The Top 10 running backs in Chicago Bears history
By Mike Luciano
4. Red Grange
Why is someone who is only credited with 569 career rushing yards this high on the list? Grange's impact on the sport is titanic. Joining the Bears after becoming a national sensation at Illinois, Grange is often regarded as professional football's first marquee star player.
Accompanied by an all-time great nickname in "The Galloping Ghost," Grange was on the cover of Time Magazine in 1925 and helped popularize the sport. By giving the NFL Validity and making people want to watch it due to his spectacular, slithering runs, Grange is regarded by some as having a Babe Ruth-like impact on the business of the sport.
3. Bronko Nagurski
Perhaps no player in NFL history sounded more like a bruising fullback than Bronko Nagurski. Standing 6-3 and 235 pounds at a time when many offensive and defensive linemen weren't that big, Nagurski overwhelmed ball-carries in the 1930s with pure power to the tune of four All-Pro selections.
The Bears won three NFL championships in Nagurski's tenure, including a brief cameo after an unretirement in 1943. In the same vein as Payton, every team knew that Bronko was going to hit the line with splintering force on every single play, and they were unable to stop him.