4 former Chicago Bears could be in the Hall of Fame soon

No NFL franchise has more Hall of Famers than the Chicago Bears. There is a good chance they are about to add a couple more.

Returner Devin Hester along with edge rushers Julius Peppers and Jared Allen were named finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Steve McMichael is also one of three senior finalists.

Peppers should be a slam dunk first-ballot Hall of Famer

Peppers racked up 159.5 career sacks which is good for fifth all-time. 37.5 of them came when he was with the Chicago Bears from 2010-2013. His free-agent signing in 2010 propelled the team to the NFC Championship that season.

Julius made nine Pro Bowls and was a three-time All-Pro. He was named to the all-decade teams of the 2000s and the 2010s.

Peppers made his Hall of Fame case mostly with the Carolina Panthers where he was Defensive Rookie of the Year. He had 97 sacks in ten total seasons with them. He was dominant in his first eight seasons with the Panthers before leaving them to sign with the Bears. He returned to Carolina for his final two seasons.

He also played three seasons with the Green Bay Packers after the Bears were forced to cut him for salary cap purposes.

Devin Hester's case is a bit more complicated.

Hester changed the game as a kick returner. No one was more thrilling to watch when Hester fielded a punt or kickoff.

He holds the record for kick-return, punt-return, and total-return touchdowns. He opened the Super Bowl by taking the opening kickoff to the house. It was the highlight of the Chicago Bears' loss.

Everything he did with the football was amazing (well except for running routes in the failed experiment to make him a wide receiver). Just being great at returning kicks is one reason he was not a first-ball Hall of Famer. His detractors point out that he barely touched the ball. That is ignoring that he got so great at taking kicks to the endzone that teams simply refused to kick him.

The Bears' offense benefitted from great field position. Hester being a specialist argument does not hold water as there are kickers and punters in the Hall of Fame. Special teams are critical to any team's success and should be recognized as such. No one was better at returning kicks than Hester.

Jared Allen did more against the Chicago Bears than he did with the team.

Allen played just a season-and-a-half in Chicago towards the end of his career. He registered just 5.5 sacks. He was a force when he was with the Minnesota Vikings.

He racked up 85.5 of his 136 career sacks while with the Vikings. He had 15 sacks against the Bears. His 2.5 sack game in Minnesota against the Bears allowed the Vikings to win the NFC North that season.

Allen made five Pro Bowls and the All-Pro team four times. Allen should get into the Hall of Fame someday but it might not be this year.

Steve McMichael needs to get the recognition he deserves.

Mike Singletary, Richard Dent, and Dan Hampton along with defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan have always been the faces of the historic 1985 Chicago Bears defense. Steve McMichael was the personality of that group.

His brash and intense play helped make Singletary the force that he was at middle linebacker. People forget McMichael was a force himself.

He had 95 sacks playing defensive tackle. You could argue he picked up those numbers playing alongside Dent and Hampton. He had 10.5 sacks in 1992, two seasons after Hampton retired.

McMichael did all the dirty work for those vaunted 1980s Bears' defenses. He still made two Pro Bowls and four All-Pro teams (with two first-team selections).

McMichael is battling ALS. It has whittled him away to nearly nothing. He no longer looks like the imposing man he was once. He should hear his name called to the Hall of Fame before he is no longer with us.

The announcement on if any of these four players make the Hall of Fame comes on February 8th.