Best NFL Players of All Time: Dick Butkus. Ranking the Top Players in History. Place a bet on an NFL football game now.

Best NFL Players of All Time: Dick Butkus

It seemed like a resentment match. In 1965, when George Halas selected Dick Butkus in the first round of the draft, the same round he also selected Gale Sayers, the Chicago Bears already had a Hall of Fame middle linebacker named Bill George on their roster.

The young sensation from the University of Illinois was pushing the truly old bear into a corner, even if George’s career was coming to an end. Everyone believed that George would put on a brutal show to impress Halas and show the rookie that he was not going to back down.

Regarding Butkus, he felt that he had hurt his chances of being the starting middle linebacker for the Bears by working out with the collegiate All-Stars before the team’s exhibition game against the reigning NFL champion Cleveland Browns. From the moment he came at camp, Butkus stood out due to his intensity, and George was impressed.

According to George, “He came into camp and started playing hard and dominating.” It required me two practices to realize that I would have to bring my equipment. There was no avoiding the fact that Dick Butkus was going to be fantastic. He was too swift, too smart, too athletic, and too cruel. Nobody was able to stop him. He could not be stopped.

Perhaps to an unparalleled extent, Butkus upped the ante in a battle that included only the most aggressive players.

Butkus was a frightening individual who had the ability to tackle someone and make them flee back to the hospital. Dick Butkus desired total control over every player on the field when he was well. That also applied to his own teammates.

The lifetime comrade of Dick Butkus, Doug Buffone, was maybe the most knowledgeable Bears player about what motivated Butkus. When Butkus was in the middle, Buffone, a brilliant player in his own right, played outside linebacker for the Bears. According to Buffone, “Dick was not always an easy guy to play with.”Success was what he craved above all else. He insisted on doing things his way. If the offense created a play that gained yards, resulted in a first down, or, God forbade, concluded in a touchdown, Dick expected an explanation.

He wanted to know how we could have allowed such to happen. He was sure he had done nothing illegal, but he was nevertheless interested in finding out who was in command. We’ve always known that he was right. He was a man who would not let an opportunity pass him by and he promised not to let us down.

Butkus played in an era before official records of tackle statistics. Still, based on unofficial data kept by the Bears, Butkus averaged 120 tackles and 58 assists in his first eight years of play. He also had a career-high 18 sacks in 1967, which was a shockingly high amount for a middle linebacker.

More often than not, Butkus used his strength and agility to steal the ball away from his opponents instead of making tackles. He forced 47 turnovers in his nine-year career, 22 of which were interceptions. He might be a pickpocket and take your lunch money, but he could also dance once he got an intercept. The NFL did not maintain data on forced fumbles during Butkus’s tenure, but if they had, he would have led the league in the majority of the seasons he was healthy.

Butkus was a first-team All-Pro seven times in his nine seasons. And to further emphasize his domination, Butkus was playing with Ray Nitschke of the Green Bay Packers, Lee Roy Jordan of the Dallas Cowboys, and Tommy Nobis of the Atlanta Falcons. All of them were great players, but none of them could cover the same ground as Butkus at his best, despite the fact that Nitschke was virtually as cruel as Butkus.

Butkus never developed a reputation for dishonest games, despite his tough exterior. Though he kicked, stomped, spat, and stormed, he did not try to maim players by going through their legs or going after their eyes when he tackled. “That was not how I was going to play,” Butkus claimed. It would be one thing if you thought I was going to hurt you. But I wasn’t going to try to deal with a player who didn’t follow the rules.

Butkus purposefully tried to cultivate a nasty streak on the field, which he then applied to his opponents. Butkus said, “I could never find anything to be angry about on game day.” It inspired me to play my best game. If I hadn’t looked at the other side, I might have just loathed the uniform I was seeing. Or I would see someone laughing or cracking jokes with someone on the other team. They must have been making fun of me or the Bears. That enraged me.

In this competitive game, players attempt to demonstrate who is the meanest and fiercest, and Butkus consistently emerged victorious. MacArthur Lane was a dependable running back for the St. Louis Cardinals during Butkus’s time as a Bear. He remembers watching a player whose construction seemed to be distinct from everyone else’s.

“When I was on the eld with Butkus, all I could think about was being able to get up after he hit me,” Lane said. He was that kind of player, and that’s how challenging he was. It was the strongest punch I had ever received from a man.

Butkus’s extraordinary career ended when he became unable to play due to excruciating knee and leg discomfort. Even while the discomfort persisted throughout his career, Butkus’s leg pain was so severe that by the 1973 season, he was unable to run more than a few steps.

He eventually received a compensation from the Bears for the way their doctors treated his leg injury. But the listless, slow-moving Butkus toward the end of his playing career was nothing like the angry Bear who had led the Chicago defense for nearly ten years.

Best NFL Players of All Time: Dick Butkus Stats

Regular Season

Year	Age	Tm	Pos	No.	G	GS	Int	Yds	TD	Lng	Fmb	FR	Yds	TD	Sk	Sfty	AV
1965	23	CHI	MLB	51	14	14	5	84	0	38	0	7	11	0	1		15
1966	24	CHI	MLB	51	14	14	1	3	0	3	0	4	0	0	0.5		12
1967	25	CHI	MLB	51	14	14	1	24	0	24	0	3	0	0	4		12
1968	26	CHI	MLB	51	13	13	3	14	0	14	0	1	0	0	0		10
1969	27	CHI	MLB	51	13	13	2	13	0	11	0	2	0	0	2	1	10
1970	28	CHI	MLB	51	14	14	3	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	2		13
1971	29	CHI	MLB	51	14	14	4	9	0	9	0	3	0	0	0.5		11
1972	30	CHI	MLB	51	14	14	2	19	0	14	0	4	11	0	1		12
1973	31	CHI	MLB	51	9	9	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0		4
Career					119	119	22	166	0	38	0	27	22	1	11	1	99

 

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