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One of the NFL's prototypical linebackers Dick Butkus died overnight in his sleep at age 80.
The Chicago Bears play the Commanders tonite
May he rest in peace
Winning makes believers of us all
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I think Da' Bears ended their losing streak last night in Win One For Butkus.
Bill Bergey of Bengals, it was said he played like Dick Butkus. Butkus was the best MLB and set the bar high, so to say Bergey was not as good as Butkus but like Butkus was high praise. Another compared like Bergey was Tommy Nobis and a few others, but Butkus was how high the bar was raised. To play like Butkus meant you played sideline to sideline, in on rushes and back in secondary, all over the field, and with a mean streak and Hard Hits.
A fun Butkus story many may not know. Around 1972 or so, Butkus got mad at the soccer style kickers walking on the field and winning games with 50 yard field goals. Alex Karras hated it also. Defenses hated these new kickers hitting 50 to 60 yard field goals to win games. So Butkus declared war on the Kickers. He said if they walk on the field with him, they are going to get HIT like anybody else. Butkus didn't care about the roughing the kicker penalty. So week after week on long field goals, Butkus would clobber the Kicker after the kick. Just lay them out. A few got injured. The NFL had to change the rules to help stop Butkus from waging war on field goal kickers after the kick.
Another Butkus story. Also around 1972, it was asked why The NFL teams don't run the wishbone QB option like most college teams did at the time, such as Woody Hayes or Bear Bryant. Dick Butkus said because we work for a living. This pays our wives and kids. A QB in a wishbone might pull that run or pitch out on me once or twice, but the third time he is going off on a stretcher. Any QB that tries that wishbone option garbage on me, and I'll knock him out of the game. I'm not college, I work for a living....I remembered that when Washington tried to use RG3 as a wishbone QB, and it only took a few games to career injure him. Washington was stupid to draft a top pick QB and try to run a wishbone, as Butkus said, not in The NFL. The defensive players are not going to get fired, lose their jobs and no money for the wife and kids over wishbone quarterback option, as per Dick Butkus. At Ohio State Rex Kern would roll out, hold the ball to last second, and before hit by several tacklers, pitch the ball to an open RB. What Butkus was saying is a Rex Kern might wait to get hit and pitch it out to a RB, but Butkus would make sure the Rex Kern type QB gets carried off the field for trying that college or high school play in The NFL.
1968 Bengal Fan
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