Excitement for the Bears are at an all-time high, so while March Madness and the NCAA Tournament begin, we still have Bears on the mind. So we've created Chicago Bears Football Madness, pitting players from the three best Bears teams and legends head-to-head. This is the Legends and Others region.
1. George Halas
4. Matt Forte
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Chicago sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Halas: Good luck going against the OG of Chicago Bears football. The “Mr. Everything” of Pro Football coached the Bears for 40 seasons and won six NFL titles. An innovator and disciplinarian, he can fill any role from coach, to player, to owner. He’s used to running the table, having led two different teams to undefeated regular seasons and “Papa Bear” is certainly used to winning. His 324 total victories stood as an NFL record until 1993.
-- Paul Aspan
Forte: Put simply, Forte is one of the great all-time Bears. Here’s just some of where he ranks among Bears history:
• 2nd all-yime rushing yards
• 4th all-time in rushing touchdowns
• 5th all-time in rushing yards per game
• 7th all-time in receiving yards
• 20th all-time in receiving touchdowns
• 2nd all-time in receptions
So, yeah. Matt Forte deserves to have his number retired.
- Cam Ellis
2. Dick Butkus
3. Gale Sayers
Butkus: Mad that he wasn’t top overall seed (still mad having had to negotiate with Papa Bear anyway) so may be nastier than usual. Underrated offensive threat from days as center at Illinois plus No. 2 all-time in Bears takeaways so can win with offense or defense, as long as it’s physical.
- John “Moon” Mullin
NFL
Sayers: One of the ultimate “what could have been” cases in NFL history. Gale Sayers was widely regarded as one of the most electric players in the league, but his career was cut short due to multiple injuries. In parts of seven seasons with the Bears, he only played in 68 games, but was one of the best running backs in the league and still made the Hall of Fame. Known for his incredible cuts and blazing speed, “The Kansas Comet” was Barry Sanders before Barry Sanders.
-Slavko Bekovic