5 Former Bears Among Candidates for 2025 Hall of Fame Class
Make any joke you can think of in regards to the Bears not having a quarterback ever throw for 4,000 yards in a season or 30 touchdowns. When it comes to members in the Hall of Fame, however, the Bears stand alone at the top. After the recent inductions of Devin Hester, Steve McMichael, and Julius Peppers, the Bears currently have 39 players in the Hall. If you count head coach George Halas, the total is 40 members.
This can obviously be accredited to the Bears being one of the very first NFL franchises created, but nothing should be taken away from the talent they have brought to the game of football. The Packers and Giants have been around just as long and have 34 and 32 members in the Hall.
167 total modern-era players were nominated for the 2025 class - 14 of whom are former Bears. We all know how difficult it is to get in, so it is very unlikely that we will see a huge number from that 14 make it, if any. The next steps are the selection process in mid-October which will reduce the 167 to 50 and then later in the fall to a final 25 semi-finalists. A final vote after that will give us the 15 finalists with a shot to make it.
As mentioned earlier, we will definitely not see all 14 of the former Bears make it, but let's take a look at five that have an actual shot.
1. Charles Tillman, CB 2003-2014
Tillman ranks 5th all-time in forced fumbles with 44 while playing cornerback after his "Peanut Punch" took over the league for the 12 years he played. Having 44 forced fumbles from the cornerback position is absolutely unheard of and will likely never be done again. The next defensive backs on the list are Brian Dawkins and Charles Woodson with 28 each and they both played safety which puts you around the ball a lot more.
He also had 38 interceptions, just two shy of being the only player in NFL history with 40/40 - interceptions and forced fumbles. He still is the only player in history with 30/30, however.
When you debate players that should be in the HOF, it obviously comes down to stats and success, but also their impact on the game. The "Peanut Punch" is still referenced anytime a player punches out a ball in games today and many players strive to replicate what Tillman did while playing.
We often talk about Darrelle Revis and Richard Sherman with their ability to take away any team's best receiver. Charles Tillman would take away entire offenses from coming his way with the fear of him taking the ball away.