NFL 100 All-Time Team has 8 Bears players, Halas

The NFL 100 All-Time Team is complete.

The league on Friday night revealed the final 10 players — quarterbacks — on the team, and not surprisingly, no Bears were among them. But the NFL’s oldest franchise did land eight players in the top 100.

Running backs Walter Payton and Gale Sayers, tight end Mike Ditka, guard Danny Fortmann, defensive ends Doug Atkins and Bill Hewitt, linebacker Dick Butkus and return specialist Devin Hester were the franchise legends named to the team as the league celebrates its 100th season.

All eight were among the top 24 on the Chicago Tribune’s top 100 players in Bears history and are members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Notable Bears who didn’t make the NFL list include fullback Bronko Nagurski, who was No. 3 on the Tribune’s list, quarterback Sid Luckman (No. 5), linebacker Bill George (No. 6), center/linebacker Bulldog Turner (No. 7), defensive lineman Dan Hampton (No. 9), linebacker Brian Urlacher (No. 10), linebacker Mike Singletary (No. 12) and defensive end Richard Dent (No. 14). All eight are in the Hall.

Alan Page, the longtime Vikings defensive tackle who played the last 3½ seasons of his 16-year career with the Bears, also was named to the top 100.

Bears founder George Halas was named one of the 10 greatest coaches in league history. Halas coached the Bears for 40 years in four 10-year stints from 1920-67, compiling a 318-148-31 record (.682 winning percentage) and leading the team to six NFL championships.

Bill Belichick, Paul Brown, Joe Gibbs, Curly Lambeau, Tom Landry, Vince Lombardi, Chuck Noll, Don Shula and Bill Walsh were the other coaches named to the team.

A 26-person panel made up of coaches, team and front-office executives, former players and media members selected the team, revealed over the last six weeks on NFL Network.

Quarterbacks named to the team Friday evening were Sammy Baugh, Tom Brady, John Elway, Brett Favre, Otto Graham, Peyton Manning, Dan Marino, Joe Montana, Roger Staubach and Johnny Unitas.

Left off the list were the Saints’ Drew Brees, who is the all-time leader in passing yards, touchdown passes and completion percentage, Steve Young, a Hall of Famer who led the 49ers to three Super Bowl titles, and the Packers’ Aaron Rodgers.