The start of the new week means that we are one day closer to the start of the Chicago Bears' 2023 season, and to celebrate the home opener inching closer and closer, we continue Chicago Bears Countdown to Kickoff by looking at the life and career of the best player in franchise history to don the number 55, linebacker Lance Briggs.
Lance Briggs path from California to the Chicago Bears
Lance Briggs would eventually become known for serving as a punishing linebacker who played in Chicago for over a decade, but the future Pro Bowler had a unique start to his football career. A native of Los Angeles, California, Briggs, and his family moved around the state throughout his childhood before finally landing in the Sacramento area, where Briggs enrolled at Florin High School.
Unfortunately, Briggs was unable to join the team as a freshman due to his poor grades and eventually transferred to Elk Grove High School before his sophomore year. As a sophomore, Briggs was a running back and linebacker for his junior varsity squad. As a junior, Briggs' football career began to take shape. In his final two seasons, Briggs' team won the Section Championship, with himself being named the Sacramento Area Player of the Year. In the championship game as a senior, Briggs rushed for six touchdowns and over 300 yards.
Following the end of his high school career, Briggs fielded several scholarship offers all across the country before eventually deciding to continue at the University of Arizona, continuing the school's recent image of defensive success otherwise named the "desert storm". In his first season as a Wildcat under head coach Dick Tomey, Briggs split time on offensive and defense, logging nearly 200 total yards, and two touchdowns. Nonetheless, Briggs' play as a linebacker was perhaps more impressive, and he would focus on being a defensive specialist from his sophomore season on.
Before Briggs' junior season, the school made a head coaching change, replacing Tomey with the newly hired John Mackovic. Under Mackovic, the Wildcats struggled greatly, and Briggs himself has stated his desire to leave the football team during this time, but the linebacker persisted and earned two All-Conference nods in his final two seasons after leading the team in tackles and sacks.
Following the completion of Briggs' stellar collegiate career, the linebacker entered the 2003 draft, where he was selected by the Chicago Bears with the 68th overall pick during the third round. Briggs became the highest-drafted Wildcat that year.
Lance Briggs becomes elite off-ball Linebacker with Chicago Bears
The Bears finished the year prior with four wins, but the addition of Briggs, as well as fellow draftee Charles Tillman, helped the team reach a seven-win total in 2003. Briggs joined a defense that already included the likes of Alex Brown, Bryan Robinson, and Mike Brown, but perhaps no teammate is more important than Brian Urlacher. Alongside Urlacher, Briggs was a part of the best young linebacker duo in the NFL, and the Wildcat made his professional presence felt as early as his first season.
As a rookie, Briggs made starts in 13 of the team's games where he 78 total tackles, five of which were for a loss, and a forty-five-yard touchdown on his lone interception of the year. As a sophomore, Briggs had an even better season, logging over 120 total tackles and a 38-yard pick-six in 16 games.
As a Bear, this type of production would become the norm for Briggs moving forward, as even by his third season, he had turned into a Pro Bowler and an All-Pro player. In 2004, he even finished the season ranked sixth in the Defensive Player of the Year voting, logging two sacks, two interceptions, and 109 total tackles.
By 2006, Briggs had become a key part of one of the league's premier defenses, and the team was able to reach the Super Bowl, largely on the backs of the defensive players. The team would go on to lose the game, but Briggs' second straight Pro Bowl season was a large factor in how they got that far in the first place. Following the team's postseason run, Briggs was a free agent, and would eventually sign the franchise tag before 2007.
The contract negotiations during the summer went on for an extended period, with Briggs even requesting a trade at one point, but the team and linebacker were eventually able to agree to a new six-year contract for the All-Pro player. Over this contract, Briggs made five more Pro Bowls, as well as a second team All-Pro nod. The Bears as a unit were not able to replicate their regular season success from the 2006 season, but Briggs helped anchor one of the league's top defenses and solidified his tandem with Brian Urlacher as perhaps one of the best in NFL history.
In 2012, Briggs missed his first Pro Bowl in eight seasons despite finishing the season with 103 tackles and two interceptions. The season would also mark Briggs' final as a full-time healthy starter, and after playing in 16 games, he managed only 17 total games from 2013 to 2014. d
Lance Briggs' retirement and Chicago Bears legacy
Following the '14 season, Briggs retired from the NFL after a 12-year career, all of which came with the Bears. Over his career, Briggs recorded 1,181 total tackles, 97 TFLs, 15 sacks, and 16 interceptions, five of which were returned for a touchdown. In official team history, Briggs is ranked second in team interceptions returned for touchdowns.
Since his retirement from the NFL, Briggs has remained close to the game, through both his own ventures and the awards and accolades that he was been given. Professionally, Briggs has recently served on NBC Chicago's Football Aftershow alongside a number of former Bears including Alex Brown and Olin Kreutz. Briggs has also been recognized as a top 100 Bears player of all time by both the team and the Chicago Tribune.
In 2021, Briggs and a number of former teammates such as Kreutz, Tillman, and Devin Hester were nominated for the 2022 Professional Football Hall of Fame class, but no player was inducted. Briggs' career is certainly a Hall of Fame-worthy one, and there is still hope for him to be enshrined soon, joining his other half on the field Brian Urlacher. Hopefully, Canton will embrace one of the true modern Monsters of the Midway in the near future.