Chicago Bears: 3 reasons why Charles Tillman is Canton-worthy

With NFL Hall of Fame festivities just around the corner, I wanted to take a look at the career of Charles Tillman, a cornerback for the Chicago Bears from 2003 to 2014. Over his career, he served as the Chicago Bears’ number one corner and anchored the secondary of numerous elite defenses that carried Chicago to a Super Bowl berth in 2006 and NFC Championship game in 2010.

Charles Tillman was an elite defensive back for one of the NFL’s founding franchises in the Chicago Bears but was often underappreciated. Nonetheless, he is worthy of enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

When he retired from the NFL in 2016, I was not sure of Tillman’s case for Canton. I figured he would (and should!) be enshrined in the Bears ring of honor. I did not think the Hall of Fame was in reach because of the national media’s tendency to focus on the Bears’ decades-long issues at quarterback instead of the players on defense that kept them relevant this entire millennium.

However, as more players retired and had their cases broken down in the national spotlight (i.e. Philip Rivers), I decided to take a deeper dive into Tillman’s career and see how strong his case was for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Charles Tillman deserves to represent the Chicago Bears in the Hall of Fame.

Ultimately, what I found is that while Tillman is most likely not going to be enshrined on an early ballot, there is a very strong case for him to be inducted into the Hall of Fame on a later ballot. What follows here are three reasons why Charles Tillman ultimately does deserve to end his career with a bust in Canton, Ohio.