- Walter Payton
- Doug Plank
- Dick Butkus
- Sid Luckman
- Brian Urlacher
With all apologies to Sayers fans, the names on this list are the ones I think of first when picturing a guy who represents Chicago Beardom. Like other favorites Dave Williams and Leslie Frazier, Plank is on the list only because he has a special place in my sports heart. As the hardest hitting Bear and the guy after whom Buddy Ryan named his famed “46 Defense,” Plank is THE Bear defender by whom all others are measured.