GREEN BAY – Are the Packers ever going to catch the Bears in the race for the most Pro Football Hall of Famers?
Let's examine.
Following receiver Sterling Sharpe's enshrinement this past weekend, the Packers are up to 29 inductees in Canton whom they consider their own.
Meanwhile, the Bears have 32, most of any franchise, after return specialist Devin Hester and defensive lineman Steve McMichael were inducted last year.
For the record, Julius Peppers also was enshrined in 2024, but neither the Bears (for whom he played four of 17 seasons) nor the Packers (three) claimed him for their respective lists, which was the right call by both clubs.
So the Packers are behind by three. Effectively, that deficit can be considered only two, because quarterback Aaron Rodgers is a shoo-in when he's five years removed from retirement. The four-time league MVP and Super Bowl XLV MVP will be a first-ballot selection once he's eligible.
But where do the numbers go from there?
The Packers have some legitimate candidates who will get, or continue to get, due consideration.
Former head coach Mike Holmgren is certainly worthy, having reached the finalist stage in the coaching category this past year. Holmgren took two different teams to a total of three Super Bowls, winning one in Green Bay, where he helped resurrect the franchise.
Unfortunately, a change in the voting process involving senior, coach and contributor candidates this year made it more difficult for those nominees to surpass the necessary voting threshold for induction, as only Sharpe survived it among five total finalists. In past years, it was common for all senior/coach/contributor finalists to be voted in, so Holmgren's timing was just bad luck.
An additional problem is Holmgren may not be pushed forward as the coaching finalist again (only one is allowed each year) anytime soon. Six-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick could be in the mix as early as next year (the five-year waiting period is required only for players), and two-time Super Bowl winners Mike Shanahan and Tom Coughlin were coaching semifinalists this past year waiting their turn.
Player-wise, the Packers' strongest candidates in the coming years after they retire will be left tackle David Bakhtiari and receiver Davante Adams.
Bakhtiari received his fifth consecutive All-Pro selection (two first-team, three second-team) when the knee injury that derailed his career occurred in the final week of the 2020 regular season. Strangely, Bakhtiari was chosen for the Pro Bowl only three times, but getting the more prestigious All-Pro recognition five times is a strong Canton credential, especially considering he was the only offensive tackle in the league to be named All-Pro every year from 2016-20.
Had the fourth-round pick from 2013 not gotten hurt, there's no telling how many more accolades Bakhtiari might've piled up.
Adams is now on his fourth team, the Rams, as he enters his 12th NFL season, and thus far he has six Pro Bowl selections and three first-team All-Pro honors. All but one of each came with the Packers, from 2017-21, after arriving in Green Bay as a second-round draft pick in 2014.
Thus far, Adams has posted five 100-plus reception and six double-digit touchdown seasons, led the league in TD catches twice, and came up just three yards shy of 1,000 twice or he'd have eight 1,000-yard seasons to his credit.
There always seems to be a logjam at the receiver position in the Hall of Fame selection process, but when his time comes, Adams might be able to push his way toward the front.
Going back to the history books, one other Packers name to file away is Verne Lewellen, but no matter how strong team historian Cliff Christl’s arguments are for his inclusion, his opportunity has probably passed.
The Hall of Fame's expanded Centennial Class of 2020 was Lewellen's best chance for an extended look from the senior committee, but in a class of 10 senior nominees, only four whose careers were completed prior to the Super Bowl era were chosen (Green Bay's Bobby Dillon and Chicago's Ed Sprinkle were two of them, with the Bears also getting Jimbo Covert from their Super Bowl XX team into that class).
So Bakhtiari and Adams are probably Green Bay's best bets after Rodgers, but the Bears have some candidates to discuss, too.
Two of Chicago's strongest potential nominees happen to play the same position, center, which is not one that has garnered a lot of Hall of Fame attention over the years.
Jay Hilgenberg is a seven-time Pro Bowler and four-time All-Pro (two first-team, two second-team) who last played in 1993, so he will have to attract the attention of the senior committee, as Sharpe just did, to get in.
He owns probably the best credentials of any Bears candidate not in the Hall of Fame, but working against him is that six of his teammates from that era (McMichael, Covert, Richard Dent, Dan Hampton, Mike Singletary, Walter Payton) are already in the Hall, and that Chicago team reached, and won, only one Super Bowl.
Another center, Olin Kreutz, received six Pro Bowl nods but was named All-Pro only twice (one first-team, one second-team), so given Hilgenberg was passed over for his entire eligibility in the modern-era process, it's hard to see Kreutz getting very far, and he hasn't.
Linebacker Lance Briggs is another Chicago player worth mentioning, as he was named to seven Pro Bowls and three All-Pro squads (one first-team, two second-team). A great player in his own right, he was often labeled Hall of Famer linebacker Brian Urlacher's sidekick, and it has been tough for him to escape that shadow in the selection process.
So where does all that leave things?
Looking at the strongest possibilities for the coming years, here's a potential summary: If Bakhtiari and Adams can both get in, along with Rodgers, the Packers would match the Bears' 32 Hall of Famers, and they might even squeak ahead if Holmgren can get another look. But only if the senior committee keeps Hilgenberg out.
