The 20 Biggest Baddest Bears of All Time; #9 Bill Hewitt

No. 9 Bill Hewitt

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Bill Hewitt (photo courtesy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame)


Any player who is known for his refusal to play football without a helmet deserves to be on the list of the biggest, baddest Chicago Bears players in history.


That is what Bill Hewitt was known for, playing football and refusing to wear a helmet until it became a league-mandated rule.


Helping his cause, Hewitt was one of the best two-way players of his era, playing end on both offense and defense and averaging 50 minutes of playing time per game.


Hewitt was such a force on defense that he was dubbed “The Offside Kid” for his uncanny explosion off the ball in which he was able to be in the backfield at the snap of the ball on nearly every play.


His quickness always seemed to make it seem as though he was offside on the play. Hewitt was All-NFL as a rookie and achieved that honor five more times in his career.

I remember seeing an old archives photo of him in a game making a lateral to another player and he was still playing without a helmet.

He and former President Gerald Ford must have gone to the same football camp.