Chicago Bears: Best Player of the Decade – 1990s
The 1990s were kind of an odd decade for the Chicago Bears. Many of the players from their championship 1985 team were going away, coaching changes were happening and the team was struggling to keep up with some of the others in their division. One player stood out above the rest.
The Chicago Bears were very mediocre over the course of the 1990s. They won games but they didn’t win Super Bowls. Perhaps you could say that the 90s were a forgettable decade in Bears’ history. There were some players that stood out but one of them stood out the most over the course of the 90s. That player was cornerback Donnell Woolford.
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Woolford was born on January 6, 1966, in Baltimore Maryland. He attended high school at Douglas Byrd High School in Fayetteville, N.C. Woolford played his college football at Clemson University. While at Clemson, he was named a consensus All American in 1988. His college football career was stellar and he was poised for a big-time career in the NFL.
The Chicago Bears selected Woolford with the 11th overall pick in the 1st round of the 1989 NFL Draft. Woolford went on to play for 10 seasons with the Chicago Bears from 1989 to 1997. He was awarded two honors while he was with the Bears including being named to the Pro Bowl in 1993 and being named an All-Pro in 1994.
Following his time in Chicago, Woolford went on to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers for a year.
Some of the stats that Woolford put up during his entire career included starting in 123 of 126 games. He recorded a total of 603 tackles and 36 interceptions. Woolford had 303 return yards on interceptions and took one back for a touchdown. He also forced three fumbles and recovered two.
Woolford had held the record for the most interceptions by a Bears cornerback until it was broken by Charles “Peanut” Tillman. Although the 1990s were somewhat watered down in the terms of talent for the Chicago Bears, we as fans should be able to appreciate what Woolford brought to the table.