Legacy Panel - Safeties

most feared of the game. You guys collectively knew how to and do with Eddie Jackson here, you know how to to take the starch out of an offense a little bit. When you say Gary Fencing. Absolutely, you know, I'm sure that all of us will say that really good safeties are the product of a really good defensive line. You know, you got a good defensive line, and it allows you to do things that you can't do great hits. Of course, Edie can't do those anymore because he'd be

fined out of the league. I mean, you know, Doug and I'd be down ten to seven, knowing that our offense probably wasn't going to score, and it would be in the fourth quarter and we'd say time to have fun and time to be fun it means nailing people. Mike Brown, you made a lot of huge plays, and I think a lot of my favorite plays were you coming on the blitz. You were nasty on the blitz and you would get to the quarterback with a perfect form tackle. And one of my favorites of all times

you're hitting on Brett Farve. There was a film. We're gonna show it to you, But I always walk by a lovely Smith's office and do the Coaches Show every Monday night, and there's this a picture of Mike Brown's hit on Brett Farve, and we could pull that up on the screen. That'd be great. Now, Mike be perfect form tackle ahead in the chest, just to the side of his chest, grimacing face balls out. But the part we don't see, Brett Farve is jacked up off the ground.

His feet are dangling like this because of that guy right there. You remember that, Yeah, that's you know, that's one of the heads. I do remember. Um, But I like what uh what Gary said about sexy play. Um, the safeties are only as good as the people up front. So's he's talking about defensive line. I would say, what helped me was having Brian Urlacker in the middle of the field and cover two. So I've a lot of respect and admiration for that because he made me better.

So I want to give respect to that man too, Eddie Jackson. The same act can be said for the twenty eighteen Bears last year. With that defense in front and all the big plays you guys were able to make back in the secondary. It turned right, it turned for the defense. It made you guys. You guys are already good, but thinks you guys are maturing as a unit and the benefactor back there. I always feel you gotta have a safety of significance to be a contender.

Would you agree? Um, yeah, I almost definitely agree. And I have to double back on what these guys said. Man, when you have a great front seven in front of you, you know, guys like Clia mac A, Team Rokan, Danny, the guys that's flying to the ball, and that's true competitors. That's gonna make you get better and take your game toward another level. And right now, man, we just we

just you know, we just reaching the peat. You know, we got more things to do, you know, fully bringing back the super Bowl this year, you know, back to Chicago. So Dalcan looks like you're watching this Phil, You're watching this screen like you're you're doing some coaching in your mind. Hey Plank, it looks like you're watching that screen like you're like, what are you doing? You gotta pay attention. Look at you're watching that like you're breaking down games.

I didn't have that many interceptions in my life college, high school to your high. Um. You know, I love how football has changed. It's much more entertaining now. It was entertaining when Gary and I played, but there was so much more just running and tackling. I mean, who isn't energized by watching Eddie grabbed that ball or Mike

and some of the incredible returns those guys had. Wow. Um, you know, you don't realize it sometimes when you're a player that a lot of the players that had played before you are all watching this on television cheering for you. I mean, we are all fans. It's just like everybody else. So I just appreciate Eddie and the job that Mike did when he was here. It was amazing. But you know, you talk about the Tampa cover two, you talk about the forty six defense, the four to three, the thirty

four that you play today, a version of it. It seems like those are just numbers now they use because the defenses are so different configured. The defenses that you guys all played in were they were the right defenses for your skill sets. Well, you know, we had different coaches, and I think that you have to fit into the system. I don't think that they were doing much to adjust

to a whole how Doug and I played. But you know, if you have a really good front seven, and I don't want to get in trouble because I got Otis back there and I played Mike Singletary, Willard Marshall, Al Harris and great linebackers. But for me, Mike your point about I played behind Doug the phone, and Doug really taught me how to play. I mean, I didn't even need to know the coverage because I could just play

off of Doug. So I think that you want to create a defense that takes the most advantage of the skills of your players. But you know, we were a four to three, you know, consistently through my twelve year career, and I think, you know, to me, when I look back at you know, we didn't have free agency. When you look back at that eighty five team or the eighty four eighty six and you look at the number of first and second round draft choices that were on

that team, I mean, it's amazing. Great credit to the scouting group for the Bearers. Both offensively, Tom and defensively, you had a lot of talent. So Mike, you know, you talk about the defense you've played in, so you know, go back in history the forty six or go advanced forward to the new version of the thirty four. Are your skill sets need to be developed differently, your instincts differently, or are you set for any defense? I would say the converts to that love you and it was the system.

So we practiced the system them. So we because there's only a certain amount of players that beat cover two, so we know the players that teams are gonna run to try to beat the cover too. So we would just practice those plays daily, daily, daily, daily, daily, And it was more about effort than anything. Um intensity, Um yeah, I think as far as so skill set, I don't have skills, man, I don't have the skill set as most TVs have. I'm not as fast as guys. I'm short. Um,

you know, I'm not as heavy. Um, but I played with a lot of heart, and I think that's that's one thing. Um, that's one thing that I know help my career. And I know that, Um yeah, that we had players that would I mean, I want to take like Ollen Cruz to me, like he was the leader of the team. So his intensity and all that carried through the team. And then when Levy came, he brought us a belief in a system. So it doesn't matter who was playing, we believed in the system and that's

what made us play at a high level. I think Eddie, you basically played for a pro team in college. You know that system, that that system that you played in, that and the supporting cast that you played with. Now you bring it up to today. Your skill sets is it is it built for this era? Could it transferred to other eras or is it your skill set that is allowing you to contribute so quickly? Um? Really, I feel like it starts with you know, how much of

the work you put in. You know, because like he said, he felt like he wasn't as fast or wasn't as big as a normal safety. And I felt that way coming out. You know, I was a light safety. You know, they said a lot of things about me. But when you're going and you work hard, man, and you transition it too, you know the film, and you take that from the film to on the field and you put everything together with your teammates, and you know, Mike was

a dog, you know, as simple as that. I'll watched his highlight take before every game, you know, Coach Ad putting that on there for a reason, just to show me, like, you know, the cred is gonna say it. This is what you can always prove them wrong. So I feel like it's just the hard works you put in, that's what you're gonna get out. Dog. Kind Of the same

question for you though, But you got something. You're such a reputation of hitting everybody, whether it's your own guy in the back or an offensive rhyman coming to make a block down field. How does you know? And you're still heavily involved in football all around the landscape. Your skill sets as a young man, you know, and how do they fit into today? Tom? When I was very young, my mother used to drop me a lot as a baby, and I learned to like this feeling of hitting something

very hard. And you know what, when I first got here, I don't say Dick Bukas had just left, but he was still a synonymous with a Chicago Bear, and anybody watching Dick Bukas play, I wanted to be Dick Bukes playing free safety. One of the funniest things that just h was Mike Brown watching you lower your helmet to hit. You can't do that. The rules certainly have changed, and

it was last man standing when I played. But you know, I think of all the things that you were talking about Tom as far as players and coaches were concerned. And I've been a coach for ten years in the Arena League, in college and in the NFL, and I still believe. And if there's any coaches out there, I

put it on your shoulders. These men up here know how to play safety, but you know what, you have to give them the ability to make plays and not be tentative when they're going on the going for the ball. Too many times in meeting rooms, I've seen coaches shame players in front of everyone else. And those coaches have a big part of the success of the Chicago Bears.

That's why I'm all for coach Naggie, everybody else he has on his staff, because I know they believe, they believe in these players right now, and they're gonna let them go out and make plays. Doug, You're recorded at one time saying before games, I would think nasty thoughts about the players that I'd be going against. I was not a happy person. Did you really have to get to that place to play like the way you did? I'd be really interested to talk to you guys, how

you ever got mentally prepared? But I had to create these scenarios in my mind that this guy on the other team just beat my mother, my wife, my father, And I know it sounds very childish, but we are all children. We are playing a game of football and getting paid for it. It's occupation. Come on, and so I would create these And it wasn't just on Sunday.

I would do this Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. In practice, I would I would pretend Brian Baschnagel was had done something to me, And so when it came on Sunday, I didn't even have to think about it. I would just step on the field and this feeling would come across me, like somebody's going down a blocker, a running back. I don't care, and I know it sounds stupid, but you know what I enjoyed. I had so much fun.

I can tell the mc caskeys I would have played for nothing, really, and we did almost play for nothing, Gary, But I just I have so much fun watching the Bears last year. It was so fun watching the players like Eddie and also the fans get a chance to enjoy the game. Hey, hey, Jeff, I think that probably plains why sometimes as you were going into the pile you would hear this and recognize the voice and it

was actually one of our players. They'd be in a huddle going, hey, Doug, keep your eyes open, your mind. The Doug make you get into your mind about the way that you mentally prepared for the game. I don't think I prepared that way. I know I didn't I but but you know, certainly Doug taught me how to play. And you know, I was from a tough school, Yale, and coming in and you know, to be able to play with Doug Plank and a leader by example was

just fun. It was just a lot of fun. And you know, I was talking about Doug the phone, and you know, all the people that you're with. You want to really feel as though you're on a team that you trust and that there's a lot of transparency, especially on the film room on Monday morning. But yeah, I love playing with Doug and we had a lot of fun together. Did you have to learn to hit like

you did? Nope. My our defensive back coach my first year of playing, which second year, I said, you know, I'm concerned about the way you're leading with your head and I said, hey, I need some coaching. He goes, that's really not my style. I don't really teach technique. You just got to learn. So I learned from Doug

and from some other people. But you know, there's a you know, it's interesting that in the NFL, and I'd love to hear you guys thoughts because we couldn't come out as early as you could when you guys played. But you know, I wonder if there shouldn't be more concentration on developing skills as you get into the pros because it's you know, it's not like you stopped learning the moment you come into the NFL. I see in the early highlights you're not wearing a neck roll, and

then the later years. And also, I see you with the neck roll. Is that out of necessity? Yeah? It was, and I saw. You know, I get a lot of grief about that, but I was getting And we had I had two players. One of them is here Jerry Muckinstern, who lost their deltoid as a result of whiplash. And so they said, look, I lost feeling in my shoulder. He said, if you don't wear something, you might also have that same problem. And you know those horse callers are just too big to be able to really get

up and go for an interception. And Matt Suey, I was wearing this thin little padding with some surgical tubing, and I said, yeah, I'm going to give that a shot, and I wore it the rest of my career. Did you guys embrace so Eddie and Mike you know they were called the hitman, these two. Did you embrace it? Did you run with it? Did you like it? Did you care about that moniker that was placed on you guys? For me, either one of you, wait, Doug or Gary. I you know, I have so many other problems with

the Super Bowl shuffle. And you know I can't sing, I can't dance, I'll take the hitman anytime. Well that's your interception leader in the Bear's history, by the way. With thirty eight, well he was a former college wide receiver. That was the one thing he came in here. He couldn't tack, but he could catch. And you are a heck of a running back at a time in high school, right school, Yeah, you were a killer. You were a beast. You were a wide receiver. You were a beast. And

do what you play in high school? You know, I played quarterback on offense. I loved offense and on defense. I guess I just started learning to run ten yards into people. And uh, you know, I told Gary. You know, Gary's background in college is more offense too with regarding being a receiver. And Eddie just I really admire. People don't realize how difficult it is to locate the ball when you're a safety because many times you're not in the middle of the field. You may be on one

side or the other. And every quarterback is different also as far as the trajectory of their pass. So you know, plus you have the receiver to try to account for. So I always wanted to say one thing in my life, I was never going to go for an interception and miss it, and how the guy catch it and go for a touchdown if he was coming into my zone or area the receiver was going down, I'll worry about the ball later on. I don't care. But that's the way it was. Ed Eddie and Brownie is at the

philosophy of today. I mean, you know, because both of you guys have some great reactionary interceptions, and it's almost the knowledge of the defense that allows you to anticipate that. What is the coach thinking of today in those terms when it passes in your area and you see the receiver, Well, I wouldn't know about today, I would I would say

the ball. I think that's that's a great point. That's always I think missed is that safety's eyes are always transferring, so where your eyes are always moving from places like keys and stuff. So once you realize, like we used to, in the right spot or the receivers is run the route, then your eyes transfer so the all is coming. So sometimes it's on you before you can see it. That's why I like this dude right here, like he's it's special skill that he has, Like I don't have that skill,

So I was more like Doug. I was like, I'm not gonna miss the interception and have someone go for a touchdown. I'm just gonna hit this dude. So my philosophy was more at the fourth quarter mark, the receiver is gonna be tired of me hitting him, and that's when you will see bass tipped up in the air. You will see them not finishing the routes, and that's

when the big players would happen. In my situation, Weddy Jackson of five touchdowns in just thirty games, he was in where I started calling your quick six, quick six Jackson, and we saw some of your highlights. But in two thousand and one, a young Mike Brown had quite the back to back week. We all remember it, right, here's one of them right here, Terrell Owens to Mike Brown to the house. First time that's happened. It's not happened

since back to back weeks. Then the Cleveland Browns and San Francisco forty nine ers back to back pick sixes. In no way to is that define your career, but it's certainly one of your highlights, Big Mike. Those are memorable. Yeah, Those those obviously are players that are gonna are my partment, my career. I guess you could say those are two players that um are always brought up. Um, those are two players that I remember vividly. Um. Yeah, it was just it was a special time. I was a young player.

I was in my second year. UM, so like it gave me more confidence. I mean just that year was a special two thousand and one was a real special year. Thirteen and three. Um, those types of things, like this game is hard, and winning winning these football games it's hard. So once you started getting ten wins thirteen, I mean that's hard to do. So it's so my fault. My problem is like I just don't want to be remembered

for those two players. I want I want people to I want to be remembered as someone who played for the people. So so you're talking about like preparation, my preparation, like to get mentally prepared. I was always joyful. It was like the game to me was it was party time. It's like all the work and practice and all that, that's when I was like, that's the work. But when it's time to go out there on Sunday, that's when all the fun happened. So what Eddie is talking about.

I think what he's talking about it is like you put in all this work through the week and then Sunday it's like it's time to let loose. All right, Greg Miller, he's your guy back there. Run of these tapes. Here's how Mike Brown got ready for games with his guys coming out of the locker room every week. I hope you gotta cute up. Take a listen. We we on the play the one, then make play the one. The man passion. We the one that makes the plays. Where'd that come? How'd you come up with that? Why

did you start saying that? I don't know what was the um? You know they call us the specialty positions for a reason, where the usually the ones that get the glory of the play. The play make is the game is won in the trenches. I think we all understand that. That's how we talk about the front seven. We know that football is a game with the offensive line and defensive line. Whoever wins that battle usually is

gonna win the game. Now you gotta see all the plays being made, But so that that was the thing. It's just letting the playmakers know that we are the ones that got to make them, So when there's the opportunity to make them, we have to make them because the people that are doing the dirty work need us to make those plays. So we use the ones that make the plays. You know, he talked about making plays, and I know that this is a safety panel, but in the last panel, Charles Tillman was up here with

us as defensive backs. Because you guys have all seen you work with cornerbacks. You've seen receiver routes. Do you find it amazing the plays that he was able to make on his instincts and his craft? Start with you, Gary, Well, I mean he was a great cornerback, and yes, he didn't have blazing speed. And I think most of the times when you think about the difference maybe between a cornerback and the safety is they've got speed and they

have unbelievable swivel hips unso smooth. When you see a really good cornerback just backpedaling, you try to do it on your own and you go, wow, it looks so effortless, and but it's really really important. But with Charles Tillman, my gosh, that Tomah, you know, stealing the ball and the whole NFL started doing it. You know, I think sometimes people forget that should be the second person, not the first person stripping. The first person should kind of

slow the guy down or get the tackle. Then somebody comes in for the strip. But you know he had, you know, both skills, the ability to cover and really to rip that ball out of the receiver. Yeah, I would say Peanut. The thing that stands out to me is like his hips were amazing, Like the way he could turn his hips like those see Eddie. Eddie has the hips. He's his lower bodies like a corner. But he played anybody's a safety, So that's to make some

special his his skill set his corner. But he's safety, you know what I'm saying. But you know he does all the good things. That's why he's like this dude right here, I'm telling you, I'm telling me. But but with Peanuts. But with Peanut though, he was also physical, like a really physical corner. He tackled um and like he was the Randy Moss killer. That's where we really got him for to kill Randy Moss. So he'd get up Randy Moss on the line of scrimmage. He's take

Randy Moss out of the game. So his his skill set is one where he's real physical at the line. His he's really super strong. His hands are strong. Um, he's faster than most people think. But he's just and

he's super smart. And uh, me and him had a great um connection, Like we could communicate to each other with eyes, so we could basically switch coverages like with me and him, like where he's gonna line up, so like, you know, I could protect him over the top if I felt a certain route was gonna come, I can look at him and say hey, and he'll right on

time with me. So I think as a secondary, that's the most important thing for me as a secondary was that we were all on the same page even if we were wrong, but we were all playing the wrong coverage. But that, I mean, you want to have all four locked in, Eddie. I know they can't turn that into an instructional video because that's not that's not something you're

teaching everybody does. But do you guys watch a highlight type of that as young players, just to get yourself in the mindset of what can be accomplished in an anticipation or tackling ability. I mean, Peanut, I mean what he did was it was very rare. You know, we do drills on him to trying to do it. Man, it's it's it's hard, you know. It's not nothing that you can just go out there one day. You work on a week and go out there and perfect it

on Sunday. That was something that he worked on twenty four seven, like seven days he worked on a twenty four Evan. He was a big body, like you said, for him to be a corner. He was a big body, so he was physical. So for that it was easier for him to do it as a corner. You know. He basically was a ball hall safety playing corner that can cover very good, you know, And like I said, man, they try to teach us. Man, it's it's difficult. You know, it's not easy as to look. So I salute him

for that. Dog. What amazes you about that when you see his ability to anticipate the conclusion of a round for Charles Tellman, to be able to dislodge a football like that. You know, one thing I didn't realize at first. I never really paid much attention to where ball were receivers or running backs held there held the ball. But I understand he did, and he would think about plays

because this is what happens in a game. You try to imagine what's going to happen during the game Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and then the game comes and it feels like you're having a dream, like you you've already done this because you've dreamed about it all week. And I think, but he did such a masterful job of identifying each and every receiver and ball carrier and how they held the ball, and he knew how to attack it. I mean, he

did it in some incredible fashion. You know, he just knew right where the ball was going to be. He knew, he knew the changes the runners and receivers were gonna make in the open field, and he totally anticipated it. And you know, there's been never anybody like him or after, So I give him all the credit of the world. Doug, your your story is unique really in NFL circles because people you'd have to go back and research and think

about it if you're not familiar with this story. But you know, you didn't start at Ohio State, you're not a college football starter, late round pick for the Bears, and didn't ever play free safety. But July to the coaches and told him you did That's how you got on the field, and look at what happened. You know what. In life, sometimes we could all say this, there's only one chance, one opportunity to do something. When I got drafted by the Bears, I'm sitting on the bench at

Ohio State for three years. I got hurt the very first day I was there, toward two ligaments. Had surgery my freshman year, and I was behind a first round draft pick. I didn't know it Tim Fox, who played twelve years in the NFL, and I couldn't do things he could do. He could he could get an interception and jump up in flight and do a complete flip and land on his feet. I'm sorry. I never could do that. I never was going to be able to do that. So I waited for my day. I waited

for my day. And our coach always said, be ready for your opportunity. Don't wait for your opportunity. And it came against Northwestern in Evanston, and Tim got hurt the first play of the game, and I had the game of my life against Northwestern. I had two interceptions, three force fumbles, and I made every kickoff tackle. So Vince Tobin, a scout for the Bears, said, who in the heck is this guy? And I was lucky. I had my

one flash game. I was back on the bench the next week and I get drafted in the twelfth round by the Chicago Bears. And there you're right, Jeff. There their free safety Gary Lowe was injured in preseason and Jack Pardi, ar coach, asked us, do any of you guys know how to play free safety? I put my hand up. I had never played free safety in my life. I'm in between practices, I'm watching film. What does the free safety do? And I couldn't figure it out? So

I just figured it out for myself. I'm gonna line up at twelve yards. I'm gonna watch the guard and the two centers, and if they come across the line of scrimmage, all hell is going to break loose. I am going to tag somebody. That was it. That was That's a summation of my eight year career. And Gary, the men's beloved in this town, beloved. Everybody asks about Doug Plank, and you know, Doug and I we we kid,

but it actually does happen. People come up to me frequently and go, hey, Doug, I love the way you and fence it played and the same thing have as a Doug, and we're both so used to it. It's like, oh, thanks a lot, no problem. But I mean it was great. Maybe we were pretty you know, inseparable and had a lot of fun. And I knew that if I was playing strong safety when Doug was playing free, that if I was going out wide and they had the sideline, that that running back was never going to cut back

because they knew Doug Plank was coming. They knew it, and they knew that he didn't always hear the whistle either. Mike and Eddie, did you you know, we talk a lot about the reputation in the middle linebacker in the history of Chicago Bears defense. Did you know anything about the history of the safety position within the Chicago Bears franchise? And you know, because when you're young kids, you're not

always following the Bears. I mean, you become a part of the Bears and then you start learning a little bit about the history. Was it all new to you, No, it wasn't. Sorry, it wasn't new to me. My stepfather like lived in the area, so I mean I have a poster a year on it. I believe it's like all the offensive line. Like I have that poster. I mean, I have a picture when I was ten years old. That's a really old That's what I'm saying. I mean the Super Bowl shuffle. I mean I had all that stuff.

So I've known about the Bears history. I mean, like Walter Payton, Like I have a picture jersey that's the only jersey I used to wear it. So like I was familiar with Chicago and the Bears. So when I got here, I knew, like the legacy. I knew like what the franchise meant to the city. So like that helped me understand like the passion. I think that helped me with the passion too, is that I knew how

important the Bears aren't to the city. So Eddie, you know you're sitting up here with history and you're a young guy and the best is yet to come for you. What did you was there are other safeties you follow? Or did you know about the history of the Bears, Because I know Coach Nagy, he's it's an important part of him. For you guys to know the history of this organization. How important it is to the landscape of

the NFL. We we're sitting up here with this one position specifically, and man, you're a young guy sitting in the seat, and you know it's there's a lot of importance for you that's yet to come. For me, I knew about you know, the Bears tradition. You know, I went to Alabama, so when I got here, you know, you feel the family. You know the family's culture. You know,

they big on tradition, the legacy. And for me, you know, you know, Doug and Gary was you know, I'm monitated, you know, was more you know, my my guy that you know in my not my age group, but more of my error. So I kind of knew about him. Like I said, when I first got a head, that was the first highlight take they put on the iPad for me. Is you know about Mike Brown. I'm like, yeah, I heard of him before. Like all right, I'm gonna put this cut up with Mike Brown. I want you

to watch it before every game. You know, Coachy did that and I watched him. I've seen the type of plays he was making, and that's what he was just telling me, Man, we need to bring this back at this safety position. A guy that's gonna go out there, be aggressive getting the ball and create turnovers and you know, help lift the secondary up. So you know, I just took it around with it, man, And like I said,

I went to Alabama. So when I got here and you fell out of love from the fans, how big it is on tradition and in family, you just fall in love with him. There's no place I'd rather be all four of these gentlemen. I have a question for editing, since it keeps bringing up Alabama's Nick saying like it's Nick. Does he joke at all? Or what? Yeah? He jokes, he jokes, man, But you have to get into that level. You know, when you're a freshman, he's not gonna joke with.

I got sure, all right? Will you get in there? You start making plays, he become more comfortable in zoke with. You know, yeah, like you heard, you know things like that, all right? All four of these gentlemen in the top one hundred is selected by Don Don Pearson and Dan POMPEII for the Franchises Strap Book. You can buy it here at the event. Check it out. You gotta have it if you're a Bears fan and others on that

one hundred list that played the safety position. Richie Pettibone, a member of the nineteen sixty three championship team, second behind Gary in career interceptions with thirty seven in his Bears career. Your old roommate Dave Deerson on that list, the late Dave Dorson. You know they were saying, Richie Pettibone was six three six is sixty three almost six four two h six. I mean, you talk about the history Chicago Bears football going back to the sixties and

Richie Pettibone being that big for a safety. That's a big guy. And Mark Carrier Mark Carrier us on that list. Three time Pro Bowler and ten interceptions as a rookie, So a lot of good safety play here in Chicago Bears history. Anybody you will go across the board and you're still playing. So maybe you don't want to answer this one, but anybody you'd like to get a crack at again that you would like to get a crack at again, Anybody you'd like to hit again one more time.

Let's go with Earl Campbell. How about that? Huh? Really? I mean that guy Gary remembered part of the game because he got hit in the thigh. But Earl Campbell was a load and he was one of those It was back in the running day, and he was a bulldozer and he he was not he was not going to try to fake you out. He wanted to smash you and run over top of you. So I guess I wish I could get another crack at Earl Campbell.

You know, I was gonna say Earl Campbell, but I definitely I got the only time I got knocked out. It was Earl Campbell, not under particularly good tackle, but I had a thirty three inch waist and Earl Campbell had a thirty four inch thought, and uh I did and I but I finished the game. And uh but I think that you know, there's so many great running backs that you'd like to, you know, maybe have a second chance at, even wide receivers. Uh So I can't

think of any one in particular. I guess I'd like to get another shot at Earl Campbell, but if I did, it would be very low and the and the types of practices and we went through. Did either of you guys ever hit Walter? Because I saw Todd Bell hit Walter Payton won so hard in practice. Walter popped to his feet, says, let's run it again. And we ran the same play again and it was an isolation and Walter he redeemed himself. I did that. I did that.

It was an accident. We were, you know, just kind of a popping drill and I hit him way too hard and I knew it, but it was I went into the hole. I didn't even see him, and then it just hit him too hard, and I knew right away that he was coming after me, and he did. He did dog. It might be um, I guess the most fun I had planned. It is definitely against the Packers.

So love me, love me. Uh, let me try to hit Brett Farve one more time back and you know, and that still shot, he said, look at the expression on his face. That wasn't an expression, that was the air leaving his body. And it really rapped. It was pretty It was pretty good. The next game. The next game where we saw them, you know, he was out there and he's like, you got me pretty good. He's like, you broke my rib and I was like, you're welcome. Oh yeah, look that picture. Well what so I never

heard that part of the story. I like it all right, I've heard the story. He's told it on a radio. But if you haven't heard this story, this is a beauty from Doug Plank. Doug, correct me if I'm wrong. But your bride said, Doug, why are you so mean out there? Why do you have they hit so hard? Maybe you shouldn't hit so hard. So you took that advice in a game. You pick it up from there. Tell us who it was and what happened. This is

a beauty, you know what. I'm trying to think of how what my answer is going to be on this because I pledged to my wife not to sound like some ogre up here today too late running around Jeff, I'm gonna have to think about that one for a while. You know, I do whatever I can. I tell you, there was a contest on CBS where you could make a wish and someone want a wish to get tackled by Doug Plank. And so this woman she came up and Doug goes, yeah, I'm just gonna, you know, give

her a little tap. And during practice, everybody's going, Doug, she wants to be hit, she wants to feel what it's like to get hit by Doug Plank. And so we didn't really think he would do it. But you crushed her. You crushed you didn't She got it. She got the real Doug Plank hit at practice. Really that was a one week contest, by the way. You know what you guys talked about hearing air leaves somebody's lungs. That's all I remember. That girl hit the ground. I mean,

think about today. Think about an NFL today player hitting a girl. Driving her into the ground, was in full pass time. That dressed her up. Yeah, she's coming back to protect her. We a game in Buffalo. Do you remember the game. We had a game in Buffalo. We're Doug cheap shot at Joe Jaalamalure Hall of Fame guard and Joe wasn't sure if it was me or Doug, so he chased us into the backfield. Into the backfield, you know, right after playing and you want to have

like thirty seconds. So we go back in and now he is he doesn't know, but it's me or him, and he beats the hell out of Jim Osborne. The rest of the game. Who's yelling at Doug going hit your own friends? Hit your own people. You know, all right, Gary, you want a Super Bowl. We had you guys out here earlier, so to you know, mark the history of

this here event. Just climbing that mountain after being an undrafted player, injured in Miami, converted receiver from college, coming to the Bears and reinventing yourself and then getting there and winning the championship. What's it? What's it all meant for you? Your life professionally and personally? Well, I mean, you know it makes your life. You know that was

really a progression. And Doug and I you know, at seventy seven we were a wild card and the next year you don't make it, and then we get backed as a wild card, we don't get back the next year, and you're you're just not making the progress. And you know it's an hourglass. You don't know how many years you're gonna have, but you certainly don't think you're gonna

play a decade. And so when you start to get to that moment where you start, you know, when we wanted the first playoff game in Washington in eighty four, we lost the NFC championship game against Montana in the forty nine, ers I had two first picks in the first half. I'm like, I owned Joe Montana. We got crushed and we were crying in the locker room. And I think that that game, you know, the next season, was an important one because Mike Ditka said, look, we

had a good but not great year. Second best is not good enough and it locked us in. So yeah, Jeff, I mean from Chicago, grew up in Zion and Barrington, and to win a hometown the super Bowl, it was a great thing. And it's the one team thing that nobody can ever take away from you that you know, no matter what you do, it's all about getting the ring. So yeah, you can be all pro, you can be Pro Bowl, all of that, it's all about getting the ring.

And I'm just glad that it was with a great group top to bottom and Buddy and Buddy Ryan and you know, I wrote, we wrote the defense. The team signed a letter to keep Buddy's job, knowing that the coaching staff was probably getting fired, and we didn't have an indoor facility like they do today. We were practicing at Northwestern. We practiced twice in a barn on Route one seventy six in Libertyville. The forest preserved where it

was dusty. It was so dirty that we had to put a handkerchief over our noses with our helmets, and we're going, this is it, baby, The NFL doesn't getting better than this. And then we would practice a Great Lakes enabled training center, which is great. It's up in North Chicago. You can punch, you can kick only one problem cement floors, and if you have any knee problems,

you're just blowing up your knees doing on that. But George Hollis came to that practice and he said I and we'd already broken up offensively and defensively, and he said, I have never gotten a letter like that. Your coaches will be back next year. So we knew Buddy was going to be rehired and that the rest of the coaching staff wasn't. And that's what happened. So, you know, the players stood up for Buddy. We really believed in them.

We had a great offense to compliment it, and you know, I know you, as one of the offensive players, kind of tired sometimes of hearing about the defense. But we couldn't win unless we had a really great offense as well. We always had Jim we always had Walter, but we needed a passing game and once we got all that together to finally do it, unbelievable And Mike, Yeah, Doug. You look at that picture there and you see in

the background you see Clyde Elmer. He's been involved in the strength program with the Bears for since Stan Jones and the sixty three team. You take that in consideration. He calls you the strongest player he's ever coached in the history of his coaching career. Now, this is a man that has set world records. He's the first man in the world to accomplish a weightlifting feast that nobody

else has. I think we all he's important to all of our backgrounds, but for you to stand out to him, that's got to be as impressive as any coach could say a compliment about you. I really in that man, Clyde Emrick. I owe so much to him because he totally changed who I was. I was two inches taller, I've replaced some joints in my body. But to take a six foot person and turn him into a road grader, you can't do that. How many times can you run

into a cement wall going twelve yards? Sooner? Or later, something's gonna break. And Clyde Emrick helped me become a strong person, strong enough to sustain punishment every single down and play and game. And I give him so much credit because he allowed me. I became somebody else. I became a weightlifter, but not just a weightlifter. The topics and conversations we had over the years. He taught me

to have great mental discipline. And when it comes time to walk across that field and you're out there on that hundred yards, you're somebody else. Tom and I really enjoy talking and meeting every one of you out there. But if you would have been on that field and we had uniforms on, it would not have been a fun day for either one of us. YEA, how much contact have you had with Clyde and have you learned anything from him? And drawing on his expertise? You see

him in that weight room. Yeah, I talked to him and he came to me, what I think it was out to my Buffalo Bills game and he told me you need to stop playing. What he said he said, you need to stop playing? And what was it? You need to stop playing just to play? You need to play to become a Hall of Famer. And then I just I took it and rend with it. You know, I just kept letting back in my mind said, Brownie, you've been around Clyde in the weight room, like the

influence that he has in every one of us. Yeah, he's like you said, he's respected in the building. Um. And that's the thing, the stories. That's the first thing I said, was learned the stories about Clyde, and then right away you're like, man, this dude is special. And then you hear like all the stories you know, collected from the decades, so it's like okay, and just him being in the building and just he gave us. He gave us the checks too though it was pay day.

You know, he over the history of being around him and still great friends. He's got some great sayings like knowledge earned is greater than knowledge learned. You can't shoot a cannon from a canoe. And they're all specifically body related to how they fit into your craft of football. And you think about the generations of football players that have come through the hallways of Hollis Hall. Everybody wasn't equal to him. There was nobody more important that nobody

didn't deserve his attention. So when you see these pictures in the history of the Chicago Bears, there are guys like Clyde that they deserve the exposure and they deserve the credit they get they've earned and the Bears mean as much to him as it means to every one of us. And I I just you know guys like that. But when you have a complimentary the strongest player he's ever coached, I tell you, I I envy that when

I heard it come out of Clyde's mouth. You know, you know what it does tell him When you know you're you're, you're you've worked hard, and you're you're ready for this collision, when you're running full speed at somebody and they're running at you, I'm telling you, it's hard not to have a fear factor. We are all human beings. We all have a right of survival, an instinct to survive. And what does that mean? Avoid contact, avoid concussions and

bleeding and pain and suffering. But Kleine put it in such a way that it was okay. It was okay to run full speed into people because you had gone ahead and prepared yourself for this event by lifting weights, by conditioning, by mental discipline, all the things that are necessary to be a football player. On top of all the things that you know, Mike and Lair and Eddie,

you're doing, you know, on a weekly basis. It's just another part of I think the safety is the hardest position to play on defense, because you gotta be everything. You gotta be the guy that goes up on the line of scrimmage and battles lineman. You gotta be taking on sweeps. Now you got to get on field and you gotta cover wide receivers. Come on, what other position on the field you have so many responsibilities forty six defense, I was two yards from the line of scrimmage. Come on,

taking guards on and tackles and huge fullbacks. I mean, I just think the responsibility and the roles that we have. Of course, I'm favored towards the safeties, but I think these men up here have done a hell of a job in their career, and Eddie obviously great things to come. Mike b he said, two thousand and one was special. Two thousand and five was pretty darn good too, But two thousand and six, you guys made it. I know.

It's one of the hardest things you've ever you had to go through not being on that field that day. And I'll share this story. Night before the Super Bowl, We're in a team hotel. I'm coming back from dinner. Mike Brown says, go grab your tape recorder. Right, Okay, Mike Brown speaks. You listen. We go by the pull and he spills it. He spills his passion, his emotion about it. I'll never forget it. We played it on our broadcast to start our twenty hour coverage of the

Super Bowl that day in Miami. It wasn't a dry eye in a booth and we were ready to play. After listening to that, how have you come to grips with that? Even all these years later, I still struggle with it. See passion, Like you said, you play for the chip Man, you play for the Ring. You played for the Ring, and our team made it and I couldn't be out there. It's the game, it's the one sport. It's the one game. It's one game for a championship. It's not a series, it's a game, and it's the

biggest game in the world, I mean in America. But it's a big game. So yeah, I mean I still struggle with it, especially when you get around all youth folks because it's all bears. But yeah, so but like I said, um, now that I have children and makes it a lot different. It's like, uh, you know, the past is the past, and now I'm looking forward to watching my children grow and be uh solid citizens. You know. I'm trying to teach them the right way to do things.

Um and just you know, just I guess just being a bear and just um because they really didn't believe I was any good, so so being here and just they're they're just like they're amazed. They're like excited and it's cool to um see their faces. And that's to me, that's what it's all about. If you have children, you know, that's what it's all about. So that that's making that made it a lot easier. But yeah, like if I could, if I could get it back, I wish I could.

There's big Mike Brown right there, take it down. Is that Ricky Williams? Is that Ricky Williams? Ironically, Yeah, Ricky Williams. Game from the USA mold as an earl Campbell. If you could put it into a concise way, what oh six the team those guys meant to you because I know what you meant to them. I mean, if you're just ever around us, when we get back together, you just see like, um, it's different, it's um it's hard

to explain if you're not a part of it. So it's hard to when you have when you're part of a special team, especially in football, because the roster has changed so much. So from year to year, your best friend in the world could be shipped across you know, the nation and then you have to go play against them and stuff like that. So once you get locked into a team, um like that that really cared about

each other. That was the coolest thing though. The teams that were really good, those were the teams that, like we would go to barbecues together. I mean, Brian Arlacker would have the whole team played paintball at his house. You know what I'm saying. It's amazing, Like that's you don't like everyone everybody's out here in the paintball, you know what I'm saying. So just that is the thing that I remember the most, is like we just loved on each other, man, Like we really did love each other.

So that's the thing I missed the most about it is because we don't get to do that anymore, Like that locker room stuff. That that stuff is life changing and you meet friends for life, you know, brothers from other mothers, that type of stuff. So that's that's the thing that's uh special coming back to these things, Eddie. So we've heard Matt Maggie say a lot about this year chasing great. You know, you've had a chance to meet a lot of superstars end up coming gone with

the Chicago Bears. You hear the passion of Mike Brown is is this is it relatable now to what chasing grade is all about? When it's it's more than a phrase, But you guys are on the cusp and the opportunity to chase what grade is all about? Most definitely, most definitely, Like like I said, especially you know when you learn about the tradition and the legacy that the Chicago Bears and the whole city of Chicago has behind you know,

the football team and the passion and of everything. And like he said, man, it starts with us in the locker room. We do the same thing. You know, barbecues, will eat every Thursday, have a deep dinner at the teams house, or macn invite everybody over his house, or like last night everybody went out. You know, we took the Rikids out, and I feel like that's where it starts. You know, when you're willing to go to war with one another man and you know, fight for the man

next to you, it's hard. It's hard to lose. And right now, what Coach Naga has created in our locker room is it's something special. You know, you really don't see it in many NFL locker rooms. Even when guys come back from come to Chicago from different teams, they said, like, man, listen, y'all having fun over there. It's different. Even with OTAs. Everyone's showing up OTAs. Even guys say seventy percent of the team they was at, guys was there. So for us,

it's just we're chasing it right now. You know, we're really chasing it and we're not just saying that, we're really doing it. Look come much fun you're having right there. That's a part of it, right Oh yeah, most definitely most that's a part of it right there. Definitely, That's exactly what Mike Brown's talking about. You guys are living it right now and it's fun to watch for everybody. Doug, you didn't have as much success as a team during

that time, but did you have that camaraderie? You know what, I can't remember us doing that dance ever. No, and you guys got it. I'm serious. We couldn't even think about trying to put on a presentation like this. I mean, Dad's dancing wasn't that cool back in the seventies. And I love this stuff, and you know everybody's talked about it here about that little bit of extra energy and camaraderie. I'm telling you, as a player and as a coach,

it goes so far. And I don't want to keep getting back to complaining about the coaches and then they might not be here. But man, they got a huge responsibility in this deal. The players can't do it by themselves. It has to come from up above to say. You know what I talked before about coaches allowing players to go make plays, and it's the same thing true off the field. You gotta let players be who they are,

have the camaraderie. I don't know if any championship team I've ever been on, Eddie, maybe you might different in Alabama, but you know what. Everybody loves each other, they care for each other. I never cried so much in my

life is when I came to the Chicago Bears. I mean just being around winning games and players and not just you being happy for yourself, being happy for somebody else to the point where you're absolutely crying at the end of the game because somebody else made an interception, went for a touchdown, or Walter Payton made some incredible run. That's what it takes. That's what camaraderie is. And I truly believe this organization is very close to that. Gary

So were you know, Alabama, Ohio State, Nebraska, Yale? I mean, but that Dame. How did that message transfer from them? The difference of Yale to the NFL and you'd learned about the camaraderie, the commitment, the teamwork, how long did that message take to set into you? Well, you know, Tom, I had a great experience at Yale, and uh, you know there's it wasn't D one d one a, but it was still great football. But I think, you know,

getting into Miami, I loved the Miami Dolphins organization. I just ruptured my lung the first month and made it to the final cut and got cut on Labor Day and and got picked up by the Bears. But that's my hometown team. And so my first year, I mean I was I was in the kickoff team. I mean, hey, I don't think any of these guys. Doug was a backup in college, but everybody has been a star in high school, pet whatever you did. And all of a sudden, I'm on the nut squad. Right there are three and

they're going, Okay, watch all this film. You go, I think I got it. I just got a run like hell, and I know someone's going to try to pick me off. But you know, as you kind of earn your way, and this is the big difference between you know, it is the age difference. Is that you've got guys who are like thirty years old or have been in the league for twelve years, and and so you get acclimated in something that's very different than you've ever experienced before.

And and so for me, I was really lucky that Doug Baphone took me under his wing, and A learned an awful lot from Doug. But also even with Jack Pardie and the different coaches we had, you know, you learn that you have to become a professional, that you have to take this job seriously, that people are losing their jobs, you know. I mean when I came in, a guy lost his job and had a family with two kids, and so it is a very very different orientation from you know, Yale, and I think probably for

most college programs. All right, a couple questions from fans. Eric from Albuquerque, we've got about three and a half minutes. Your most memorable game in a Bears uniform. Try to do one real quick, duck, I have to I have to agree with Gary. There was a game in seventy seven against the Giants, you know, the last game of the year. So I had never been that cold in

my life. I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and we never had much clothing in the winter, so I was cold as crap, you know, growing up as a kid. I'm telling you that was that was because you know why, it wasn't just cold at the beginning, It was wet snow, so you became soaked. Then the temperatures dropped, and that was my most annoying game. Plus you you know you I had to try to tackle Larry Zonka on top of that, so Eddie. For me, it would be my

my rookie year, the two touchdown game against Carolina. Two seventy five yard plus touchdowns. Yep, I really because it was Yes, that's one year to the day from busting up that like that's that's that's unbelievable, is what that is. Mike, it would be uh the first Yeah, that Dame was c That was a crazy game. Jeff Garcia, Jeff, there's

no way I'm not gonna say the Super Bowl. But you know, other than the Super Bowl, it was the NFC Championship game against the Rams at home and when Wilbur picked up that fumble and it started snowing, I'm chasing you, but you're going We're going to the Super Bowl, Tom, how about you. It's kind of a memory that's always haunted me. The first game I got to start for the Chicago Bears was the fourth game in my first year at the Bears. We were beaten the Washington Redskins

by forty points. I got a holding call in the fourth quarter and Dicka pulled me, and I just it kind of made me understand the seriousness of what we are all trying to accomplish. You couldn't take one playoff or be relaxed. And the guy that I was playing against, Dave Butts, didn't have any tackles in the game. But it was more of what Dicka coach. Dicka wanted us

to realize the importance of what we are doing. And it's haunted me, but it's rewarded me in my whole life because I went on to have no holding calls for the next three years, so it helped me. And then lastly, Ashley from Des Moines wants to know what it's like when that soldier fields rocking on third down, game on the line, memories what's it feel like from the fans. Well, I'll tell you I like it nice and chilly. The breeze is coming, you know what I'm saying.

Off that lake, you feel the chill. It's a close game, right, it's third What are we gonna do, fellas? Crowd let's go right, crowd gets into it and it does um give you like it said, it's weird. It gives you a little extra energy, man, like, I don't care how tired you are. It reminds you like what it's about. Because the people are they want it too, So you got the whole building wanting it and adds to the wanting factor. So I enjoyed getting it up. Man, Let's

go get that place rocking. It does help the team, it does, really. Yeah. I had the groom Mike Man out there third down, especially this year, it was the it was the craziest we ever seen it, and we love it. It's like for the defense, especially when we got there. Just keep that energy coming, you know, we don't lose that. We need that every week, especially week one against Green Bathy. You know we need it that, we need it and with that, we'll wrap it up

because that's the way to ended. That's a mic drop priority Jackson right there. Thank you, fellas. Four of the greatest safeties in Bears history here today. Thank you.