From Halas to Covert: The 30 Chicago Bears inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame

The Chicago Bears have more players, coaches and administrators enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame than any other NFL team — 30.

Others weren’t known for their time with the Bears but later entered the Hall of Fame: Walt Kiesling, Alan Page, Orlando Pace, Chuck Howley.

Here’s a look back at these greats.

George Halas (Bears founder, owner, head coach and player)

Seasons with the Bears: 1920-83 (he stepped away from coaching three times — 1930-32 and 1942-45 to serve in the U.S. Navy and 1956-57)

Total NFL seasons: 64

“Papa Bear” coached for 40 seasons, winning 321 games and six NFL championships. Thirty-four of his 40 teams finished .500 or better.

As a player, Halas never made an official All-Pro team, but the Pro Football Hall of Fame — which made him its first charter member in 1963 and has an address of 2121 George Halas Drive in Canton — named him to its 1920s All-Decade team as a player.

Hall of Fame induction: Sept. 7, 1963

Harold “Red” Grange (RB/QB/HB)

Seasons with the Bears: 1925, 1929-34

Total NFL seasons: 9

Grange joined the Bears as one of the pillars of American sport, equal to Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey in name recognition and adulation. In the time between, as NFL Films historian Chris Willis wrote in the 2019 biography “Red Grange: The Life and Legacy of the NFL’s First Superstar,” “Red Grange made the blueprint of what an NFL player could become: He left school early, signed with an agent, was paid the biggest salary in the history of the sport, made movies in Hollywood, did endorsements, won two NFL championships and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.”

Hall of Fame induction: Sept. 7, 1963

Bronko Nagurski (RB/QB/FB)

Seasons with the Bears: 1930-37, 1943

Total NFL seasons: 9

Of the 10 linemen who played for the Bears in 1930, Nagurski weighed more than five. Despite his bulk — which included a 22-inch neck that made buttoning shirts to the top an impossible task and a size-19½ ring that is the largest ever measured by the Hall of Fame — Nagurski was faster than every Bear except Grange. Nagurski ran a 10.2-second 100-yard dash at Minnesota.

Hall of Fame induction: Sept. 7, 1963

Ed Healey (T)

Seasons with the Bears: 1922-27

Total NFL seasons: 8

Halas called the five-time all-league selection “the most versatile tackle in history.” Healey was acquired in 1922 by Halas — as the first NFL player to be purchased — to settle a $100 debt. Healey spent his first two professional seasons with Rock Island before becoming a five-time All-Pro lineman with the Bears.

Hall of Fame induction: Sept. 6, 1964

William Roy “Link” Lyman (T)

Seasons with the Bears: 1926-28, 1930-31, 1933-34

Total NFL seasons: 11

On offense, the 6-foot-2, 233-pound Lyman was a fit, athletic left tackle with a combination of strength and athleticism that made him nearly impossible to get around. On defense, he pioneered the use of shifting, slanting and stunting that all defensive tackles perform today. Lyman won three consecutive championships as a two-way star for the Canton and Cleveland Bulldogs in the early days of the NFL and was one of the league’s best linemen when he joined the Bears.

Hall of Fame induction: Sept. 6, 1964

George Trafton (C)

Seasons with the Bears: 1920-21, 1923-32

Total NFL seasons: 12

Trafton became one of the greats of the NFL’s early days. The Decatur Staleys moved to Chicago in 1921 and won the AFPA championship. In 1922 the Staleys became the Bears and the AFPA became, at George Halas’ suggestion, the National Football League. In 1932, Trafton’s last season at age 36, the Bears won their second championship.

The center was named first-team All-Pro twice and second-team three times in his 12 seasons. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in its second class in 1964, and it named him to its All-Decade team of the 1920s.

On offense, Trafton became the first center to snap the ball with one hand. On defense, he was the first center to drop back to defend against passes.

Hall of Fame induction: Sept. 6, 1964

John “Paddy” Driscoll (RB/QB)

Seasons with the Bears: 1920, 1926-29

Total NFL seasons: 11

Driscoll finished his career with 402 points: 244 for the Chicago Cardinals, 158 for the Bears. He scored 31 touchdowns and drop-kicked 63 extra points and 51 field goals. He ran for 17 touchdowns, caught one, returned a fumble for another and passed for 16 more.

He was named first-team All-Pro six times, served as a player/coach for the Cardinals for three seasons and in 1965 was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s third class.

After he retired from playing following the 1929 season, Driscoll went straight into coaching. He was the athletic director and football and basketball coach at St. Mel High School until 1937, when he left to coach football at Marquette. He rejoined Halas as an assistant in 1941 and stayed with the Bears through their championship season of 1963.

Hall of Fame induction: Sept. 12, 1965

Danny Fortmann (G)

Seasons with the Bears: 1936-43

Total NFL seasons: 8

Though Fortmann was one of the smallest linemen of his era at 6 feet and 210 pounds, few ever were better. He played eight seasons with the Bears and earned All-NFL honors six straight seasons (1938-43). The Bears went 69-17-2 in those seasons, finishing first in the Western Division five times, second twice and third once.

Alongside Hall of Fame tackle Joe Stydahar, Fortmann was part of the most dominant era of Bears football that gave rise to the “Monsters of the Midway.” In 1965, he was only the second guard elected to the Hall of Fame.

Hall of Fame induction: Sept. 12, 1965

Sid Luckman (QB)

Seasons with the Bears: 1939-50

Total NFL seasons: 12

Even in the 1940s, it was good to be a superstar quarterback. The Bears never have had a better one than Luckman, the only elite quarterback in franchise history. The 6-foot, 197-pound Brooklyn native was voted first-team All-Pro five times in the 1940s. The rest of the Bears quarterbacks have combined to earn that honor three times: Joey Sternaman in 1924-25 and Johnny Lujack in 1950.

Luckman led the NFL in passing yards, passer rating and touchdown passes three times each. When he retired in 1950, he had amassed 14,686 passing yards and 137 touchdown passes, which stood as Bears records until Jay Cutler passed Luckman in yards in 2013 and TD passes in 2015, 65 years after Luckman threw his final pass.

The Bears have won nine championships in their 99-year history. Luckman was the quarterback for four of them, in 1940, ‘41, ‘43 and ‘46. In 1943 he won the Joe F. Carr Trophy as the NFL’s most valuable player. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1965.

Hall of Fame induction: Sept. 12, 1965

George McAfee (RB/QB/HB)

Seasons with the Bears: 1940-41, 1945-50

Total NFL seasons: 8

McAfee came to the Bears as part of Halas’ finest stretch of player acquisitions in his six-decade personnel career. From 1939 to ‘42, Halas added so much talent that many of his backups were All-Pro caliber.

The 1940 draft was perhaps his best. In one of his most astute moves, Halas traded four veteran linemen who soon would be out of the league — Les McDonald, Dick Bassi, Milt Trost and Russ Thompson — for McAfee, the Eagles’ pick at No. 2.

McAfee was a Duke star who ran the 100-yard dash in 9.7 seconds and hit .390 for the Blue Devils baseball team. With the No. 7 pick in the same round, Halas selected Bulldog Turner, a center from Hardin-Simmons.

Turner and McAfee were elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame together in 1966. They were named to the 1940s All-Decade team, and the Bears retired their numbers: McAfee’s 5 and Turner’s 66.

Hall of Fame induction: Sept. 17, 1966

Clyde “Bulldog” Turner (C/LB)

Seasons with the Bears: 1940-52

Total NFL seasons: 13

Turner was the kind of star who transcended time. He was regarded in his time as the best center in league history. Those who watched him play say he could have been a star during any era of the NFL, all the way to the 21st century. In 1942 he led the league with eight interceptions.

At 6-foot-2 and 240 pounds, Turner was large for his era, when most players watched their weight so they could play a full 60 minutes. He was fast too. It is said that while at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, Turner once ran a 100-yard dash in 10.8 seconds — in full football gear.

Turner’s intelligence set him apart. The son of a cattle rancher and a school teacher from tiny Dunn, Texas, Turner graduated from Sweetwater High School at 16 and from Hardin-Simmons with a journalism degree at 20. He not only memorized all the plays in Halas’ playbook and all their variations, he knew what each player was supposed to do in each one, and he was more than willing to share his expertise.

Linebacker Bill George’s eight first-team All-Pro selections are ahead of Turner’s and Mike Singletary’s seven for the most in Bears history. George, whose first season, 1952, was Turner’s last, told the Tribune’s David Condon on Nov. 3, 1965: “I’m telling you, I learned more from Bulldog Turner in a short walk up to the line of scrimmage than I learned in four years of college football.”

Hall of Fame induction: Sept. 17, 1966

Joe Stydahar (T)

Seasons with the Bears: 1936-42, 1945-46

Total NFL seasons: 9

“Jumbo Joe” was the first draft pick in Bears history in 1936 and the first lineman ever taken, at No. 6. Before a play, Stydahar, usually the largest player on the field, often would crawl along on his hands and knees, “apparently sizing up the opposing players from all angles,” Bears coach George Halas wrote in the Tribune on Feb. 9, 1967.

Stydahar was named second-team All-Pro as a rookie in 1936, then first-team after the next four seasons. He helped the Bears win NFL championships in 1940 and ‘41, served in the Navy in 1943-44, returned for the final three games of the 1945 season and in his final year helped the Bears win another title in 1946.

The Bears went 72-52-2 (.737) in his nine seasons. In 1999, the Tribune’s Bernie Lincicome picked his all-time Bears team with Stydahar and Jim Covert as tackles: “A Jimbo and a Jumbo.”

Hall of Fame induction: Aug. 5, 1967

Bill Hewitt (E)

Seasons with the Bears: 1932-36

Total NFL seasons: 9

Hewitt was known as an innovator on offense, and he was easy to identify as one of the last NFL players to play without a helmet. He also might have been the best defensive player in the league. He was the first player to try to time the snap count, and he often was in the opponent’s backfield before the linemen were out of their three-point stances. Opposing fans nicknamed him “The Offside Kid” because they could not believe he was playing within the rules.

In Hewitt’s five seasons with the Bears, he started 61 of his 63 games while the team went 45-10-9 (.773), won the 1932 and ‘33 championships and finished as runners-up in ‘34.

He scored 16 touchdowns with the Bears, including seven in 1936 to rank second in the NFL. In 1934 he led the league with five receiving touchdowns out of his 11 overall receptions. He was named first-team All-Pro in 1933, ‘34 and ‘36 and second-team in 1932.

On Jan. 14, 1947, the Bay City, Mich., native died at 37 after his car skidded off a wet road and hit a culvert. In 1949, Halas decided to retire the uniform numbers of the most important players in team history. He chose three: Red Grange’s 77, Bronko Nagurski’s 3 and Hewitt’s 56.

Hewitt was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971 — with President Richard Nixon as the guest speaker.

Hall of Fame induction: July 30, 1971

Bill George (LB)

Seasons with the Bears: 1952-65

Total NFL seasons: 15

George’s 14 seasons with the Bears are tied with linebacker Doug Buffone for second-most behind long snapper Patrick Mannelly’s 16. George was voted to eight Pro Bowls, and his eight first-team All-Pro selections are the most in Bears history. The Hall of Fame named him to its 1950s All-Decade team. In 2014, the Tribune’s Don Pierson ranked George the second-best linebacker in team history behind Dick Butkus.

George Allen was a Bears assistant from 1958 to ‘65 before becoming head coach of the Rams (1966-70) and Redskins (1971-77). Like most of George’s coaches, he was amazed at the linebacker’s combination of ability and intelligence.

“Bill George was the smartest defensive player I ever coached,” Allen told the Tribune on Oct. 1, 1982. “He called the defensive signals for the Bears when they were at their best defensively. He studied films, kept a notebook of his own, did his homework every week and always prepared to play his best.

“He practically invented the middle linebacker position and the 4-3 defense.”

George served as a bridge between two other all-time great Bears. His first season, 1952, was Bulldog Turner’s last. George’s last season with the Bears, 1965, was Butkus’ first.

Hall of Fame induction: July 27, 1974

George Connor (LB/T)

Seasons with the Bears: 1948-55

Total NFL seasons: 8

Connor was born two months premature. Weighing 3 pounds, he was given a grave prognosis. His doctor advised he be fed boiled cabbage juice with an eyedropper in addition to his mother’s milk. Connor’s mother, a nurse, and his father, a general practitioner, took turns caring for him by his bedside for a year until he improbably gained full health.

“Boiled cabbage juice and faith are a strange mixture,” Connor told the Tribune’s Jack Rosenberg, “but they saved my life.”

Connor’s combination of size and speed made him perhaps the most feared hitter of his era. He once delivered a knockout blow on 49ers fullback Joe Perry that was so fierce, it broke the tape Connor used to hold up his high socks.

The Chicago native was the first of the big, mobile outside linebackers that still disrupt offenses today. Connor was equally adept on both sides of the ball. He was named first- or second-team All-Pro six times, and three of those times he earned the honor as both a tackle and a linebacker.

He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1975, and the institution named him to its All-Decade team of the 1940s, even though his best years came in the ‘50s. In 1994, the Tribune’s Don Pierson and Fred Mitchell named Connor and Jimbo Covert the starting tackles on their all-time Bears team.

Hall of Fame induction: Aug. 2, 1975

Gale Sayers (RB)

Seasons with the Bears: 1965-71

Total NFL seasons: 7

The “Kansas Comet,” as Sayers was nicknamed, was one of the most agile and elusive ball carriers ever.

“If you wish to see perfection as a running back, you had best get a hold of a film of Gale Sayers,” Bears founder George Halas said in 1977 when he presented Sayers for Hall of Fame enshrinement. “He was poetry in motion. His like will never be seen again.”

Sayers’ dynamic running ability helped him earn All-Pro recognition in each of his five full seasons. It also left teammates, coaches, fans and pundits to wonder what he might have accomplished in football had knee injuries not ended his career in 1971 after only seven seasons (68 games).

Sayers rushed for 4,956 yards and scored 56 touchdowns in his career. The four-time Pro Bowl selection is No. 4 on the Tribune’s list of the top 100 Bears players of all time and fifth on the team’s list. He was named to the NFL 100 All-Time Team.

Sayers amassed 9,435 all-purpose yards, which ranks fourth in Bears history behind running backs Walter Payton and Matt Forte (12,718) and return specialist Devin Hester (10,196).

“Just give me 18 inches of daylight,” he once told NFL Films. “That’s all I need.”

Sayers’ legacy is partly defined by his close relationship with teammate Brian Piccolo, who died at age 26 in 1970 from a rare form of cancer. Sayers and Piccolo were believed to be the first interracial roommates for a major professional sports organization. Their story was documented in the Emmy Award-winning, made-for-TV movie “Brian’s Song.”

Hall of Fame induction: July 30, 1977

Dick Butkus (LB)

Seasons with the Bears: 1965-73

Total NFL seasons: 9

What made the 6-foot-3, 245-pound middle linebacker different from every other player in the history of the Bears and the NFL was the ferocious way he played. His highlight reels still are shocking for their violence, as he was able to tap into a part of himself that even the most hardened professional football players find difficult to reach.

Besides his violence, the next most striking aspect about Butkus’ reel is his skill, especially in pass coverage. He finished his career with 22 interceptions, and he did it his way. After some of his picks, Butkus wagged the ball in the nearest receiver’s face before embarking on his return, taunting his opponent as if he were a younger kid on the playground in his Roseland neighborhood.

His size, speed, instincts and ferocity made Butkus the perfect middle linebacker. Ross Brupbacher, who played next to Butkus as an outside linebacker for the Bears from 1970-72, said, “If you wanted to put one together like a Frankenstein, you couldn’t have put a better one together.”

Butkus was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979, his first year of eligibility. In 1994 he was named to the NFL’s 75th Anniversary Team. NFL Network named him the 10th-best player of all time in 2010, and a New York Daily News panel voted him No. 8 in 2014.

In 2001, Sports Illustrated’s Paul Zimmerman ranked Butkus the best middle linebacker ever, leading a top five of Ray Lewis, Joe Schmidt, Willie Lanier and Ray Nitschke.

Butkus played nine seasons for the Bears, starting all 119 games he played. He was named first-team All-Pro five times and second-team once and he was voted to the Pro Bowl after his first eight seasons. He’s the Bears’ all-time leader with 27 fumble recoveries.

The Hall of Fame named Butkus to its All-Decade teams in both the 1960s and ‘70s. The only other Bear to be named to two such teams was Walter Payton, in the 1970s and ‘80s.

Hall of Fame induction: July 28, 1979

George Blanda (QB/K)

Seasons with the Bears: 1949-50, 1951-58

Total NFL seasons: 26

Blanda, whose career dated to an era when players routinely manned two positions, scored a then-record 2,002 points. He scored those by running for nine touchdowns and kicking 335 field goals and 943 extra points, and he also threw 236 touchdown passes.

He retired before the 1976 season, a month shy of his 49th birthday, having spent 10 seasons with the Bears, part of one with the Baltimore Colts, seven with the Houston Oilers and his last nine with the Oakland Raiders.

Hall of Fame induction: Aug. 1, 1981

George Musso (T/G)

Seasons with the Bears: 1933-44

Total NFL seasons: 12

A two-way lineman who was huge for his time at 6-foot-2, 262 pounds, Musso helped the Bears win four championships and reach three more title games in his 12 seasons. He kept himself in playing shape long after his lighter teammates fell off, with one of his secrets to longevity a book he kept in his pocket that listed the caloric content of each food item at the supermarket.

“Because he watched his food habits he prolonged his career,” Bears owner and coach George Halas told the Tribune’s Edward Prell on Nov. 16, 1951. “I’ve used Musso as an example to instill in others the will to keep their poundage down.”

“Moose” bridged the gap between the great Bears teams of the 1930s and the Monsters of the Midway of the ‘40s. He was the only player from the 1933 title team active for the 1940s championships, and he’s one of six Bears to win four titles.

Hall of Fame induction: Aug. 7, 1982

Doug Atkins (DE)

Seasons with the Bears: 1955-66

Total NFL seasons: 17

NFL players lived by one rule concerning Atkins, a 6-foot-8, 257-pound freak of nature.

Don’t make him mad.

Atkins was perhaps the strongest man in the NFL. He certainly was the only defensive lineman able to leap over an offensive lineman or fullback to get to the quarterback, a move he made several times per season.

In 1955, George Halas acquired Atkins and safety Ken Gorgal from the Browns for third- and sixth-round draft picks. Halas called the trade his best ever, and he always thought the way he prodded Atkins to produce gave him an edge.

Atkins, who never could figure why he wasn’t enshrined until 13 years after he retired, felt he had a good reason for disdaining practice.

“I used to hurt all the time,” Atkins told the Tribune’s Cooper Rollow on Jan. 31, 1982. “One time Halas asked me to play against Green Bay even though I had two bad ankles after a hard week of practice. I couldn’t even walk. Well, somebody blocked me once, and I heard (Bears assistant coach) Luke Johnsos say, ‘Atkins, All-Pro? Bull!’

“I decided right then that practice isn’t important.”

Hall of Fame induction: Aug. 7, 1982

Mike Ditka (TE)

Seasons with the Bears: 1961-66

Total NFL seasons: 12

Ditka, like mob boss Frank Costello in “The Departed,” was not a product of his environment; his environment was a product of him. Besides George Halas, no person has done more to shape the Bears. While Halas oversaw the franchise for 64 years, Ditka made his everlasting impact in 17: six as a player, 11 as head coach.

At Soldier Field during Bears games, fans still dress like the 1985 championship-winning version of “Da Coach”: navy blue sweater vest with “BEARS” emblazoned in white between two orange stripes across the chest, slicked-back hair, shades, thick mustache and a chomped-upon cigar.

Before he was the coach who returned the Bears to glory and connected with fans by extolling the virtues of the blue-collar “Grabowski” lifestyle over the flashiness of New York and Los Angeles, “Iron Mike” was the NFL’s first great tight end.

Halas and George Allen, the Bears defensive coordinator and personnel director, selected Ditka with the fifth pick in the 1961 draft. Even though Ditka was mostly a blocker at Pittsburgh, Halas and offensive coordinator Luke Johnsos had an audacious plan. Ditka would become the first tight end to affect the receiving and rushing games equally.

The 6-foot-3, 228-pound Ditka blindsided the NFL in 1961 with 56 receptions for 1,076 yards and 12 touchdowns and was a runaway winner as the UPI’s rookie of the year. He nearly dragged the Bears to an upset of the Packers — who won the first of their five championships in seven years that season — by catching nine passes for 190 yards and three touchdowns in a game the Bears lost 31-28 at Wrigley Field after trailing 31-7.

Ditka finished his career with 427 receptions, 5,812 yards and 43 touchdowns, and in 1988 he was the first tight end voted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In 1994, he and Kellen Winslow were the two tight ends named to the NFL’s 75th anniversary team.

Halas hired Ditka as Bears coach in 1982, and he coached the team to a 46-10 win over the Patriots in Super Bowl XX after the 1985 season. He was named NFL Coach of the Year that year and for a second time in 1988, but the Bears have yet to win another championship. Halas’ grandson Mike McCaskey fired Ditka in 1992, and “Da Coach” went 15-33 in three disastrous seasons with the Saints in 1997-99.

Hall of Fame induction: July 30, 1988

Stan Jones (G/DT)

Seasons with the Bears: 1954-65

Total NFL seasons: 13

Jones was one of the NFL’s best offensive linemen from 1954 to ‘61, earning first-team All-Pro honors three times, second-team once and seven consecutive trips to the Pro Bowl.

When he lost some speed and no longer was able to make it to the hole before Bears backs on pulling plays, coaches thought he still could be useful. They moved him to defensive tackle, and he played both ways as a reserve in 1962. The next year he moved into the starting lineup at defensive tackle. He, Earl Leggett and Fred Williams held down the middle for one of the best defenses ever, and the Bears won the 1963 NFL championship.

While Jones was one of the NFL’s last two-way linemen, he was one of the league’s first players to take weight training seriously. He started lifting in high school, and he claims to have gained 20 pounds per year for eight consecutive years from his freshman year in high school in LeMoyne, Pa., to his senior year at Maryland. In his first 12 NFL seasons, the 6-foot-1, 252-pound Jones missed two games.

Jones was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame by the old-timers committee in 1991 at age 59. He was known as a friend to all, and the Tribune’s Cooper Rollow once described him as “one of our city’s more innocuous and gentle citizens.” Still, Jones saved some classic back-in-my-day vitriol for his induction speech.

Hall of Fame induction: July 27, 1991

Walter Payton (RB)

Seasons with the Bears: 1975-87

Total NFL seasons: 13

Payton is the best player in the history of the Bears.

When he died at 45 of bile duct cancer and liver failure on Nov. 1, 1999, the city mourned. His public memorial brought 20,000 people to Soldier Field, where speakers included NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, Hall of Famers Dan Hampton and Mike Ditka and the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

The 5-foot-10, 200-pound Payton retired after the 1987 season as the NFL’s all-time leading rusher with 16,726 yards, pushing well past Jim Brown’s previous record of 12,312. It is the closest thing football has to baseball’s hallowed home run mark, and Payton held it for 15 years before Emmitt Smith passed him in 2002 and ended up with 18,355.

Jim Finks, who made Payton his first draft pick as Bears general manager in 1975, believed Payton’s chase of Brown’s rushing record actually took attention away from how good he was as an all-around player.

“For instance,” Finks told the Tribune’s Don Pierson in 1984, “there’s no better blocker in the NFL. None. He flattens linebackers, he knocks down ends, he attacks nose guards.”

With his strong throwing arm, Payton tossed eight touchdown passes. He played single-wing quarterback late in one game in 1984 after Bears QBs Jim McMahon and Steve Fuller were injured and Rusty Lisch was ineffective against the Packers. Some Bears coaches believed that if he practiced at it, Payton would have been a better punter in some seasons than the one the team employed.

Payton’s rushing total still ranks second all time, his 125 total touchdowns rank 11th and his 21,264 yards from scrimmage trail only Jerry Rice and Smith. Payton was voted to nine Pro Bowls in his 13 seasons, and his five first-team All-Pro selections were spread over 10 years, with his first in 1976 and last in 1985.

The Columbia, Miss., native was voted into the Hall of Fame in 1993, named to the NFL’s 75th Anniversary Team the next year and to the All-Decade teams of the 1970s and ‘80s.

Payton’s place atop the Bears rushing records might as well be written in indelible ink. Matt Forte ranks second in team history with 8,602 rushing yards; Neal Anderson is third with 6,166. Their combined total of 14,768 yards is 1,958 behind Payton. Similarly, Payton’s 110 rushing touchdowns are more than Anderson’s 51 and Rick Casares’ 49 put together.

The eight best rushing seasons in Bears history belong to Payton, and he also ranks first in Bears history with 492 receptions and fourth with 4,538 receiving yards. On Nov. 20, 1977, Payton set the NFL single-game rushing record with 275 yards against the Vikings, a mark that now ranks fifth.

The NFL Man of the Year Award, which he won along with his MVP in 1977, was renamed after Payton in 2000.

Hall of Fame induction: July 31, 1993

Jim Finks (GM)

Seasons with the Bears: 1974-82

Total NFL seasons: 27

Enshrined for his years of service in the front office, Finks was the architect of the 1985 Bears, drafting 19 of the 22 Super Bowl XX starters.

Finks was hired by the late George “Mugs” Halas Jr. in 1974 “to run the show.” The decision never was totally accepted by George Halas Sr., who reasserted control after Mugs’ death in 1979 and made the job miserable for Finks.

It was Halas, not Finks, who signed the expensive lease to play at Soldier Field until the year 2000. It was Halas who fired Finks’ coach, Neill Armstrong, and hired Mike Ditka in 1982. Finks stayed for two more drafts and always got along with Ditka.

Finks resigned Aug. 24, 1983, only two months before Halas died and the McCaskey family named eldest son Michael president. Ed McCaskey said he and his wife, Virginia, Halas’ daughter, had wanted Finks to stay under another arrangement.

A native of Salem, Ill., Finks became a success at every level of sports, from NFL quarterback to league executive. He was the favorite to succeed Pete Rozelle as NFL commissioner in 1989 until his election was blocked by a minority of owners protesting the process. He remained active in league affairs after that disappointment, serving as chairman of the powerful competition committee, which recommends rules changes.

Wherever he went, Finks navigated the unpredictable nature of sports ownership with uncommon success, turning profits and turning around teams.

Hall of Fame induction: July 29, 1995

Mike Singletary (LB)

Seasons with the Bears: 1981-92

Total NFL seasons: 12

Singletary set a goal to become a starting middle linebacker in the NFL. He accomplished it in his seventh game with the Bears as a rookie in 1981 and stayed there for 12 seasons.

Then Singletary wanted to become a three-down player who was good enough in pass coverage to stay on the field in nickel packages. After losing 20 pounds, he accomplished that in 1983.

When he was named to the Pro Bowl after that season for the first of 10 consecutive times, Singletary declared he would become the Defensive Player of the Year. He won the Associated Press award in 1985 and again in ′88.

The Bears linebacker unit of Singletary and outside ‘backers Wilber Marshall and Otis Wilson — the “Bermuda Triangle” — became the best in the league. Defensive tackles Dan Hampton and Steve McMichael gave Singletary plenty of time to diagnose plays and strike.

The 1985 Bears ranked first in total, scoring and rushing defense and third in passing yards allowed. After shutout wins against the Giants and Rams in the NFC playoffs, Singletary recovered two of the Patriots’ four fumbles as the Bears won Super Bowl XX 46-10.

Singletary was heavily involved in charity work and was named the NFL’s Man of the Year in 1990.

In 2014, the Tribune’s Don Pierson ranked Singletary the fourth-best linebacker in Bears history behind fellow middlemen Dick Butkus, Bill George and Brian Urlacher. Singletary’s seven first-team All-Pro selections rank second in team history, tied with Bulldog Turner and one behind George.

On Dec. 13, 1992, as Singletary’s career with the Bears drew to a close, the Tribune’s Bernie Lincicome wrote: “Singletary’s tenure passed through the bad, the great, the good, the current of the Bears, and it gives the frame to how this all will be recalled in the leaner times ahead.

“When we think back to these days, when time exaggerates those Bears, it will be impossible even then to overpraise Mike Singletary. He was simply the best of them all.”

Hall of Fame induction: Aug. 1, 1998

Dan Hampton (DT/DE)

Seasons with the Bears: 1979-90

Total NFL seasons: 12

In his 11 full seasons, Hampton played seven mostly at end and four mostly at tackle. He started out at left end with tackle occupied by Alan Page and Jim Osborne, moved inside after Page retired in 1982, went back outside when William Perry joined the starting lineup in the middle of the 1985 championship season, returned inside when Perry was demoted from the starting lineup in 1988 and stayed there after the Bears drafted defensive end Trace Armstrong in 1989.

Hampton was named to his first Pro Bowl in 1980 after his second season, an honor he would gain three more times. Individual accolades proved hard to come by for Hampton, mostly because of his willingness to switch between end and tackle as needed and the roster full of stars the Bears assembled by the mid-1980s.

Hampton’s final game was a 31-3 loss to the eventual champion Giants in the NFC divisional round on Jan. 13, 1991, in East Rutherford, N.J. He has been a fixture in local media ever since.

Hall of Fame induction: Aug. 3, 2002

Richard Dent (DE)

Seasons with the Bears: 1983-93, 1995

Total NFL seasons: 15

Dent’s breakout performance came on Nov. 4, 1984, in a 17-6 win against the defending champion Los Angeles Raiders at Soldier Field. Dent had 4½ sacks in the victory, which placed the Bears among the NFL’s elite for the first time in 20 years. It also gave Dent the first of his six career NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors.

Dent led the NFL with a then-Bears-record 17½ sacks that season (Robert Quinn broke it with 18½ in 2021). Dent also holds the team mark for career sacks with 124½, and he matched his single-game mark of 4½, again against the Raiders, in 1987.

Dent’s 137½ career sacks rank tied for 10th all time, and his eight years with double-digit sacks rank behind only Bruce Smith’s 13, Reggie White’s 12, Kevin Greene’s and Julius Peppers’ 10 and John Randle’s nine.

Dent produced more turnovers than the average defensive end too, forcing 37 fumbles, recovering 13 and grabbing eight interceptions.

He was named Super Bowl XX’s most valuable player, the fifth defensive player to earn the honor, a performance that capped Dent’s spectacular playoff run. He had six sacks in the Bears’ three postseason games: 3½ in the 21-0 win against the Giants in the divisional round, one against the Rams in the NFC championship game and 1½ against the Patriots.

Dent was at his best in the Bears’ biggest games. In their seven playoff games after the 1984-87 seasons, he collected 10½ sacks.

Dent won his second Super Bowl ring with the 49ers after the 1994 season, but in contrast to his MVP performance nine years earlier, he was inactive for the loaded team. He returned to the Bears in 1995 as coach Dave Wannstedt thought Dent might be able to give his dormant defense a spark, but that experiment lasted only three games before the Bears released Dent. He played his final two seasons as a situational pass rusher for the Colts and Eagles, combining for 11 sacks in 1996 and ‘97 before retiring.

Hall of Fame induction: Aug. 6, 2011

Brian Urlacher (LB)

Seasons with the Bears: 2000-12

Total NFL seasons: 13

The Bears drafted Urlacher with the ninth pick in 2000. He played strong-side linebacker for most of training camp and for his first two games. When defensive coordinator Greg Blache and linebackers coach Dale Lindsey shifted Urlacher to the middle, he became a revelation. His combination of size, speed, athleticism, football intelligence and instincts had never been seen at the position.

Urlacher ended his career after the 2012 season with unofficial Bears records of 1,353 career tackles and 153 in 2002. In 13 seasons he made 180 starts, third in team history behind Payton’s 184 and Olin Kreutz’s 193. He was one of five NFL players with at least 40 sacks and 20 interceptions in his career, joining Ray Lewis, Karlos Dansby, Seth Joyner and Wilber Marshall.

He made eight Pro Bowls, was a four-time first-team All-Pro selection, the 2000 Defensive Rookie of the Year, the 2005 Defensive Player of the Year and a member of the All-Decade team for the 2000s.

Hall of Fame induction: Aug. 4, 2018

Ed Sprinkle (LB/E/DE)

Seasons with the Bears: 1944-55

Total NFL seasons: 12

Sprinkle was undersized even for his time at 6-foot-1, 206 pounds, but nobody played harder. Nobody played closer to the edge of the rules either. In the days before face masks, he was known on defense for “The Hook,” a clothesline maneuver in which he would tackle ball carriers high with their uncovered faces in the crook of his elbow.

On offense, Sprinkle played end. He loved to split out wide on a running play, sprint inside toward the action and destroy an unsuspecting linebacker with a vicious crackback block.

While Sprinkle made enemies across the league, he saved his hatred for the Packers. He terrorized them while making big plays every time he participated in the rivalry, which was at its nastiest during Sprinkle’s 12-year career. The Bears went 17-6-1 against the Packers in that time, and Sprinkle became one of the all-time most hated Bears among Packers fans.

On offense, Sprinkle was used mostly for blocking. In his 12 years, he caught seven touchdown passes from five quarterbacks. One was All-Pro Johnny Lujack; three others — Sid Luckman, George Blanda and third-stringer Bobby Layne — became Pro Football Hall of Famers.

Sprinkle retired at 33 when he became one of the few Bears to call Halas’ bluff during contract negotiations.

During his career, Sprinkle worked as an engineer for Inland Steel and coached youth football. In retirement he became owner and operator of the Gridiron Tile flooring company in the Mount Greenwood neighborhood. The native of Bradshaw, Texas, died of natural causes at 90 on July 28, 2014, in Palos Heights. He was the last living member of the 1946 NFL champions.

Hall of Fame induction: Aug. 7, 2021 (the ceremony was delayed a year by the coronavirus pandemic)

Jimbo Covert (OT)

Seasons with the Bears: 1983-90

Total NFL seasons: 8

Covert, who at his peak might have been the best offensive lineman in Bears history, brought a much-needed toughness to the offense after the Bears selected him No. 6 out of Pittsburgh in their bountiful 1983 draft. The team’s defense was ready to compete at a championship level, but the offense was missing something that Covert had in abundance.

Bears coach Mike Ditka told the Tribune’s Brad Biggs on April 17, 2015, “I needed a tough guy and I needed a leader. As good as our defense was, Covert didn’t take any (crap) from anybody in practice. Our defense used to beat up on (the offense) in the first couple of years, but Covert stood up for us.”

Covert helped the Bears offense develop into a tough unit in its own right. The key was an offensive line of, left to right, Covert, Mark Bortz, Jay Hilgenberg, Tom Thayer and Keith Van Horne that stayed intact for six seasons (1985-90).

Everything clicked for the Bears in 1985. The Bears won Super Bowl XX after that season and the NFC Central in five of those six years. They led the league in rushing for the third of four straight seasons, and after the 46-10 win over the Patriots in Super Bowl XX, Covert and Hilgenberg went to their first Pro Bowls. Covert was named first-team All-Pro and would repeat both honors the next season as he entered the company of the game’s best offensive linemen.

Durability was an asset for Covert at the beginning of his career. He started 63 of 64 games his first four seasons before, as Covert put it, “the monkey jumped on my back.” He missed one game in 1985 because of back spasms, half of the ‘87 season after breaking his shoulder, and in ‘88 he sprained his lower back in the first practice of training camp. He had microscopic disk surgery and missed half the season. He returned to play 15 games each in 1989 and ‘90 and kept up his strong play, but every day was a struggle.

He reinjured his back in training camp before the 1991 season, which he spent on injured reserve, and he retired in 1992, with his wife, Penny, having the final word.

“She was pretty strong on her point,” Covert said. “She said she would kill me if I went back and played.”

Hall of Fame induction: Aug. 7, 2021 (the ceremony was delayed a year by the coronavirus pandemic)

Sources: Tribune reporting, photos and archives; Pro Football Hall of Fame

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