There wasn’t anything Walter Payton couldn’t do while on a football field. He was the best running back ever, having retired as the NFL’s all-time leading rusher, a feat he mostly accomplished without a single other offensive Pro Bowl player on the field with him for his first ten years in the league.
All 11 defenders were laser-focused on Sweetness, and they still couldn’t stop him.
Considering the punishment he took from defenses, the punishment he doled out himself, and the old-school Astroturf
he played on, there wasn’t a tougher player ever to play. He only missed one game in his entire career — as a rookie in 1975 — but if you asked him, the “injury” was something he could have played through.
“I could have played, but my coach, Jack Pardee, wouldn’t let me. I don’t count that as a miss,” Payton insisted.
He was an outstanding receiver, and his 492 receptions are still the most all-time for the Bears.
He was also a punishing blocker. Payton played in an era where many teams employed two backs on the field much of the time, and he was often the lead blocker for his fullback in the Windy City.
You may ask yourself, ‘Why is Lester writing about Walter Payton?’
It’s because of this recent thread I came across on Twitter from Dan Casey, asking us to ponder… Imagine a world where Walter Payton played Quarterback.
Payton was 11 for 34 as a passer in his career with 331 yards, 8 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions. Those 8 TDs are the most ever for a non-quarterback.
