NFL Films’ Sabol Ranks Three Chicago Bears as Greatest Ever

Greatest Defensive Player: Dick Butkus

A force of unmanageable proportions, he was Moby Dick in a goldfish bowl. His career as the middle linebacker for the Chicago Bears stands as the most sustained work of devastation ever committed on a football field by anyone, anywhere, anytime. In 1969, the Bears won one game and Butkus was voted the Defensive Player of the Year. He stood for something just as important as victory — he gave everything he had on every play. No one ever played harder or better than Dick Butkus.

Check out the highlight reel Sabol linked in his post:

I wish they let guys play like that today, don’t you? Butkus was a bad ass and a great choice greatest defensive player ever.