The Bears have put more players in the Hall of Fame than any other franchise…who’s next?
There are a lot of ways to measure success.
Winning percentage? The Dallas Cowboys are best in the league at a .595 clip.
Super Bowl Championships? The New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers both have 6.
Hall of Famers? The Chicago Bears are the best in the league with 39 players with their Bronze Busts in Canton.
The Bears have done awfully well in the category of Hall of Famers recently, with Devin Hester, Julius Peppers, Steve McMichael, Jimbo Covert, Ed Sprinkle, and Brian Urlacher having been enshrined since 2018.
Not a bad list of players.
However, with Hester, Mongo, and Peppers being elected, there are a lot of questions on who the next HOF Bear will be.
In September of 2024, the NFL announced a list of 167 modern-era candidates eligible for the 2025 Hall of Fame. Of those players, 14 of them played for the Bears:
- QB Doug Flutie
- RB Thomas Jones
- RB Glyn Milburn
- WR Brandon Marshall
- WR Muhsin Muhammad
- G Ruben Brown
- C Olin Kreutz
- G Josh Sitton
- DE Jared Allen (2025 Hall of Fame Class)
- DL Clyde Simmons
- DT Ted Washington
- LB Brendon Ayanbadejo
- LB Lance Briggs
- CB Charles Tillman
Of these candidates, only a handful of them make sense to be elected, with even fewer of them being recognized as Bears.
- C Olin Kreutz (Six Pro Bowls, One 1st Team All-Pro, One 2nd Team All-Pro) | Played 13 of 14 seasons with Bears.
- LB Lance Briggs (Seven Pro Bowls, One 1st Team All-Pro, Two 2nd Team All-Pro) | Played 12 of 12 seasons with Bears.
- CB Charles Tillman (Two Pro Bowls, One 1st Team All-Pro, Fifth Place AP Rookie of the Year) | Played 12 of 13 seasons with Bears
Players like Jared Allen (2025 Class), Ruben Brown, Ted Washington, and Brandon Marshall may have varying degrees of arguments, but none of them played a significant enough chunk of their careers with the Bears.
Additionally, players like Thomas Jones and Mushin Muhammad were important players during their Bears’ tenures, but don’t have strong enough cases to make the Hall.
Some other former Bears players that have been previously passed on or will be newly eligible in the coming years include:
Peter Brouillet-Imagn Images
- Jay Hilgenberg (Seven Pro-Bowls, Two 1st Team All-Pros, Two 2nd Team All-Pros) | Played 12 of 13 seasons with Bears
- Greg Olsen – 2026 HOF Eligible (Three Pro Bowls and Two 2nd Team All-Pros) | Played 4 of 14 seasons with Bears.
- Robert Quinn – 2028 HOF Eligible (Three Pro Bowls, One 1st Team All-Pro, One 2nd Team All-Pro) | Played 3 of 12 seasons with Bears
- Khalil Mack – ? HOF Eligible (Nine Pro Bowls, Three 1st Team All-Pros, One 2nd Team All-Pro, 2016 DPOY) | Played 4 of 11 seasons with Bears.
So what does this mean? It means the Bears have a lot of guys who are cusp-level Hall of Fame candidates, a lot of guys who played a small portion of their careers with the Bears who are decent Hall of Fame candidates, and one sure fire Hall of Famer that might be enshrined in three separate jerseys.
So, who do you think is the Bears’ next Hall of Famer?
Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
My answer? Khalil Mack.
As much as I think Jay Hilgenberg, Olin Kreutz, Lance Briggs, and Charles Tillman are worthy of the Hall of Fame, they’re all right on the edge of contention. Hilgenberg, in particular, seems to have the resume that speaks as a Hall of Fame talent, but he appears to have been lost in the Super Bowl Shuffle of talents enshrined from the 1980s Bears teams.
Khalil Mack, however, is a slam-dunk Hall of Famer once he becomes eligible. Accolades aside, Mack has accumulated 107.5 sacks in his career, good for 45th all time. By the end of his career, he will likely be among names like JJ Watt, Dwight Freeney, and Derrick Thomas in regards to sack production.
Even Better, Mack has forced 32 fumbles in his career, which puts him at 24th all time. A true disruptor.
The biggest question for Mack is what logo is shown on his Hall of Fame plaque. By the end of next season, he will have completed 4 seasons with the Raiders, Bears, and Chargers. His most dominant run was while he was a Raider, closely followed by his time as a Bear.
If Mack isn’t elected as a Bear, and Hilgenberg/Briggs/Kreutz/Tillman don’t make the cut, it is very possible that Bears fans have a very long wait until they get to see another Chicago Bear elected to the Hall.
Now it’s your turn – who do you think is the Bears next Hall of Famer? Sound off in the comments!