Ranking the 10 Best Bears Safeties of All Time

The page turned again Friday.

Eddie Jackson's departure for salary cap reasons leaves only one player who started for the Bears when they were using a 3-4 defense. That's Jaylon Johnson, and he played only two years in the old scheme and not for former defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.

Jackson was the only remaining player from the defense that led the Bears into the 2018 playoffs with an NFC North title. He was the player who clinched their last division title by intercepting Aaron Rodgers in the end zone in 2018 at Soldier Field.

Ironically, he didn't even get to play in the playoff game with Philadelphia due to an injury on the interception return, a return they didn't need to have him make.

This leaves only Larry Borom, Justin Fields, Khalil Herbert, Jaylon Johnson, Teven Jenkins, Cole Kmet, Darnell Mooney, Cairo Santos and Patrick Scales from the draft era of Ryan Pace, and they could be in danger of losing Fields via trade and Mooney in free agency. Kmet already received a contract extension and Johnson is awaiting his.

Jackson's playmaking ability had earned him the team's first ballhawk award in 2022 even though he missed five games with a foot injury. The foot proved a problem again in 2023.

It's always possible Jackson could return if his career lasts long enough. The Bears brought back safety Chris Harris after he left.

As it stands now, they'll need a replacement in the draft or free agency.

Jackson earned a place in Bears history with his ability to go after the ball, get it and then score when he had it. 

Here are BearDigest's top 10 Bears safeties of all time.

10. Shaun Gayle 1984-94

A backup for four years until Gary Fencik retired and Todd Bell left for the Eagles, Gayle got his chance to start in 1989 and started until leaving in 1995 for a season with the Chargers. He made 14 Bears interceptions, one TD return and had 770 tackles with 11 forced fumbles. He scored one of the strangest special teams TDs of all time on a whiffed Sean Landetta punt early against the Giants in the 1985 playoffs to start the Bears defensive tear through the postseason to the Lombardi Trophy.

9. Doug Plank 1975-82

The man Buddy Ryan named his "46" defense after, Plank wore No. 46 and was an undrafted player from Ohio State who immediately earned a starting spot in Jack Pardee's first season coaching the Bears. He made 15 interceptions and 14 fumble recoveries, many of which he caused by making a vicious hit himself. Plank was known for punishing receivers, running backs, quarterbacks, and even offensive linemen, basically anything that moved on the field. Many of his hits were during the echo of the whistle.

8. George McAfee 1940-41, 1945-50

Known more his abilities as a ball carrier on offense, McAfee also played defense and returned kicks and punts. He probably had a bigger impact on defense after he returned from three seasons away for World War II and hurt his knee in 1946. He played safety and made 25 career interceptions. McAfee might have been the best all-around football player the Bears ever had next to Walter Payton. He returned two punts for TDs, two kicks for TDs, had 21 rushing TDs and 11 pass receiving TDs to go with one interception return for a TD. He also threw three TD passes.

7. Eddie Jackson 2017-2023

Known as "Bojack" to his teammates, the fourth-round pick out of Alabama made six TD returns on turnovers, five of them in his first two seasons. He had six total defensive TDs for his bears career, 15 interceptions, 10 forced fumbles and six recovieries. A Pro Bowl player in 2018 and 2019 and All-Pro in 2019, he was given credit for 44 pass breakups in his Bears career.

6. Mark Carrier 1990-1996

The first-round pick from USC had a smashing rookie season by leading the NFL in interceptions with 10, then made 10 more over his next six seasons in Chicago. He had 10 forced fumbles and 587 Bears tackles with one TD return on an interception, before going on to finish his career with three years in Detroit and one in Washington and 32 total interceptions. He made three Pro Bowls and was All-Pro once.

5. Dave Duerson 1983-1989

Safety starter for the world championship team of 1985, a four-time Pro Bowl player and twice an All-Pro, he made 18 Bears interceptions and four fumble recoveries before going on to a year with the Giants and three more with the Cardinals.

4. Mike Brown 2000-2008

A ballhawk who made 17 Bears interceptions, eight forced fumbles and seven fumble recoveries. He made a reputation for himself by returning seven footballs for touchdowns, four on interceptions and three on fumbles, during the Dick Jauron and Lovie Smith eras. He also made 523 tackles and earned Pro Bowl and All-Pro status. In the 2001 division title season, he returned tipped passes for game-winning interception return TDs in successive weeks against San Francisco and Cleveland.

3. Rosey Taylor 1961-69

An undrafted free agent from Grambling State, Taylor made 23 Bears interceptions in 8 1/2 seasons, returning three for touchdowns, and also recovered 13 fumbles with one returned for a TD. His nine interceptions in 1963 led the NFL in the Bears' championship season. He was traded in 1969 to San Francisco and made eight more interceptions in three years there, then another in Washington for coach George Allen, who had been the Bears defensive assistant for the 1963 team. A two-time Pro Bowl and two-time All-Pro player.

2. Richie Petitbon 1959-68

A four-time All-Pro and Pro Bowl player who was a second-round 1959 draft pick, Petitbon finished his Bears career with 37 interceptions and seven fumble recoveries. He made three interception returns for touchdowns and missed only two games between 1961-68. Petitbon was a defensive spark for the 1963 NFL champions with a career-high eight interceptions before leaving to play two seasons later in his career for Allen with the Rams and Redskins. Later he was a Washington head coach.

1. Gary Fencik 1976-87

A Barrington, IL native and Yale grad who was a 10th-round Dolphins draft pick but was cut and played his full 12-year career with the Bears. He made a franchise-record 38 interceptions to go with 13 fumble recoveries while earning All-Pro and Pro Bowl two times each. The secondary leader for the 1985 world champions, he had career highs of six interceptions in 1979 and 1981. Fencik was often tasked with what some safeties would call an impossible job, as Buddy Ryan's defense sold out up front with all forms of strange blitzes, leaving Fencik in back hoping to prevent big plays if the pressure failed. It rarely did in those days.