Wow, he is good. cool video. GP PATRIOTS!!!

Great video - You'll never be forgotten Walter!

Walter Payton IS the greatest running back that ever played. We love you and will never forget you

walter payton is the greatest football player that ever played the game of football period. greatest runningback probably not but guy could block like a offensive tackle and he could play quarterback did that in a game against green bay guy could punt did that to in a game returned kicks as a rookie for over a 30 yard average had great hands as a target out of the backfield . and for a player who did not have track star speed he always seemed to have just enough to seperate from defenders. and he always finished off his runs like they were his last. he had insane balance and could drop his shoulder like a bull dozer. you seldom ever saw him get squared off in getting tackled he could jump like a gazelle and all this in a 200lb 5 foot 9 frame. and had the greatest stiff arm of all time. and a real class act. yup i am thankful i got to see him play. on a side note personally i think earl campbell was the greatest running back of all time.

There was and will be only one Walter "Sweetness" Payton. The one thing I remember to this day and say to myself as I watch football now, is that Walter would have done anything for one more yard. He didn't run out of bounds when there was a defender there to tackle him, he ran through that defender. Thanks for the memories Walter!!

"God said he was going to create a football player, and so he made Walter Payton."- Lou Saban, 1978 (?)
Not the fastest, not the strongest. Always the toughest.
One of my more vivid memories as a kid- in 1979- was getting several packs of football cards during the holidays (you know, with that gum that was so hard that it could be considered a sharp weapon?)...and the first football card I ever saw in those packs was Walter Payton.
Dad was pleased to see that- even though we were Seahawk fans- and told me that Walter Payton was a great player that he loved to watch.
I still have it, and always will.

well it started of for me as just another fan of a guy playing football. i saw walter play for the first time in the year 1981. i was being brought up as a 49er fan by my dad they were my team, then i saw this guy who was not the bigest or the badest dude on the feild take the ball on a hand off up the middle, he ran threw two guys juked another and then lowerd his head and hit the last guy in his way. he did get tackled but what i saw was the hardest 5 yard run by one man i ever saw. you would of thought he would go out of bounds after he was ran towards the sideline but no he didnt he never queit and even as he was being brought down he kept his legs moving, ust like were all taught to do in popwarner football. the play was over and i looked up and asked my dad who was that he said walter payton. i then told my dad sorry dad but that was my new fav. team and that walter payton wasmy new fav. player and to this day he still is and always will be. to me he is the best and know one can change my mind. the worked harder than anyone in training he had fun doing it and he loved his family. he also taught his kids to do what they wanted and do it with everything they got and not to give up just like he did. and it showss kids are now doing what they wanted to do and they do it with everthig they got. he would e proud. i am proud to have gotten the chance to see him play and was deeply sadden when he passed, but proud of the way he never gave up even when he saw his last defender trying to take him down, and end the end it did but he didnt go without a fight. thats what i teach my kids, never go without a fight and always let the other guy know ur there. i cant belive its been 10 years. the same kinda thing took my mother when i was only 17, maybe one day i will get to meat im when i go, but until then i would like to ask people to please sign up to be a donner. it can save lives. see ya some day walter. 34 FOREVER

Being from the Chicago Area you understand why Walter was great. Not just for what he did on sundays but were he came from and how he got to be one of best running backs of all time. Walters example is a life example not just a football.

cowboys fan for sure but Sweetness was the MAN. PERIOD.

I am not a bear fan...like them okay... but payton.... we can all agree he was one of a kind.... very special player and person... i remember him well.... good job bears on honoring him.... what a man... we miss him..
ciao.

I am a HUGE bears fan, so this was so (snif) touching! : ( GO BEARS! Sweetness was the man!

Oh, and also he will FOREVER be my role model. Even though i want to be a QB, he will forever be my role model .

I have never been a Chicago Bears fan, but I am a Walter Payton fan. They don't call you Sweetness for nothing. Thank You Mr. Payton

I was devaststed and shocked 10 years ago when the world lost a great man whom I looked up to and respected as a kid coming up. I, like the rest of the general public, had no inkling as to how serious his condition was. When I watch the game today and see RB's side step a defender and go out of bounds, I think to myself how much fun it was to watch Wally play, because he would have hit that guy and driven him back for one or two more yards. You know he was a great man. Just look at how the world- not just the football world, but the world- views the man. Love you, Sweetness. God bless your soul and all who have been touched by it!
"Well, they call me Sweetness,
And I like to dance.
Runnin' the ball is like makin' romance.
We've had the goal since training camp
To give Chicago a Super Bowl Champ.
And we're not doin' this
Because we're greedy.
The Bears are doin' it to feed the needy.
We didn't come here to look for trouble,
We just came here to do
The Super Bowl Shuffle."

One important aspect of Walter Payton's career (legacy) that has been overlooked in all these memorable flashbacks is the fact that he played over half his career on pathetically lousy Bears teams. These were teams on which he was the lone offensive star and a marked man for all opposing defenses. Walter could run, catch, block and throw and, when being tackled, he'd inflict a harder blow than he received. He fought for every yard and never ran out of bounds to avoid contact. He missed one game in his 13-year NFL career because his head coach (Jack Pardee) decided to hold the rookie out that day. To paraphrase something Coach Ditka once said about Sweetness, the star players of today's NFL couldn't hold Walter's jock.

2 guys that played that passed away who are probably some of the biggest influences on football today...Reggie White and Walter Payton!

Hard to believe it's been 10 years. I am a die hard Chicago fan. I met Walter Payton in 1989 at a race track no less. He couldn't have been nicer to his fans. What a down to earth guy. Not only a pleasure to watch on the field, a pleasure to get to know as a person. He is and forever will be my favorite player. There will never be another sweetness..... always imitated never duplicated!!!!!

I clicked on the link to Eric Mangini. I'm shocked. I betting he will be fired during the bye week. He took down a mural of Jim Brown, Otto Graham, Lou "the toe" Groza and Paul Brown?!?!?

Payton was one of those players you cheered for even if you were a fan of the team he was playing against. His drive, even during his early years when he was for the most part the only thing the Bears had good was just amazing. His respect for the game, fans, the other players and the world as a whole was just amazing. Sad that today most of the "stars" are nothing short of thugs. Sweetness was class...

He's the only football player who could get away with being called Sweetness. Because he was just that Great.. There will never be another player as sweet as Walter Payton..Best NFL player ever in my book. RIP #34

Sure Soldier Field is a memorial for the veterans that served our country. That being said, The Bears play football there. Have been since I can remember. Erect the statue already. Those of you arguing the fact "It's for the veterans" If that's the case, Why play football there in the first place?

Emmitt Smith...PUH-LEASE!!! He couldn't hold Walter Payton's jock strap. To me, Sweetness will ALWAYS be the greatest running back/football player that has ever played the game. The way HE would run over the people trying to tackle him was/is unbelievable. And, he played with only one team in his entire NFL career.