Thread: BEARS BEST RB? Payton or sayers, WHO YA GOT

I'll go with their breakdown as to; best one play, best one game, best season, and best career. I think those divisions were accurate.

Comparing the two will always be difficult because of the difference in styles. I think Sayers was the best pure running back of the two and quite possibly the best to ever play the game. I've never seen another open field runner playing RB who even comes close. But there's another Bears player who does come close to his open field elusiveness and that's Devin Hester. Both have the unique ability to make a cut without breaking stride or slowing even one iota. Both have the ability to take it to the house anytime they touch the ball.

Walter was by far the more accomplished football player and like Sayers the best to ever play the game when taken from that perspective. Walter was the guy you wanted with the ball when you needed a crucial 3rd down or a leap into the endzone for a game winning td. You could park the entire offense on his back and he would carry the team and so many times that's just what he did. Stats aside, no one will ever equal what he did in his career playing with the Olines and QB's he had to contend with. No player ever showed more class either.

I think Jeff brought up a good point when he brought Willie Galimore into the mix as well. FB Rick Casares had better stats but Willie was a tremendous HB in the mold of Gale Sayers and may have gone on to greatness had he not been killed in an auto wreck. Neal Anderson ranks #1 on my all time under appreciated players rankings. Succeeding Walter was a tough act to follow but he did it very well and to me ranks near the top of that second tier group of guys.

Altogether a nice article and a good topic for discussion during this no football time. You know, Matt Forte has a chance to get into that top tier if he stays healthy and can remain that all around go to back he's been so far in his career.

Wally !...... hands down.

Hard to say..I watched Sayers growing up as a kid and as others have mentioned his knee injury cut his career short....sweetness was good in his own right too plus he played on the 85 SB Championship team.....I call it a toss up....I will say that both were great for the years that they played.

Walter Payton and Gale Sayers were two totally different runners. The best that I can describe Gale Sayers as being like a more modern runner would have to be Barry Sanders. Sanders, like Sayers, was a great open field runner who could juke some secondary player's jock strap loose and then be off to the races. Sayers did that too. Both players played with some shitty offensive lines in their day and were essentially the offense for their respective teams.

Payton was more of a power runner. I don't know if you could compare him with O.J. Simpson because I never saw Simpson play much, but Payton literally carried the Bears on his back for the time he played for them. He ran over players or ran around them; it was his choice, really. Though Sayers averaged 5.0 ypc to Payton's 4.4 ypc of their careers, Walter Payton was more consistent in his performances as a clutch player and only missed one game in his entire career, while Sayers only played what amounted to five full seasons in the league. In that case, I think you have to give the edge to Walter Payton, who did it all and did for a longer period of time.

I think Forte will end up in the top 5 when his career is all said and done. Easily the most talented RB we've had in 20 years.

Originally Posted by 4th and 26

I have to go with Garrett Wolfe.

He's going to need those "great" elusive moves in prison.