last successful Super Bowl run. Da Coach will always have a place in Chicago and is also in Bear form as one of my favorite tattoos.
3. Sid Luckman
As the second pick of the 1939 Draft then TRADED to the Bears, Luckman would become one of the NFL's first great Quarterbacks. Luckman lifted the Bears to four NFL Championships in the 40s, where he led the league in passing yards, touchdowns, and ratings three times before taking home the MVP in the 1943 season. After a part-time stint with the Merchant Marines, he came back to lead us to the fourth championship. During a ground and pound era of the NFL, he showed us another way, Luckman revolutionized football as we know it.
2. Dick Butkus
Third overall pick of the 1965 Draft, he played 9 seasons with the Bears selected to every Pro-Bowl except the year he retired, first-team All-Pro six times, and second-team twice. Two-time Defensive Player of the year, 60's and 70's All-Decade team, as well as a 1979 HOF inductee. The Bears retired his number as between his speed, strength, and veracity, he is widely regarded as the gold standard for linebackers. Butkus is known as the most feared man in the game and is truly a legend on any team, I'm just glad it was the Bears.
1. Walter Payton
I mean we all knew it would be him right? With 13 years in the NFL, running over 1000 yards in 10 of them, with a Super Bowl, seven All-Pro selections, and NFL records in rushes and touchdowns, Sweetness was the best thing (arguably) to ever happen to the Bears. Payton still owns every single running back record for the Bears. 1975 was a special year indeed, Sweetness brought his motto «Never Die Easy» to the Bears on top of his physicality and grueling training regimen, he would toss defenders aside like nothing. He missed one game in his entire career and said that training was the most important part of his game. He passed away in 1999 at the age of 45 and left us with his autobiography, Never Die Easy.
Hopefully, I have satisfied the masses, let me know if you would like some more Top Five Bears!
Article Written by: Joseph Scott King
| POLL | ||
19 AVRIL | 164 ANSWERS Top Five Bears of All-Time Who is the greatest Bear of all time? | ||
| Walter Payton | 100 | 61 % |
| Dick Butkus | 24 | 14.6 % |
| Mike Ditka | 22 | 13.4 % |
| Mike Glennon | 18 | 11 % |
| List of polls | ||
