Probably should have included him, but he fumbled too much for my tastes. He was one of the first running backs to become a big part of a passing attack, so probably deserves to be included.
I’m going to do this quick and dirty for the Bears off the top of my head. If I make a glaring omission it was probably accidental.
6) Gaye Sayers RB (1965 - 1971)
A star that burned very brightly. Unfortunately injuries shorted his great career but he’s the equal to every single dynamic player out there today. Vick, Sanders, Chris Johnson whoever, he’s as good or better and you can put his highlight reel up against anyone.
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Bronko Nagurski FB/DT/OT (1930 - 1937, 1943)
Old timer and Hall of Famer. It’s tough to judge these guys that played so far in the past but based on everything written he was perhaps the best player in the league when he played and he made the T-formation as force to be reckoned with. He was an Ironman who was considered even better on the defensive side than offense where he was All-Pro. -
Mike Singletary MLB (1981-1992)
He was Ray Lewis before Ray Lewis. A tackling machine and the general of the greatest defense the league has seen. He made the 46 defense work. A commanding presence in the locker room, on the sidelines and in the huddle. He was simply a leader and he kept that rowdy group of Buddy Ryan’s in line and in the right positions on every down. -
Red Grange RB/DB (1925, 1929 - 1934)
Obviously none of us ever saw him play but by all accounts he was simply epic. He was voted the greatest college player of all time as recently as 2008 and could be credited with single-handedly establishing the NFL as a national sport. His barnstorming tours were the thing of legend and he was so good he created his own league to challenge the NFL. If not for Grange there might not be an NFL. -
Dick Butkus MLB (1965 - 1973)
There’s perhaps a case to be made that someone else deserves this spot based on longevity or titles but Butkus still pretty much defines the Bears and the position of Middle Linebacker. Maybe still the greatest MLB of all time even if some people debate if he’s even the best Bear at the position of all time. He’s iconic. -
Walter Payton RB (1975 - 1987)
Easiest call of the list and for my money still the greatest player of all time. I don’t really need to sell this one, you know who he is and what he accomplished. All-time reading rusher when he retired, and didn’t hang on too long to compile yards like some folks. Held just about every meaningful rushing record in the books when he left and still holds the mark for consecutive starts by a running back at 170 which kicks the shit out of Favre’s mark. Great person to boot.
I planned on doing 10 but I need to run out the door. If anyone want’s to fill in the back end it would be appreciated.
Offa the toppa my head I’d go
7 Dan Hampton (DE/DT) who gets the nod for versatility over
8 Richard Dent (DE) - Singletary may have been the captain, but those 80s Bears defenses worked off of their dominant defensive line.
9 Brian Urlacher (MLB) needs to be on the list somewhere.
No idea who #10 is; there’s got to be someone better than McMahon out there, right?
Well, even if he’s become something of a caricature of himself, Mike Ditka was either the first or second great tight end in NFL history (Ditka himself says John Mackey was). He belongs in the top ten.
And so does my fellow Columbia alumnus Sid Luckman.
Where is the love for Al Toon?
Yeah, he would top my list had I written it for “Favorite 10.” I actually went back and checked the OP at least five times to make sure it was “greatest.” I had the same initial reading.
Some of the guys I was thinking: Ditka, Hampton, Dent, Urlacher, Luckman, George, McAfee and Hester. Hester might be a stretch, but the Bears haven’t had many good WRs and he’s the best of a long line of great kick returners. I’m wracking my brain to think of some offensive lineman who deserve the nod and really there aren’t any. The 80’s guys were all solid but none special and I don’t know enough about the early era guys to suggest any. Seems like with all the great runners we’ve had that there’d be a notable lineman along the way somewhere.
Not bad. I would put them in a different order. And I would have left off Rod Smith for Craig Morton. And I would leave Champ off… he doesn’t get on till he retires. Until then Billy Thompson can hold his seat warm for him.
So here is my list:
1- John Elway
2- Shannon Sharpe
3- Steve Atwater
4- Floyd Little
5- Gary Zimmerman
6- Terrell Davis
7- Randy Gradishar
8- Karl Mecklenburg
9- Craig Morton
10- Billy Thompson
Vikings, in no particular order:
- Alan Page
- Carl Eller
- Randall McDaniel
- Chris Doleman
- Paul Krause
- Fran Tarkenton
- Randy Moss
- John Randle
- Adrian Peterson
- Cris Carter
(Reads through thread looking for a Vikings list…)
Gah! My list matches the previous, except I have Chris Doleman instead of Ron Yary. I didn’t see the 70s teams, but the late 80s/early 90s needs a defensive rep after some of their play. Others include Keith Millard, Joey Browner, and Jack Del Rio.
Butkus? Ditka?
I actually might put both of those ahead of Urlacher. Nothing wrong with him–but I like to compare complete careers to complete careers. (Same deal plus for Hester, Omniscient. I want to see a lot more seasons of awesome before I put him on a ‘greatest’ list.)
Rams
No particular order
Norm Van Brocklin
Eric Dickerson
Deacon Jones
Merlin Olsen
Marshall Faulk
Kurt Warner
Elroy Hirsch
Tom Fears
Jackie Slater
Jack Youngblood
Soon hope to add Braford and Jackson to the list
That’s just nuts.
Oh, I agree he’s overrated on statistics alone. But the statistics don’t tell the story.
But I saw him play and when he was healthy, he was one of the greatest of all time. He is the only quarterback I ever saw that demoralized a team with a drive that didn’t lead to a score.
Without Namath, there’s no Superbowl for the team. So he automatically gets a #1 for the Jets.
Arizona Cardinals:
Kurt Warner
Jake Plummer
Ottis Anderson
Jim Hart
Pat Tilman
Larry Fitzgerald
Dan Dierdorf
Darnell Dockett
Roger Wehrli
Anquan Boldin.
I didn’t include any of the old Chicago Cardinals era players since I only know them from reading history about them.
Now that’s a surprise. I’m thinking that you just let Roy Green slip your mind.
In goes Roy Green, out goes Darnell Dockett.
Nothing personal, but I think that’s baloney. Namath has always been about style over substance, about hype over production, about “demoralizing” rather than “playing really well”. He may have demoralized the parts of the defensive secondary that weren’t able to intercept him as often as the others.
That year, Namath had a sub 50% completion percentage, threw 17 picks and 15 tds, and threw for 3147 yards total, for a QB rating of 72.1. In the Superbowl, it was the hype, not his production, that won him the MVP, when their defense got 4 interceptions.
Good list. I think Bob Waterfield and “Night Train” Dick Lane (14 Ints in his rookie year, even if he only played with them for a couple of years) deserve at least an honorable mention here as well.
Detroit Lions
10. Doak Walker
9. Night Train Lane
8. Alex Karras
7. Charlie Sanders
6. Lem Barney
5. Bubba Baker’
4. Joe Schmidt
3. Bobby Layne
2. Wayne Walker
- Barry Sanders
Four offensive players. that must mean something. A bigger list would include kickers which Detroit has been very lucky with, from Garo Yepremian, Eddie Murray to Jason Hanson.
Green Bay Packers
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Sterling Sharpe - a “what if he remained healthy” player ala Gale Sayers. 5 Pro Bowls, 3 All Pros, led the league in receptions 3 times, yardage once, td receptions twice, and “I made Don Majkowski and Brett Favre look like better QB’s than they really are) 500 times. A neck injury cut short a great football career. Plus I have his jersey.
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Herb Adderly - A converted RB (tough getting playing time behind Jim Taylor and Paul Hornung), he led the league in interceptions twice, made 5 pro bowls and 7 All Pros. He also returned kicks (25.7 yp), and had 7 ints returned for TD’s. Shame he went on to play for the Cowboys.
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Willie Davis - another converted player (from OT to DE), he was a speed rusher on 5 championship teams. Stats on sacks/tackles weren’t kept back then, but he would have tallied between 100-120 career sacks. 5 time Pro Bowler, 5 time All Pro, and another durable player (162 consecutive).
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Jim Taylor - 5 Pro Bowls, 5 consecutive 1000 yard season (back when a 1000 yard season meant something), and he led the league (including Jim Brown) in rushing in 1961. He was a bruising fullback who could both block and run the ball, and was dangerous in the red zone.
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Forrest Gregg - forget the ill fated coaching career and remember Lombardi saying he was the finest player Lombardi had ever coached. An 9 time Pro Bowler and 8 time All Pro, he was also durable (188 starts) and versatile (played guard very well too).
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Ray Nitschke - the defensive cornerstone of multiple championship Packers teams. A fearsome, hard hitting LB, who also had 25 career ints and was a championship MVP. I’m still a bit scared of him, and he’s been dead for years.
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Brett Favre - one of the most frustrating, exhilarating QB’s of all time, and the face of the Packers franchise for over a decade. When he was great, he was amazing. But when he was bad, which was far too often and far too often in big games, he was horrible. Put Joe Montana’s head in that body, and nobody could touch him.
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Bart Starr - They do a better job than I can.
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Reggie White - yes, I know he was an Eagle for most of his tenure, but he played (and played well) six seasons with the Packers. 13 pro bowls, two defensive players of the year (one with the Packers), and 198 career sacks. He was a major reason the Packers went to and won the 96 Super Bowl.
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Don Hutson - far and away the best wide receiver of his era, with some of his records surviving even to today. He helped develop modern route running, he won two league MVPs, and led the league in receptions 8 times, and yardage 7 times. Oh, and he has 30 career interceptions playing safety and added almost 200 points as a kicker. The best WR ever in the NFL not named Jerry Rice.