Current:Home > ScamsChicago Bears great Dick Butkus was brutal, fierce and mean on the field. He was the NFL. -MacroWatch
Chicago Bears great Dick Butkus was brutal, fierce and mean on the field. He was the NFL.
View
Date:2025-04-18 03:24:08
Dick Butkus was brutal. He was fierce. He was mean. He would punch you in the face and when he played, punching someone in the face was illegal, but barely. He'd run you down, past the out of bounds line, and push you into the bench and wait for you to do something about it. You wouldn't. You'd be too scared.
Dick Butkus was an enforcer in an age when enforcers ruled the Earth. This isn't to say he wasn't a superb athlete. He was. But the thing that defined Butkus was unmitigated violence and while saying such a thing now feels, well, antiquated, then, it was the nature of the NFL, where facemasks and noses were constantly askew.
In this violent maelstrom, Butkus was the king. The hill was his and no one, absolutely no one, could knock him off of it in the years he played in the NFL from 1965-1973. He played at a time where our understanding of concussions wasn't as deep as now, and CTE was decades away from being fully explored. Free from these confines, and with rules far less protective of offensive players, he brutalized opponents, and in doing so, became one of the legends of the sport. You could argue the legend of the sport.
When once asked about his aggressiveness, Butkus said, according to a story on the Bears' website: "I thought that was the way that everybody should have played. But I guess they didn't because they were claiming that I had a special way of playing. You try to intimidate the person that you're playing against and hit him hard enough so that sooner or later he's going to start worrying about getting hit and forget about holding the ball. If it stood out, I guess no one else was doing it as much."
Butkus would lead a remarkable life after football, appearing in dozens of movies and television shows. He was able to transform his football fame into the Hollywood kind, much the same way another legendary player did in Jim Brown. Bears fans, fans of the sport, historians of the sport, and people who simply like to see someone be the best at what they do won't really remember that about Butkus. They'll remember the player.
NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.
Before Ray Lewis and Jack Lambert and Mike Singletary, there was Butkus. He wasn't just a Monster of the Midway. He was Godzilla.
Butkus' family, in a statement released Thursday through the Bears, said he "died peacefully in his sleep overnight" at his home in Malibu, California. He was 80.
Dick Butkus dies at 80:Linebacker was Chicago Bears legend and NFL icon
Dick Butkus wasn't just a Bears legend:He became a busy actor after football
"Dick was the ultimate Bear, and one of the greatest players in NFL history," team chairman George McCaskey said in a statement. "He was Chicago's son. He exuded what our great city is about and, not coincidentally, what George Halas looked for in a player: toughness, smarts, instincts, passion and leadership.
"He refused to accept anything less than the best from himself, or from his teammates... His contributions to the game he loved will live forever and we are grateful he was able to be at our home opener this year to be celebrated one last time by his many fans."
The images of Butkus, in his linebacker stance, staring across the line of scrimmage, induced heart palpitations. What made Butkus special, and legendary, was his relentlessness. There were many players that hit hard, but few could run as fast as Butkus, had his ferocity, and fought the way he did. Football to Butkus wasn't a job. Like other great players, they saw the NFL as a calling.
There were two quotes circulating in the moments after his death that encapsulate what he was about on the field. The first: "If I had a choice, I'd sooner go one-on-one with a grizzly bear," Green Bay Packers running back MacArthur Lane once said. "I pray that I can get up after every time Butkus hits me."
The second: "Dick was an animal," Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive end Deacon Jones once said. "I called him a maniac, a stone maniac. He was a well-conditioned animal, and every time he hit you, he tried to put you in the cemetery, not the hospital."
Butkus is a Hall of Famer, a member of the All-Decade Teams for the 1960s and 1970s and was later voted to the 75th and 100th Anniversary Teams. Those are staggering accomplishments but they don't fully measure Butkus' football life. That is measured in cc's of blood and running plays blown apart.
Yes, Dick Butkus was brutal. He was fierce. He was mean.
He was also something else. He was a true football player.
He was the NFL.
veryGood! (614)
Related
- Buckingham Palace staff under investigation for 'bar brawl'
- Taylor Swift Tackles the Cold During Travis Kelce's AFC Wild Card Game
- NJ school district faces discrimination probe by US Department of Education
- U.K. archaeologists uncover ancient grave holding teen girl, child and treasures: Striking discovery
- The Daily Money: Spending more on holiday travel?
- From Berlin to Karachi, thousands demonstrate in support of either Israel or the Palestinians
- Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny helped drive over 4 trillion global music streams in 2023, report finds
- Tennis balls are causing arm injuries, top players say. Now, a review is underway
- How to watch the 'Blue Bloods' Season 14 finale: Final episode premiere date, cast
- Texas congressman says migrants drowned near area where US Border Patrol had access restricted
Ranking
- Residents worried after ceiling cracks appear following reroofing works at Jalan Tenaga HDB blocks
- From Berlin to Karachi, thousands demonstrate in support of either Israel or the Palestinians
- Nigerian group provides hundreds of prosthetic limbs to amputee children thanks to crowdfunding
- Wife of slain Austin jeweler says daughter-in-law Jaclyn Edison got away with murder
- Man can't find second winning lottery ticket, sues over $394 million jackpot, lawsuit says
- Iowa principal who risked his life to protect students during a high school shooting has died
- Palestinian soccer team set for its first test at Asian Cup against three-time champion Iran
- Fendi’s gender-busting men’s collection is inspired by Princess Anne, ‘chicest woman in the world’
Recommendation
Buckingham Palace staff under investigation for 'bar brawl'
Taiwan condemns ‘fallacious’ Chinese comments on its election and awaits unofficial US visit
Japan’s Kishida visits quake-hit region as concerns rise about diseases in evacuation centers
A huge fire engulfs a warehouse in Russia outside the city of St Petersburg
See you latte: Starbucks plans to cut 30% of its menu
Indonesia’s Mount Marapi erupts again, leading to evacuations but no reported casualties
A royal first: Australia celebrates Princess Mary’s historic rise to be queen consort in Denmark
Who is Kalen DeBoer, Nick Saban's successor at Alabama? Here's what to know