CHICAGO — The Chicago Bears FINALLY immortalized two of it’s legends on Tuesday. Statues of Walter Payton and George Halas were unveilded in front of Soldier Field. George Halas was the team’s founder, owner and head coach that led the franchise to six NFL titles. He died in 1983 at the age of 88. I’m surprised that it took this long for a statue of him to show up.
Payton was without a doubt the greatest running back of all-time. Taken with the fourth overall pick of the 1975 NFL Draft out of “THEE I LOVE” Jackson State University. He played all 13 years of his career with the Bears ending his career in 1987 as the NFL’s all-time leading rusher with 16,726 yards. Walter, known to the sports world as sweetness, died of cancer in 1999 at the age of 45.
Let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! There are some that will try to argue that there have been running backs that were better than Sweetness but that just shows that they weren’t old enough to see him play or they’re delusional at best if Payton isn’t at the top of the list.
He was on the worst team walking for years but he put up numbers EVERY Sunday. EVERY single Sunday!! Sure, the 1985 Bears had probably the best defense ever assembled but for the 10 years prior to that the team was terrible. My dad used to take us to the Bears game when ole dull Bob Avellini was the starting quarterback. They were terrible but Payton was the draw.
However, Walter showed up EVERY Sunday and went to work making things happen that were virtually impossible. There has never been a back that performed as consistently and as good as he did for as long as he did without an offensive line.
Barry Sanders was as close to Walter as you could get but he only lasted 9 years seasons before he dipped. Jim Brown was a monster but he was simply bigger, stronger and faster than any defensive back alive at the time. He was way before his time at 6’2″ 232 lbs. in 1957. That’s NUTS but he only played 9 seasons too.
Walter was always on the worse team or darn near the worse team and he finished as the all-time leading rusher. Wheredeydodatat? You’re drunk if you think you’ve seen anyone better than Sweetness carrying the rock. Congrats playboy on the being immortalized in front of one of the greatest stadiums in pro sports. Stop me when I start lyin’!
