Legacy Panel - Defensive Line

a little guy. You're an offensive lineman. You were a big guy. These guys are bigger. This would have been intimidating now time he's slimmed up, time he's slimmed up. But he was a big guy. This is some nasty up here. You know. My earliest memories of Bear's greatness is Ed o'bradovich because he used to be around the

locker room a lot. And then when I started looking at information, you see the interviews of how much it meant for him to be a Bear, his player greatness and everything he meant to the defensive line and defensive reputation of the Chicago Bears, and then you know, being teammates with Half and Chris and stuff, and there he

is right there, Ed o'bradovitch, baby number eighty seven. You think of Obi and Doug Gatkins on the same defensive line, the destruction they caused back then, and you think it can talent transfer from one year to the next. There's two guys that could play twenties, thirties, forties, fifties and so on. It's bear greatness, Ed. When you see those highlights of yourself, what goes through your mind? I'd like to be playing today? You know WHOA look at you move? Baby?

You know what? I sit there and I look at this. And football in any decade is real serious business. And I played in what people would call the most violent decade of football, and that was in the nineteen sixties. And there was one rule, and that one rule was there was no rules. We had a coach by the name of George Allen who was in the Hall of Fame, and he was our defensive coordinator, and he came up with defenses and maneuvers and and settings that we play opponents.

We would annihilate them. They didn't know what the hell we were doing, had no idea. And one of the things that George came up and you see it in today's game and all of them. You'll see where the back will come in and check to see if anybody's coming inside, and if not, then he wheeled around the defensive end for a six hired hook or out in the flat or something. Well, when they played his Cargo Bears, you couldn't do that because George Allen came up with

a thing called hanging. And what that meant was you'd never let them back come out around you. When you're rushing that passer and that back comes around her, you hang you. You try to catch him right in the throat and bring him down. That's back hey ed. And then one more thing, and then there was another terminology, how about hanging, and this one was ground them And when that came from, that came from the ends end. So the defensive tackles was an even number, an over

shift to the street and stronger weekside whatever. And if you let that back, you'd never let it back get through. Because he did the same thing. He came up and they tried to sneak through the middle of the line, and you know, they're always the outlet pass. And again you see in every game every week. Now it doesn't matter. Well, when they played the Parsity get through, those guys tried sneaking by, you know, getting lows and either Fred Williams

or something. I mean, they'd wack him and drop him like a sack assault. And earlier we had Dick Buckets out here, and he was talking about some of the tackles he made against the Green Bay Packers. He said, the reason he was able to make the tackles is because you had three guys on top of you blocking you, and he had no one else to block him, so he would just run and make the play. And that's

the sacrifice, sacrifice of every great defensive lineman. Well, I'll tell you what, guys, I wish the hell they would have paid me like that, you know when I heard And you young guys, let me tell you something. To get every damn figuring yet, because I'll tell you when it's over, it's over and you get out into the real world. But I'll tell you what. The Chicago Bears are the footing and the foundation of the National Football League and since since nineteen forty six, and again this

is what the hell gripes me. Nineteen forty six, we won the World Championship twice, sixty three and then eighty five. Now enough's enough. I think what I see today in this coaching staff, and I see the enthusiasm with this young team, and they better come and they better get it, because I'll tell you what, folks, You're not gonna see these guys playing at this level for five years, seven years, ten years. It's not gonna happen. It's in front of them.

They better see it. And I like the Bears a lot, but I'll tell you it's up to those kids. You know, a Keem Hicks, you're one of the guys on the front line tearing it up. Great advice from a from a veteran like this from the nineteen sixty three championship team. I know you are interested in in in seeing these guys and talking to these guys as fellow defensive lineman. But it's interesting to hear the old stories and how you try to fit it into today's world, isn't it?

In terms of football. He's got my blood boiler right now. I'm sorry, Look I'm juiced up. I'm ready to go play, right now, Um, the question was, Yeah, it's awesome, man, to see the history of the Bears and see the guys that I watched growing up, even though I had to watch some of them on NFL films, and I got to meet guys like Tommy Harris and watch guys. It's um for me. I love the game of football, right, So I got to watch these guys and it gave me something to aspire to, and so it was just

a pleasure to be up here with them. Dan Hampton, I know a man means everything to you. Ob you guys, are you guys are tethered? Well, there's there's no doubt in my mind that you know. And you can listen to this man talk for about three minutes and just realize how much he cared about playing the game of football. Four the Chicago Bears. Let me tell you something, folks. You know, and this doesn't just happen by osmosis. You have to you have to have a core that refuses

to lose and that sixty three championship team. And you know, when I first got here, I was very fortunate. After a year or two buckets, ob, some of the guys they took a liking to me, and I would go out to eat dinner with them and they would tell me what it was like to play the game at the level that you have to if you want to be a world champion, and Mango and I we would talk about it, and what you know, we'd go back to the locker room and we're saying, Hey, whatever we're

doing now, it's not enough. There's a reason why they want a world championship. We have to take it upon ourselves to do what we have to do for us to win one and a team. I mean, that's exactly what Ed is saying right now. The time is now, seize the moment. Let's get it done. Twenty nineteen now. Yeah, you know, if I can interject something right now, everybody up here has played the game enough years. You know, good times and bad times are different. Whatever. But I'm

gonna tell you what, and I say what. I see this Bears defense, and there has to be there has to be pressure from the outside. Okay, I get that, I understand that. But a great pass rushing team where the pressure comes from the inside. And let me explain one more thing to you. You could be at the

defensive end. I would love to have a Dan Ampton, a team picks or somebody, because what you see with quarterbacks when they escape, they always do that step up and go either left or right and sneak out with the bears. Right now, you cannot do that, and why because basically, this one guy takes two or three people and the quarterback can't come up the middle. He can't, So that who the hell's out there waiting for number fifty two? The kids a man eater. This is the

guy that makes it happen. As far as I'm concerned, I think, I think, Oh, he's doing a radio show right now. You're awesome. You are awesome, all right? And the Lovey Smith four three defense, the three technique defensive tackle was Tommy Harris and and love Ee. Tommy always called you the engine, the engine for the four three defense. Did you live and breathe that label that he gave you, and did you play like that to be the engine

of that defense? Yeah? I knew I was going to be an important part to the defense, especially since I've been running this defense since I've been in high school. So the cover to the same Tampa two watching one and SAP growing up, John Randall and I knew that it all starts with me. If I don't make the play, I disrupt every blocking scheme, I kid, And that's all I did. We did more than that three time Pro Bowler Outstanding Member. Every time. Every time a Packer goes down,

the place goes nuts. It's kind of funny. And Chris Orts, being a local kid from Chicago, watching all this here and all this, you're just grinned over there. Yeah, but he comes from the same high school as Dick Buckets. So when you're Chris Zorts, you're not coming in here without the knowledge of what bear greatness can be. And when it comes out of your same neighborhood there's a certain little bit of ankst that goes with that. Also, Well,

first of all, this is very exciting. I mean the idea and you can hear the passion that all these guys up your half and that's what it takes to play defense and Tom no offense. You know, I know you're an offensive lineman, but the idea that you have to give one hundred and ten percent every play is important. But then you can see it years later. I mean, we still have that same passion to go out and crush quarterbacks and crush running backs and try and crush

offensive lineman. I know when I first got to the Bears, it was just an amazing experience for me because I was kind of grew up in Chicago, but having a chance to practice against Tom every day really taught me how to be a better defensive lineman. So, Tom, I know you put me on my back a lot of time, so I just want to say thank you for doing that. Well, you know, when you talk about passion, when I got here, my passion came through hamp through McMichael because I admired

their commitment to the game so much. And it's different when you watch them from the outside in then you become teammates with them, and it's the same thing you know with Halp and you see a guy that prepares to be great ends up being a Hall of Famer, and that's commit to the game. It's like ed Old Bradovitch being around us. You could see the similarities between ed Old Bradovitch and Dan Hampton. Now I see it between Tommy and a team. There's a lot of similarities

in defensive linemen. And like I said before, you're sitting up here because you're great football players and great X Bears, And I think it's the commitment to the game at all of you guys have given Dan in the forty six, when Buddy moved you over the center, You're pretty much impossible to deal with one on one. There's no way that's happening. Did that trigger something bigger and special with the unit? Well, and obviously the design of the defense

is what it is. It wasn't infallible, but it was a combination of the talents that we had. And think about this. I saw Bill parcels Less November and I sat down and we talked down in Florida, and essentially what he was saying was, you know, we play against you know, the Jets, there's really nobody we got to

worry about. But when we play against the Bears, who's gonna block Hampton, who's gonna block Dent, who's gonna block McMichael, who's gonna block Otis Wilson, Who's gonna handle Wilbur Marshall. There were so many terrific players that it created almost not only a schematic advantage, but it almost became a race to the quarterback, a race to the running back, because you had great players feeding on each other. But you know, I'm flattered by the thought of you know,

meet being on the nose. And it was it was an ingenious design because if you have a player that a center can't block one on one, then the rest of the dominoes start to fall. You got to double him. Then somebody else has got to blocked down on the tackle, and then next thing you know, you got free runners on the edge. So, buddy, he was a genius. And wherever he went, he had the number one defense in Minnesota, and then he came here, we were the number one

defense for I think five years in a row. Then he goes to Philadelphia, he had the number one defense, then he went to Houston at the number one defense. He always realized the talents of the individual players, and again we had an embarrassment of riches of great players, and it was a sum total of all concern But what my dear friend ed was saying a minute ago, the NFL forever in a day will be about blocking

and tackling. And if you can have someone defeat blocks on a regular basis, you can't move the ball against him. And the nineteen sixty three Championship team had Doug Atkins and Edelbradovic and all these other legendary names and players. Well, it was the same way on the eighty five team. We had amazing players. I think the year we went to the Super Bowl, seven or eight of us on defense alone played in the Pro Bowl. I mean that that's pretty good. And you and you start to see

it again. We all know Khalil Mack is special, he really is. Eddie Jackson is special, Danny the middle linebacker, Danny Trevathan special. But at all it all starts up front. Eddie Goldman is getting better and better by the game, by the year. But mag no mistake, this team, this defense will rise our fall on the backs of this guy right over here at number ninety six, a half then six time All Pro. If you would you all right, nose guard, defensive tackle, defensive end, wherever you play, you're

gonna be All Pro. What hammen is if you would have stayed at one position your whole career, would you have been more dominant or did your dominance come out because you could control any position, Well, it would have been boring. That's for starters, you know. And see when I got here, I was drafted as a defensive tackle, but Tommy Harris and Al Harris got hurt in training kimp, so they moved me to end and I like playing in. And then when Alan Page retired, they moved me inside

the defensive tackle and I played there. And then when we drafted William Perry, he couldn't play in, so I had to go back out to end. And then at the end they moved me back inside because after eleven knee operations, I would slowed down. I couldn't turn the corner no more. So I went back inside. But you know it doesn't matter. I would play anywhere they wanted

me to play. That helped the team. And you know, you gotta be unselfish, and I gotta tell you, and I hate to keep pointing at a keem, but when a chem is dominant and he's fresh, especially you know early in games, he forces the offense to do so much that Leonard, Floyd and and Mac they enjoy the benefits of a chem, you know, destroying the interior part of the line and having a double and sag and the backs having a step up. Well they know they've got a one on one rush. And when you have

a one on one rush man. Hey, if you're a pro, you're gonna beat somebody. So at the end of the day, I was just trying to do everything I could to be wherever I needed to be to help the team. I'll tell you what, you guys keep talking about. Biggat came here. He's bought, ready to play about right now, he's getting fired up. I mean, it's got It must be very flattering to hear this. Getting to meet I

actually got to meet Dan. It was a year ago or year and a half ago, and it was at Soldier Field and it was upstairs, and I'm a big guy, right and I walk around and I'm towering over people, and uh, you know, it's a different feeling. But when I met him and I got to shake his hand, I realized how massive and strong of a man he really is. Because at his age, he still feels strong.

Like it's a different kind of being. You know. I had the same feeling when I got to meet m Kyle's dad, mister Long and um, you know those guys were they're just made different, you know what I mean. And so it's a huge compliment for him to say that. Uh, you know, it makes me want to put it on my back even more and just go out and destroy. And speaking of men mean being made different, Doug Atkins was made different. Well who he speaking of is Doug Atkins.

Doug was played seventeen years in the National Football League, most of them with the Bears. Doug was six to eight and way to eighty. And not only that, when he went to University of Tennessee he was on the track team. Guess what he did. He high jumped, you know, high high jumped six eight. He is six eighth and he way to eighty. He way to fifty at the time in college. So we had the players and everything, but I'm gonna tell you something, what's more important is

ownership and the coaching staff. My god, we were so grateful to have a George Allen. How about a buddy Ryan Folks in eighty five. These people are so important. They understand the game. They when the trick, when not the trick, when the blitz, when overset the line went underset a line, and you just got to put it together. And I just want to say just one more time. I don't mean to talk in circles here, but I cannot tell you we thought we were gonna win it.

We won in sixty three. We thought nobody could touch us. At sixty four sixty five, christ say, can we lucky we won a game? After that, it all fell apart. George Allen left for the Rams, and everything fell apart. The great eighty five Chicago Bears is probably it's still in my mind, the greatest team I've ever seen play football. Here's the catch with that. Here's the catch. They won the World Championship once. They never even got back to the Super Bowl to try to do anything. So the

point I'm trying to make a keeam in time. You knows we all know up here. Boy it's sixteen games. You better come in ready and everybody be ready. And I mean, I'm I'm dead serious when I say this. I'll tell you what we need to bring this World Championship back home. And from what I saw and from what I saw last year, I saw an offense struggle come along, struggle come along, but they kept trying to get better and trying to improve, and by loy did they did. They came along, But they had a defense

that set the tone. And they'll have a defense this year that'll set the tone. And I think the offense should be ready to go, because again, folks, one time, one time with some of the greatest players that ever played this game and coaches, and we only got there one time. So it is so important a game for you guys to realize where the hell you're at, and you've got to tell it. Go up there and crush them. Hey, Tommy, there are a lot of talk about the size and

the brute strength, the defensive tackles, defensive lineman. When did you figure out that your speed off the ball was gonna be the key to your success? That is gonna be your strength is gonna be how quickly that you can get him in the backfield, how quickly you can make an offensive lineman move or get missed the block, And then how quickly did you able to cultivate that into sacks. I knew that from high school, from jumping snaps and arm over the center and getting straight taking

hand offs from the running back quarterback. I just knew that was my specialty. And I knew that my upside was quickness. My downside was if I get hurt, this might be it. You know, in the league, if you're six eight and you're three hundred seven pounds and just like Dan says, Dan was moved inside and out because he had a huge frame, he could do a lot even if he couldn't be in the corner. They could

use them down their nose. If I lost my quickness or my first step, nobody wants to pay million dollars to watch Tommy Harris played. Is not that fast anymore. When I knew at that moment that my quickness was gonna be everything that people, the Bears fans come to see when they drafted me here the fourteenth pick, I knew that they weren't going to see any other undertackle. I'm not a three technique. I'm one of the only undertackles in the game that played in the game. And

that's from the Tampa two. That's the Tampa two system. Oh, I thought you. I was gonna buy down to you. Chris. Now now you because you're kind of a different body style than Tommy Harris. He had superior quickness, You had strength in the middle to take on two blocks. Plus you always had the ability to earn leverage because of your height. But you also had quickness and instincts. How did you turn that into your craft throughout your college

career then then extended into the Bears. Tom, you've been very nice. I mean, you just say it. I was short. I mean, you can say it or not. I don't know how I made it. I don't know. Um. The only thing I was able to rely on was my speed and strength. I mean I was six maybe something like that, you know. Um. So the fact that I was able to survive, um for for seven years in the NFL was very beneficial because I saw people like

Tom who trained constantly. UM. What you guys might not know, and I don't know if you guys talked about this, but um, before Tom got to the eighty five Bears, who was with the Struggle Blitz, and the same year you went from the Blitz to the Bears, I think there was like like a three or four week in between them. It was something like that, a Saturday night game to Monday night training camp, Monday morning training camp. Seriously, yeah, okay,

now if you guys understand it. So literally Tom finished with the Blitz on a Friday and was in a Bear's training camp on Sunday. I mean that's impossible. So the idea that and then I was fortunate enough because I came from their name, and Tom kind of took me under his wing, but I was able to watch and see how he prepared for games, and I just really emulated what he did because I thought he was kind of the the epitome of being able to be that physical type of player, which I needed to be.

But I was also able to because because my size, I wasn't big as everybody else, so I had to use that combination of strength and speed. And I was very fortunate that I had a chance to make to make it in the league for so long. Chris, Mike dickament a lot to you, and he thought highly of you. Was he instrumental in you becoming against Chicago Bear from your She's scouting her for it? X is kind of

funny story growing up in Chicago. I had made the Suntimes All State m a banquet and Mike Diffy was the keynote speaker, and my mom and I traveled on the bus from her home on the South Side downtown and we were waiting in the lobby for the event to start, and my myke Segletary was out, excuse me, my Dicky was out in the lobby, and my mom was like, hey. So my mom was a diehard Bear fan. She's like, oh my god, look look that's my Dicka and I was like, yeah, I know. She's like, I'm

gonna go say hi. And I was like, oh my god, mom, he's serious. So she goes over there and they're talking. I'm like, oh my god, my mom was talking to my this is crazy. So a couple and says she's like, Chris, Chris Camre, come here. I'm like, oh my god, this is terrible. So go over there and she introduces me like their old pals. Right. It's like, oh, Mike this and I'm like, I'm sorry. Somehow I don't know how I got the nerves because I'm I'm eighteen years old.

Somehow I got the nerve to say, can you please remember my name in four years? Well you fast forward, and I mean he didn't remember. But when I got the call to be drafted by the Chicago Bears, he said, Chris, how would you like to be a Chicago Bear? And I mean I got chills right now saying this, but I was like, sir, I would love to play for the Bears. I would pay to play for the Bears. And I mean I got a lot of crap for that because they talked about the media and stuff like that.

But that was my pastor right, because I grew up my mind. I grew up with Bear fans. I mean I watched Dan Hampton. I mean I watched Mike Secletary, I watched the William Peart, I watched these guys. These guys were part of my history. When I was a sophomore or a junior in high school, when the Bears won the Super Bowl, they came down to Daily paza on busses. I skipped school, took the number six Jeoffrey Buss' on town, climbed up on a street boat, and I

watched them. So I remember Walter Payton being knocked over on the sideline by I forgot what linebacker was for Green Bay. I mean, I remember all these gays I remember watching as a kid. So the history of the Chicago Bears I knew. So being drafted by my hometown team was just an amazing experience. So I really feel as though I'm living the life of every Bear fan out there. I had a chance to live that for you, and it was an amazing experience. So it was amazing,

and you know, what. I don't get to see Chris much. But you're kidding. You went to the parade after the Super Bowl. Absolutely you were there. Absolutely you froze your ass off like the rest of us didn't. Absolutely, I remember you guys out of the top of the bus. I remember all that. You know. I gotta tell you, being a part of the Bears is unlike anything you

know around the NFL. And I've talked to guys, you know, Joe Montana or Dan Marino, all these great players, but there's always some sort of deep reverence for, as mister Obe said, the footing in the foundation of the NFL. And I just want to say this. It was great to see our coach here this weekend, wasn't Coach Dicka. I gotta tell you, Just like you, when I heard about him having that incident with this hard, I called him up and I said, how you doing, Coach? He said,

I'm okay. I said, well that's good. Mango and I are praying for you, and he said, that's great. I need the prayers and Mango needs the practice. So it was. But it was really good to see him. And you know what, there's so many people that means so much in my life. You know, Coach Dick, I don't you know. As great as the defense was, as great as Walter was, he was a big part of us winning the championship. And again, like Obie said, coaching has a lot to

do with it. You know, Vic Fangio is no longer here, and now it's inherent upon the players to pick up the slack and become even better than they were a year ago. And they were damn good at a year ago. But just like Obie said, guess what you get enough people that make their mind up they want to win, boy, it's gonna be hard to stop this year's team. I'm

just telling you that. What's kind of fascinating, it's fascinating about this conversation is you really get to understand that the old Bear, our fans, just like you, they have answered every question and brought it right back to twenty nineteen. It's it's the first panel that's done that here today as a player that's on this team here and that it's you gotta understand, you gotta force behind you. You started in New Orleans, you start, you went over to

New England, you came to the Bears. You're here for a long time, Ryan Pace, what's he mean to you? He brought you, helped bring you to New Orleans, and he brought you here to Chicago and basically started a bill of defense around you. Well, you really changed the He really changed the rejectory of my career. You know. After being in New Orleans for three years, UM didn't

pan out. Um, they traded me to New England. And uh, you know at that point when you get traded I don't know if anybody else has been traded up here, but it's not it's not a good feeling, right, because it's essentially somebody telling you that you're not good enough, right. And so, UM, when I went to New England, I played there, I finished out that season. Um, I became a free agent, and you're looking for your next home.

You're looking for where you're gonna play, and UM, I remember at the time there were three teams that were interested. One was New York, one was Detroit. Nobody likes Detroit, right, Uh, one was Detroit, and the other was Chicago Bears. And my mom, being from the South side of Chicago, you know,

she was excited when she first heard it. Right, and they didn't here, and so at that point, I'm figuring out what is gonna be the best fit and what's gonna be the best home, and where do I have the best chance, you know, to to build and to be a part of a team that I want to be a part of. And I want to build a

winning championship caliber team. And UM Pace called me and we started talking, and I said to myself, what better places there to be than with somebody that originally helped get you drafted and want you to be on their team again. And then yeah, um And so at that point it came to to see what the foundation was like with our team, right, and um coach Fox was

here at the time. We had some really good players and Prunella McPhee, Willie Young, guys that an arrest the pastor, and I just really felt like this could be a home for me and it's worked out so far. Right. Hey, Tommy, Tommy Harris, what what was your first, um, the first time the Bears contacted you started showing interests in your ability?

What was the scout or the coach or the personnel person that said, Tommy Harris, we have our sites set on you, we have interest in you coming to play here. It's we've seen all these stories of everybody being contacted. There's a great story that Clyde Emrick tells me that Jim Finks told him to go down and look at the talents of Dan Hampton, who contacted you for the first time, and to give you an indication that you're going to be a bear. I didn't know. I thought

I was going to Tampa. So I kept dropping in the draft and dropping. I was either gonna go number five to Washington Redskins. They took Sean Taylor. Then they said, at the least he'll go to Atlanta at eight, and they took DeAngelo Hall, I believe. And then I was supposed to fall at Houston at ten, but they took the other defensive back out of North Carolina, and the bear just came out of nowhere and it But there had been a little guy that kept following me somewhere.

Um he's at Kansas City now. I think he's a Prince Bowler. Chris Baller kept pop general manager of the Indieapolis Colts, and he's one hell of a scout right on. But you know what I've been through, So I'm just now checking back into football. You see what I'm saying. I've been out of football, got you? Chris Baller Chris Bawler was a guy that found me. I would see him in Houston at the facility I was training him, but I I didn't know two and two until I

got to Chicago and saw him in the facility. Like oh man. Even so, when when Levy hit me and said would you like to be a Bear? I said, Man, I can't believe I knew. He had just came from that Tampa two system into Chicago and I was ready to play in Michael Jordan City. Tony sat Man mean? Do you sat Man? Mean? Do you everything? Man? That? That man taught me a lot. Man. He taught me that it would say that there are many professional football players,

but only a few are professional. And he was the first man that ever propositioned me, would you be one of the few? And fortunately I had just started learning how to be a professional at the end of my career, and that man really took time to teach me more off the field than the game of football. Man, he means everything to me. Hamp Hey, Big Dan happened. Clyde Emrick tells me a story that one of the greatest

talent evaluators of all time, Jim Finks. He says, Hey, I want to go down and take a look at this guy, Dan Hampton. He said. Clyde looked at you for a couple of minutes and came back and said, Jim, this guy's going to be not only a great player, he's going to be a Hall of Fame player. Not only to have Jim Finks understand what the ability that he thought you have. But then you get the evaluation of a guy like Clyde on immediate recognition about what

you could be. That's got to be impressive for you, you know, being a young upcoming football player from Arkansas. Well again, I owe so much to so many people, Clyde Emerck. And it's kind of an interesting story in this in the sense when I was in college, I was skinny and kind of weak, and I got on a wait perm and I started doing these power cleans. And a power clean is not easy to do. A lot of people going in and do curls for the girls and all that, but power clean it, I mean,

it's real work. So we take the weight off the ground and explode up and anyway, it's essentially a football move when you're in your stance and you fire into somebody, that's that's that's the basis of your explosion. Anyway, I was extraordinarily good at it. And so this is way before they had the the you know, the big combine and all that, and the Bears had me fly in so they could kind of give me a look over

and a physical. Anyway, they had me go on the weight room and Clyde Emrick, who I saw last night still looks great at how old is he? Eighty three eighty six. Clyde Emrick was the first man on the planet Earth under two hundred pounds to clean and jerk four hundred Now think about that, now, think about that. He was he but he was a special guy. But anyway, I was in the weight room and there was this

offensive lineman. It doesn't matter who it was, but he was walking around the power clean kind of socking himself up, and he had two hundred and twenty five pounds on the bar and he'd socked himself up and then he'd do it one time and put it on the ground and then he'd walk around and sick himself. And I said, oh, you guys like to do power cleans and Clyde goes, oh, yeah,

you know, we think it's a very important lift. And I said, oh, really, well, I love doing power cleans and I'm pretty good that He goes, oh really, I said, let me show you, and he goes, no, no, no no, no no, don't get hurt. You know. I said, no, let me show you, and I went, I had street clothes on and like loafers. Anyway, I went over and did it ten times and put it back down on the ground and his eyes popped out of his socket and he could tell that. You know, you know, when

you train and you have a certain explosive ability. I mean that's what football is. You know, it's tech unique tenacity, and then you're gonna have certain talents. And Clyde Emory from that day forward has always been like a huge, you know, proponent for me as far as not only the weightlifting. But I'll tell you this, and I don't know. I came answer this question, can you're starting defensive line all do three hundred and sixty pounds power cling? I

would say everybody can. Everybody can get over three was that I said everybody can get over three hundred? Don't know about everybody on the starting defensive line in the Super Bowl. Way the hell back thirty three years ago. Whatever, we could all do three hundred and sixty pounds, Now, that's pretty good, long time ago. Richard, Steve McMichael, Fridge, Yeah, they could all do it. When Dan played in his era, Bears rank number one and fewist rushing yards, fewest rushing touchdowns,

totally yards, points, and most sacks. Aside from the trophy, the fact that it was dominance. Is that important to you that you were at the center of that all that dominance of that Bears defense during the era that you played top of the heap? Well? Yeah, and again, like I said, I owe so much to so many to play next to Richard Dent, who went into the Hall of Fame in twenty eleven, to play beside Steve McMichael, who played like a Hall of Famer. Steve was an

amazing player. Mike Singletary played right behind me for some eleven years on the outside. Otis Wilbur Gary Fencing. You have no idea how much fun it was. I heard Gary and Doug Plank up here talking earlier. You have no idea how much fun it was to be on the field watching those guys knock people out for year after year after year, and we weren't very good, but by god, nobody wanted to play against them. I'm telling you they would drop you. But you know, it's just

like what Obie told me years and years ago. There's a reason why the Chicago Bears were called the Monsters of the Midway because they played the game the right way. Ed you guys allowed ten points a game in sixty three. That's it. Is it underrated that defense in Bears history. Well, I think, as a matter of fact, I think there was a special somewhere the last few years about or there's an article written in newspapers the forgotten Champions in

nineteen sixty three. I don't know, But the sixty three team compared to the five team, I mean, there is no comparison. They were revered. They were i mean, love to the max and well respected, et cetera, et cetera. Back when I played, it was everything was a battle. Everything was a fight. The games were fights. I mean there was We're playing the Detroit Lions and we're playing up in Detroit. It's the last game of the year.

Detroit had no We're playing here and two games we were playing here in Rigney Field, Detroit had to beat us to get into the conference championship. Okay, we won the game three to nothing. They went on every fourth down they had. They As a matter of fact, Clay Ford came down and told him they beat us, they're all getting brand new Fords. I thought that was against the rules, but apparently it wasn't. But anyways, free to nothing. And then I think in the year of sixty six,

there was a kid the name of Chuck Hughes. He's excuse me, a receiver for Detroit Lions. And I just want to tell you again the difference in the decades and the rules and how it was played. Chuck Hughes, I'm being known Stuss until we saw the films the following into the you know, the following week, Benny mccraig caught him coming over the middle and Benny hit that kid.

It was like a cluster bomb going off, and he went flying up in the air and went down and and I don't know how the hell that kid got up and he got up, But listen to this, folks, So it was a passers. I turned around and I'm we're walking back, and he's walking back and he's about from me to you away and he goes like this pooh boom. What it was they had We were winning by four points. A field goal meant nothing, and they had the ball and they were moving on us. So

they had no timehouse left. So we thought, here, this guy's faking it. Get that bumb off the field. You know, we're screaming everything. He's faking it. He's faking it. And then Budgus goes down and looks. He gets on one knee and he starts waving to the Detroit bench coming out here. The guy died right on the field, twenty six years old. Hit three kids died on that field in nineteen sixty six. You want to talk about the word realization. Scared the live in hell out of me

and everybody else. That's how tough it was. You would have died on the damn field, and unfortunately it did happen. That's a tough one to overcome, right there. That's a tough one to go through. I remember seeing a picture of Dick standing over you know, Chuck Hughes. But that's a part of football history right there. It definitely did happen. It's always everyone's fear obviously. Um, well, that's a tough one to follow up, right now. That's that's that's tough

business right there. But you but you all had to overcome something you ought to have overcome your own personal journeys. Time you included from a physical point of view, the mental point of view, if you're overlooked. You came from Sacramento City College and a college in Canada to get to be a pro bowler in National Football League. Timmy overcoming injuries. Ohbe you had to play in Canada first, right, you played in Canada? Yeah, first year in Canada, Yeah,

Dan twelve surgeries. Chris Zorich, humble beginnings. Tom there trying to break in on one of the best offensive lines in NFL history. Do you all appreciate how hard it was to get to where you are and which you became as football players. We'll start with Tom. You know, I'm like Chris. I grew up in the Chicago Land area. I've been a Bears fan my whole life, and I grew up watching the guys. I was in awe of

Walter Payton. I told you I played with the guy in the USFL that came here for a day and he warned me about Dan Hampton and Steve McMichael, and so I came here. I was intimidated be forever got here, but I was in awe when I looked across the huddle at Walter Payton, almost as a fan. So it was you never have a bigger goal in your life than to be a member of the Chicago Bears, and it was a It was a great opportunity and it's

been life changing. So just the whole you know, you put a lot of pressure on your self for accomplishment, and that's I think every one of these guys that they kind of put in their mind that they want to play professional football at some time in their life. There's a lot you have to overcome in order to even give yourself an opportunity. What about you, big man.

I had the fortunate opportunity to attend the Universal Gore Dame and all right, go Irish and much like the tradition that we have at Notre Dame, the Struggle Bears is the same way. So I'm not I didn't have a chance to start the whole time I was here, but being a part of the Chicago Bears organization for the time that I was is a very important part of my life. My experiension her name was great, but being part of one of the organizations that started the

NFL is is something that I will always cherish. And then you're talking about a kid who grew up twenty minutes from Soldier Field. That's just that's icing on the cake. So I mean, after my football career was over, I could have died then and just have been been a very very happy man. So the idea that I played my butt off, I gave one hundred and ten percent for an organization that I grew up admiring was was

really just a dream come true. And again, I hate to sound like a broken record, but for all the fans out there, I played for you guys, and I felt as though I was one of you. So thank you very much. You know I again, and I'm sure Tommy Chris Kam would all say the same thing, which is, you know, yeah, it's professional football. We get paid to do it. But everybody's got setbacks, everybody has challenges. It's

how you deal with them. And I gotta tell you, I'm the luckiest guy you'll ever see to play twelve years for this franchise with the guys. I play William Perry. You have no idea how much fun it was in the locker room, in the meeting room with Fridge. He's a scream, He's a scream. And I mean they got the friends. Steve McMichael and I have been like that for forty years. To play next to Richard Otis, all the Gary Finzy, all these great guys, all these great players.

But think about this, folks. I got to play for Buddy Ryan, I got to play for Mike Ditka. I get to do radio with my legendary hero Ed o'bradovitch on WGN. But here's the best one. I played nine years with Walter Payton. Top that, Top that one. Well being kind of a guy that was well born and raised in Hillside, Illinois. Want to provide oh High School in Maywood, University of Illinois, and you know it's like

one of those dreams come true. And when you start out playing and if you excel at basketball, football, whatever it is, then your dream is always to be the best. You want to be the world champion, Okay, you want to win the conference. You want to be the state you want to win the national title in football and basketball, whatever it might be. Well, when it comes to football, it was always about the next the next big revenue. You know, Can I travel it, Can I make it?

Can I get there? And I did and I made it to Chicago Bears, which I dreamed. That was a dream of all dreams for me to play play the game, number one, and number two to play in Chicago, and number three to win a damn world championship. I have my entire families here, my friends are here, and it's it's been a one hell of a ride. And I'll tell you what. I look back. I don't look back at anything and say no, I think I should have I should number whatever it was, what it was, I

did what I did. And every time, I can tell you this, every time I went out in that football field, I thought we were going to win the game. Every time. I don't care. If we were, we'd be like own four and we're playing to New England Patriots in New England. I had the mind said that we could whip their button. I really did. And I think I could speak for

all of us supper they have that same feeling. So again, to to be here to play for George Hallis who started this league, the footing foundation of this whole damn thing, and to win the World Championship with it and play with the guys that I played with. I thank God for that. Thank you, thank you. I think we should have went the other ways, like the older guys should have went last. But I just want to say, man,

that's what big growth. Um. I just want to say thank you first off for being up here on this panel and especially being retired and life happens and it's refreshing. I want to thank the Bears for allowing us to come back and share this week for myself personally, and uh, I just want to say, I don't take it for granted. Man, you're one of the greatest defensive tackles. And I told you I enjoy watching you. I said him, you back

him and Khalil Mack. I say, you guys got me back At home, I get a bag of chips of popcorn and I kick my feet up and I watch you two work together. I don't know what else goes on. I watch you two work together, and it's the most beautiful work of art when you have a tag team in there, like that. But the reason why we love football so much is because it keeps it endors it right. It teach you how to constantly keep going after something,

and it's the overcoming sport. Just like we all talk, we've been through it, and it's to encourage those that go work a nine to five all day and have something to come home to and the cheer four team to get you out of bear and the meet new friends at a bar and to meet new people in the connection. It's the beauty of this sport is why I played it and why I left it sitting Chicago, that it constantly brings people together. And when you win, when you win, man, it takes all the craft that's

going on in your life. The thing when the team wins, man, it takes a load off of people in their day to day lives. So I just tell you know that you're you're you're you're putting entertainment. You're inspiring people that are working their butts off all day laboring somewhere, and when you put your helmet on, know that the city is behind you. And I think, y'all love y'all Chicago. Maybe they should have started the other way. So I

gotta follow up all these guys. Um, first thing I want to say, we're gonna put too much for a shrug, not at all, not at all. Um. What I'll say is this, first of all, is that it's an absolute honor to be up here with you guys. Um, yeah, please. I fell in love with the game of football at fourteen years old, and UM, I remember I used to just sit in the front room and I'd be watching NFL films and I'd be watching replays of the games that played on that Sunday, and um, it just took

ahold of me. And I got to watch all of you guys do what I do now as the best in the world. And it's an honor to follow in your footsteps and to be able to put this bear's jersey on and represent us. And I also gotta say I accept all of your challenges for this defense, this defense that we have here right now. You you weren't lying for a second. We have some of the most ferocious, most talented, most aggressive, high spirited, fun loving love the

game of football guys that I've ever been around. And for us not to take advantage of this moment that we have in front of us right now we would be doing ourselves, you gentlemen up here in this city, a disservice, So we're gonna take care of business. I think the battery went out. I mean the emotion in this room right now, it's palpable. It's a lot of fun. I know we had fan questions. We're not gonna get a whole lot of time. But while a team's got

the floor, you're in for a touchdown. Last season, Joe and Chicago wants to know if you're gonna catch one this year? Um, yeah, Uh so, I know you guys saw the game right. It was fourth and one on the one yard line right now. We had practiced that place for I don't know, eight nine weeks, but for some reason in my mind, I never thought it was really coming. And it came, and it was fourth and one and we're in New York, and uh, they actually gave me the ball. Who does that? I don't know.

I didn't really expect it. I know, I'm talking to all defensive linemen up here. We never expect to get the ball, right. We're hitters. Old coach of mine told me you're either going to be the hitter or the hittie on every plane. And I'm used to doing the hittie, so it was fun and don't put that pressure on me. Freezer left last thing, and people had some similar questions. But Dan and you appreciate that Matt Naggie takes in the history of this franchise at heart. First player runs

t formation, Freezer left and old to refrigerator, Perry. He's got Papa Bear, Papa Bear house plays, He's got all these great plays that a little old to history. Three. He gets it, doesn't he. Well, the first and foremost thing is, uh, you know you're talking about Matt Neggie. Thank God, John Fox's asses out of town. That's all I can tell yet. Thank God, thank God. But you know what, I can't let it go. I'm sorry, we're

out of time. I can't let it go. We're at a time all the all the phone, I kind of denote that you don't like Fax or never did. Uh. We'll talk about backstage, Yeah, talk backstage. But let me tell you folks something. You know, this man right here has seen a lot of Chicago Bear football in his years, and we talked about it on the post game last year. You would look me dead in the eye and he said, and there's no question in my mind, if you guys find a way to stop the Eagles, that you could

have went and won the Super Bowl. So those are the setbacks and now you realize you have to be better in all facets. But Eda brout if it's told me on a weekly basis, there's something special about this team and Matt Nagy. And you can give Ryan Pason awful lot of credit to Vic Fangio. I mean, he was a terrific, terrific, you know, coordinator. But at the end of the day, you can feel it, we can feel it. The main thing is they find a way to believe it and bring it home because they know

it means everything to us. Now, get this, it has been thirty four years since we won the damn Super Bowl. The last time I checked, thirty four was a pretty good number around the Chicago Paris. Yeah. See, you give my hand everybody m