Tag: safeties

(like last time, the free/strong distinction has no meaning here, and this is just the second batch of dudes.)

THE GOOD: Mike Brown (2000-2008) – In the early 2000s, the Bears had put together a core of a handful of star players that probably would’ve resulted in at least one championship with competent management. Mainly, this was on defense, which featured perhaps the best cornerback the Bears ever had in Charles Tillman, seven-time Pro Bowler and potential Hall-of-Famer Lance Briggs, a guy who briefly the best defensive tackle in football in Tommie Harris, and Alex Brown, all all-around playmaker who was way better than his stats ever indicated. Oh yeah, and they also had impending first-ballot Hall of Fame middle linebacker Brian Urlacher, who was pretty much the face of the NFL around 2002-2003ish. And, gentle reader, are you guys ready for the HOT TAKES? Well, while all this was going on, Mike Brown was the best player on the Chicago Bears. Urlacher may have been the face and the heart of the defense, but Brown was literally everything else. Brains, balls, pancreas, everything. He was in all places at all times, and could single-handedly decide the outcome of a game, as evidenced by literally winning two straight games with defensive touchdowns in 2001. (That was a magical season, where the Bears were awful, but finished 13-3, becoming the first “that’s true, but you know they lost eight of those games by a total of 13 points” team to ever actually score an extra 14 points) Eventually, the cursed 2004 season happened, and began a long and horrifying string of trips to injured reserve that crippled the Bears’ defense, and lasted until he was let go in 2009, but had that not happened, I truly believe the Bears would be sending two guys to Canton soon, instead of one. The Bears with Mike Brown on the field win Super Bowl XLI. I will always believe this.

Continue reading 1990-2017 ALL-TIME TEAM: STRONG SAFETY