The 20 Biggest Baddest Bears of All Time; #8 Bill George

No. 8 Bill George

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Bill George (photo courtesy of ChicagoBears.com)

No. 61 was an innovator, becoming the first player to ever play the middle linebacker full-time and excel at doing so. George started his career at the middle guard position, where, on passing downs, it was his job to hit the offensive center, and then, drop back into coverage.


That all changed in one game against the Eagles, when, rather than hitting the center, he dropped back into coverage and had one ball hit him in the stomach before he intercepted the next pass.


George went on to start at middle linebacker and earn enshrinement into the Hall of Fame.


The Bears, in fact, have three middle linebackers currently in the Hall of Fame, with Brian Urlacher surely on his way to the Hall of Fame five years after he retires.


George was the first and played the middle linebacker position like a nose guard because that’s the mentality George learned to play with first.

Bill George was the Bears MLB great from my Dad's era and not only the first of the Bears great MLBs but the first NFL player to ever play what we now call the MLB position period. From 1954 until 1965 he roamed the middle of the field for the Bears at MLB making All Pro 8 consecutive years from 1955-1962.

He was a key player in that great Bears defense in 1963 when the beat the Giants and Y.A. Tittle for the NFL Championship. As the article says Bill George was the innovator of the MLB position and had a great 14 years career with the Bears until a young guy out of the University of Illinois by the name of Butkus came along and took the throne.

So for 20 years, back to back from the mid 50's to the early 70's, the Chicago Bears had two of the greatest defensive players and MLBs to ever play the game. George was elected to the HOF in 1974 and in 1999 was chose #49 in the Sporting News top 100 players of All Time.