The first tweet came in after 8:00 p.m. on the east coast reading simply “Hello.”
Dick Butkus running the Bears’ Twitter account is the wholesome content you need
The Chicago legend shared stories and more
Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images
Mark Schofield is a former college quarterback and attorney covering the NFL and F1.
The Chicago Bears Twitter account sending that out randomly on a Tuesday night did not create immediate buzz. Perhaps it would be the start of a long chain of tweets about the team, or their upcoming game against the New York Giants, or perhaps the account was going to take everyone down a journey of Lionel Richie lyrics. But that single tweet did not generate much attention.
The next one surely did:
The tweet was immediately shared in every NFL-related group chat and Slack channel. Had the Bears been hacked? Was a member of their social media team pocket-tweeting? What was going on?
Then, it made sense.
As one of the greatest players in NFL history — someone relatively new to Twitter — soon appeared:
NFL legend Dick Butkus was given control of the Bears’ Twitter account for a few hours on Tuesday, and it was glorious. He posted the above video, posing next to his name and number at Halas Hall. He later posted a poll, asking followers what he should do next.
When “Find Flus” — short for Bears head coach Matt Eberflus — won the poll, this photo was posted shortly thereafter:
Butkus then told a story of his favorite game, which took place against the San Francisco 49ers on a rainy day, much like the game between the two teams this year. It took place on December 12, 1965, and on that afternoon rookie running back Gale Sayers scored six touchdowns, in an effort that is often viewed as the greatest individual performance in a game by a player.
But as Butkus recalls, coach George Halas pulled Sayers when the Bears were on the verge of scoring, so it is entirely possible that Sayers could have scored seven touchdowns ... or more:
Then perhaps a joke about a Google search?
Then it was over, almost as soon as it started. But it ended in perhaps the most Dick Butkus way possible:
Although it does appear that Butkus made one little tweak to the Bears’ Twitter profile on his way out:
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