Chicago Bears Draft History: The 1983 Draft
It’s draft time and it’s time for the Chicago Bears to draft the future of their franchise. We have spent weeks speculating about who they will take, but what about who they have taken? Which draft, in Bears history, should be considered their best?
The Chicago Bears have been drafting football players since 1936 when their very first pick was West Virginia offensive tackle Joe Stydahar. Ever since then the Bears have drafted some great players. They have also brought in some guys that just couldn’t cut it. Some of the players they have drafted, including Gale Sayers, Walter Payton and Dick Butkus, helped make them great. These guys were very talented and had great careers. Other guys, like defensive back Max Bumgardner and offensive tackle Stan Thomas did not have stellar careers in Chicago. They are considered “busts”.
For many NFL teams, there is a draft class that helped propel them towards greatness. For some greatness was an NFL championship while in the modern era, it’s has been a trip to the Super Bowl.
Chicago Bears
Chicago went to and won the Super Bowl in the 1985-86 season thanks to a stellar draft in 1983. Several players from that draft helped them in their run to Super Bowl XX and their victory in that game. There are several experts and many long-time Bears’ fans that seem to agree that the 1983 NFL Draft was the greatest of all time for Chicago.
The Bears had a total of 13 picks in the 1983 NFL Draft. We are going to take a look at each pick in that year’s draft, in groups, and see how these picks helped the Bears over the course of that player’s career. Granted, not all of the picks made their mark but just over half of them had a direct impact on the Bears run to the Super Bowl and their success during the 1985 season.
So sit back and think back to a time when the Bears were getting the train on the tracks and steaming their way towards a Super Bowl title. The groundwork for such eventful moments as a 15-1 record, the Super Bowl Shuffle and moments of greatness were all laid out in the 1983 NFL Draft. This should be considered the Bears greatest draft of all time.