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Why the Bears' Next Hall of Famer Could Come From the 1985 Team

Jay Hilgenberg anchored the Bears' dominant rushing attack in the 1980s, and the 1985 Chicago center deserves far more Hall of Fame attention from voters today.
Gene Chamberlain|
The Bears are well represented in the Hall of Fame and should get one more player from the 1985 team.
The Bears are well represented in the Hall of Fame and should get one more player from the 1985 team. | Ed Balint / Canton Repository / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

The Bears lead the NFL with 32 players enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

They have so many in it already that it almost seems unfair when they have more players who qualify for consideration. Yet, they're a founding franchise and when you've been around so long you're naturally going to have plenty inducted.  Every year they have some who probably deserve it but haven't gone in yet.

NFL.com writer Eric Edholm did a solid job looking at the Bears when he logged every team's next best Hall of Famer. A strong case can be made for every person he mentioned as worthy of being the next Bears representative enshrined in Canton.

Of course he mentioned linebacker Lance Briggs, cornerback Charles "Peanut" Tillman and center Olin Kreutz from the Lovie Smith era teams. Briggs' seven straight Pro Bowls and first- or second-team All-Pro recognition didn't come about just because he played alongside Brian Urlacher.

Tillman's 44 forced fumbles have coaches at all levels of football referring to the "Peanut Punch" when schooling young defensive backs. Kreutz put up six Pro Bowls and a pair of All-Pro designations with a team known more for defense than offense.

Edholm named Tillman as most likely to go in, with Briggs next, but did bring up someone else who could surprise and get in before any of them. It was Virginia McCaskey.  She was on the last ballot as a contributor to the sport.

"Virginia McCaskey, the Second City’s first lady for many decades, is a sleeper candidate to beat them into the Hall, but there is only one contributor finalist per cycle, making it tougher to forecast exactly when the late Bears matriarch and daughter of George Halas will make it," wrote Edholm.

All were good choices for consideration. And all are wrong for a former Bear who deserves to go in next.

Who the next Bears HOF player should be

The easy one to name next among former Bears is center Jay Hilgenberg, as a senior nominee. Not only did "Hilgy" make seven straight Pro Bowls, earn All-Pro first team twice and second team twice, but he played 11 Bears seasons and was a key component for an offensive line that led the NFL in rushing four consecutive years.

Something like that is unheard of these days unless a team has a scrambling quarterback contributing greatly to the rushing total. Although Jim McMahon was mobile, he definitely was not a dominant scrambler.

Obviously Walter Payton's presence dictated the Bears be a running team. However, that stretch of rushing dominance by the Bears began in 1983, when Payton turned 30. He finally benefited from great offensive linemen blocking near the end of his career. The Bears led the league in rushing when Payton was 30, 31, 32 and 33. Most running backs are long gone by 33 and Payton was part of a league-best rushing team in 1986 at an advanced NFL age greatly because of his line.

Bears tackle Jimbo Covert went into the Hall of Fame in 2021 and is the only lineman enshrined who blocked for Payton. Covert was All-Pro and a Pro Bowl player twice each, and those happened in 1985-86. The Bears continued to be a dominant force on the ground even when Covert had injuries the next two years and played only half-seasons. One of those years came after Payton retired. They were third and second twice in rushing the three years after Payton retired.

Someone obviously knew what they were doing up front.

Hilgenberg might have had even more than four All-Pro designations if not for Miami’s Dwight Stephenson playing at that time.

Stephenson made the Hall of Fame and played only eight seasons, while Hilgenberg played 13 total. Miami was only a passing team through most of Stephenson’s time there.  The Dolphins were among the NFL's worst rushing teams in Stephenson's final three years.

Yet, Stephenson made it to Canton and Hilgenberg has not.

There will be three senior finalists on the ballot for the next Hall of Fame vote and Hilgenberg deserves to make the Hall of Fame as one of them. He should be the next in a long line of Bears enshrined in Canton.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.

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