Chicago Bears: 30 greatest players in franchise history

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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57. . OT. 1983-90. Jimbo Covert. 24. player

No matter how great your defense is, you still need to be able to keep your quarterback in an upright state, and left tackle Jimbo Covert was instrumental in doing that for the Bears in the 1980’s.

Covert, a product of the University of Pittsburgh, was taken by the club with the sixth overall pick in the first round of the 1983 NFL Draft. He was immediately plugged in to the starting left tackle position, a daunting task for most rookies, but Covert embraced the challenge and earned himself All-Rookie honors.

Covert was relied upon to help turn around the Bears’ rushing attack, and alongside several other notable players, the team led the league in rushing for four straight seasons from 1983-86.

That ability to generate a run game, paired with a defense as great as Chicago’s, is what helped Covert land his one and only Super Bowl ring in 1985.

Without that run game, the Bears offense could have looked quite a bit different when paired with the sometimes-sporadic play of quarterback Jim McMahon.

All in all, Covert wound up with two All-Pro selections and two Pro Bowl nods under his belt by the time he retired, having started 110 games in his productive career.

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