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Chicago Bears: 30 greatest players in franchise history

By Conor Dorney

Walter Payton #34, Running Back for the Chicago Bears during his final game in the American Football Conference West game against the Los Angeles Raiders on 27 December 1987 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, California, United States. The Bears won the game 6 - 3. Visions of Sport. (Photo by Mike Powell/Allsport/Getty Images)
Walter Payton #34, Running Back for the Chicago Bears during his final game in the American Football Conference West game against the Los Angeles Raiders on 27 December 1987 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, California, United States. The Bears won the game 6 - 3. Visions of Sport. (Photo by Mike Powell/Allsport/Getty Images) /
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Devin Hester, Chicago Bears
(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

29. player. 57. . WR/PR/KR. 2006-13. Devin Hester

As you’ll notice by the end of this piece, many of the players on our list were known for their tenacious ability and how they could strike fear in the hearts of their opponents far and wide. Toughness is a pre-requisite for being a Bear but one particular player could strike that same type of fear with one simple block on a kick return.

None other than Devin Hester.

Hester came to the Bears via the 2006 NFL Draft as a second-round selection out of the University of Miami. It didn’t even take a year before the team realized they had a special player, the likes of which are extremely rare.

He’s the type of player you just couldn’t wait to see highlights of and, if you were an opposing team, prayed that your punter just happened to shank a couple in a row out of bounds to keep it out of his hands.

While Hester was a wide receiver, he made his name on his incredible ability to return kicks. And not just to return them, but to return them and more often than not end up hitting pay dirt. In his rookie season alone, Hester returned three punts and two kickoffs for touchdowns, adding four more punt return touchdowns the very next year.

Hester would go on to tally a whopping 14 punt return touchdowns (the best mark of all-time) and five kickoff return touchdowns over the course of his career. His ability to electrify a crowd via the return game is part of what cements his legacy as one of the best players in franchise history.

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