His name has been on the back of nearly every jersey since the year 2000, he struck fear into nearly every quarterback in the NFL and now, he is hall of fame bound. Brian Urlacher has had one legendary career with the Chicago Bears as he continued the franchise's reputation for having monsters on defense. Urlacher was the face of the franchise for 13 seasons where he recorded over 1,229 tackles, 41.5 sacks, 12 forced fumbles and 22 interceptions.

Along with 8 Pro Bowl selections and 4 first team all-pro selections. To complete his decorated resume, Urlacher was the 2000 and 2005 AP defensive player of the year, 2000 NFL all-rookie team, and he made the 2011 and 2012 top 100 players list. For those who watched him play knew that he earned each and every one of these awards as he was an unselfish player on defense who gave his all every down, which makes him even more deserving to be nominated to the hall of fame.

Growing up, Brian Urlacher was one of my favorite players. Between my brother and I, we had at least 3 or 4 Urlacher jerseys as I assume a lot of other Bears fans did. Watching him play was an unreal privilege that I’ll never forget, it’s like I finally understood the feeling people had when they watched Michael Jordan in the 80s and 90s during his career with the Bulls.

Watching him play definitely made every Sunday more exciting for me, especially getting to watch him sack Brett Favre and shut down the Packers and of course, watching him lead the Bears to victory against the Saints in 2006 and witnessing him hoist the NFC championship trophy, giving Bears fans all around the country hope for the Super Bowl.

Looking back, I am truly grateful I was able to watch such an amazing player wreak havoc in offensive backfields because he gave me and Bears fans everywhere unreal memories that we will never forget and he without a doubt deserves to be forever enshrined in Canton.

This year’s draft class was filled with players who had amazing and decorated careers, but with respect to them, no player deserved this honor more than Brian Urlacher. He was a hard-hitting ferocious defender that struck fear into offenses all across the NFL, and his consistency and versatility drew him comparisons to defensive greats like Dick Butkus and Mike Singletary.

Urlacher is now on his way to forever be enshrined in the NFL hall of fame and I would like to not only congratulate him on one amazing career, but I would also like to thank him for making The Chicago Bears feared by offenses all over the NFL and thank you for giving us fans hope. You deserve to be forever immortalized in Canton. Bear Down.