"Butterfingers" Payton?...

[Pixote]

On the Bears website in the ChalkTalk with Larry Meyer it has this Q&A:

 

Which players have lost the most fumbles and recovered the most fumbles in Bears history?

 

Jon A.

Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania

 

They're both Hall of Famers and arguably the two best players in Bears history: Walter Payton had a franchise-high 85 fumbles in 13 illustrious seasons with the Bears from 1975-87, while Dick Butkus recovered a team-record 25 fumbles in nine seasons from 1965-73.

 

I would have never thought that Payton fumbled the Ball 85 times in 13 seasons.

 

In retrospect, that is only 6.5 fumbles a season.

[Connorbear]

On the Bears website in the ChalkTalk with Larry Meyer it has this Q&A:

 

 

 

I would have never thought that Payton fumbled the Ball 85 times in 13 seasons.

 

In retrospect, that is only 6.5 fumbles a season.

He leads the team all time in rushes # and receptions so this is makes sense.

 

Peace

[lemonej]

I agree that the Bears' all-time leader in touches also being the all-time leader in fumbles is no surprise. Its like Brett Farvre being the NFL leader in yardage and interceptions.

 

In the beginning of Payton's career he was the only weapon the Bears had and sometimes he would get blasted by opponents.The fact that he fumbled less than a hundred times when basically he played on bad teams nine out of his thirteen seasons speaks volumes as to how tough he was.Also the fact that he would carry the ball some times like a loaf of bread would have me surpised that he didn't lose the ball more.

[CrackerDog]

Please forgive me but I've always been overprotective of Payton so...

 

If you look at Payton's career, he started off being a bit of a fumbler. He talked about making adjustments to the way he carried the ball after his first few seasons. If you recall, they used to mention his switching arms and stiff arming people near the sidelines. After starting off with 30 fumbles in his first three seasons, he ended his career with only 56 in the last 10 years.

 

Add to this that his offensive line was complete shit for the first half of his career and the number of carries he had. Carries when the D knew he was going to get the ball! Remember the old Payton left, Payton right, Payton up the middle, punt days? I know you do.

 

Also, I specifically recall a fumble he had at the goal line against the Atlanta Falcons which was absolutely NOT a fumble. So he had 85 (or fewer) if replay was in place for his career.

 

He fumbled less than 2% (1.7% when you exclude those first three seasons) of the touches he had while Jim Brown was just over 2%. Emmitt Smith, known for never fumbling (IMO because he always had a great line and they had a passing attack for most of his great career) fumbled on 1.2% of his. LT fumbles an incredible .8% while Franco Harris, Payton's contemporary, fumbled nearly 3% of the time he touched it.

 

So, sure, there have been folks who held onto it better than Walter did and there have been worse. I don't think the term "butterfingers" is even close to accurate, however.

[Pixote]

So, sure, there have been folks who held onto it better than Walter did and there have been worse. I don't think the term "butterfingers" is even close to accurate, however.

 

I agree, just playing devils advocate and trying to rouse up some ire, LOL. Payton, like I said in the original post, was the greatest RB in NFL History. He averaged 1 fumble in every 6.5 games, that is only 2 or 3 a year, and when you consider the number of touches he averaged per year in rushes and pass receptions that is actually an amazingly small number of fumbles.