Chicago Bears: Top 25 players in franchise history

4. MLB Mike Singletary

The aforementioned Urlacher began a streak of three historic linebackers among the top names to ever play the position. Next up is the highly intense, hard-hitting and never boring Mike Singletary. Whether acting as a coach or player, Singletary guaranteed for must-watch television from a fan’s perspective.

The former Baylor Bear was drafted in the second round of the 1981 NFL Draft and spent all 12 years of his career in Chicago. To begin his career, Singletary had to earn the respect of legendary defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan.

Singletary has plenty of stories about how Ryan would try and motivate him through ridicule, jokes, doubts and just plain old yelling. When Singletary finally earned Ryan’s respect, though, he took off and never looked back.

Named to 10 Pro Bowls and an eight-time All-Pro First Team representative, Singletary’s accolades are almost unimaginably impressive.

To quote a Bears fan close to me, “Singletary played defense like Walter (Payton) played offense.” The Samurai certainly racked up accomplishments like few ever have.

Of course, Singletary was a world champion. He was also the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year on two occasions, NFC Player of the Year three times and Man of the Year in 1990.