If everything is as it should be, Tory Taylor will be booming punts for the next decade.
I’m not sure when it started, but for as long as I can remember, Chicago Bears fans have always gotten behind their special teamers.
Maybe it was Bob Thomas hitting a field goal in overtime in the final game of the 1977 season against the Giants to send the Bears to their first postseason since the 1963 Championship.
Perhaps it was the 1980 Thanksgiving kick return on the first play of overtime from Dave Williams to beat the Lions.
Maybe it was Dennis Gentry, Dennis McKinnon, and Willie Gault running wild during the mid-80s or kicker Kevin “Butthead” Butler setting the franchise scoring record as a rookie in 1985.
It could go back further to Gale Sayers or even further to George “One Play” McAfee or “Automatic” Jack Manders.
Many Bears fans grew up with a defense wins championships mentality, and the third phase is considered an extension of that motto.
We love our special teamers.
The Chicago Bears drafted Tory Taylor in the fourth round after his splendid career at Iowa, where he won all the awards as a senior in 2023, including the Ray Guy Award (college football’s most outstanding punter), a unanimous All-American selection, the Big Ten Punter of the Year, and First-team All-Big Ten. He also set the record for most punting yards in a season last year (4,479).
He was a star with the Hawkeyes, and he may have landed with the franchise whose fanbase will appreciate his unique talents the most.
Here’s how Iowa Special Teams Coordinator LeVar Woods described the Taylor experience at Iowa in a recent interview with the Chicago Tribune’s Colleen Kane.
When he walks out into Kinnick Stadium here in Iowa City, anybody that sees him, they go crazy. The fans go crazy. They introduce him in pregame warmups, and the fans go nuts. His first punt of every game, we had to use a silent cadence because the fans are going crazy. They’re cheering. They’re waving Australian flags in the stands.
I told him, “This is not real football. You go in the NFL, once the punter hits the field, everyone is booing. They don’t want to see you on the field. They want to see someone else.” So I think that is going to be something for him to deal with or something that is slightly different.
That sounds like something Soldier Field will do.
Bears fans have been scrambling to find the perfect nickname for the Melbourne, Australia native, with The Crocodile Punter, Kingpin, Pinball Wizard, The Punter Down Under, The Sniper, and Trick Shot Tory leading the way.
His booming and accurate leg has been the buzz of the offseason from the beat at Halas Hall, and that’s just going to grow once fans get to experience training camp themselves in July.
There will be some more official clips shared, like the ones in the Tweets below, but you know there will be some bootleg videos from fans in the stands.
Here’s a clip from my recent interview with CBS’ Matt Zahn about Taylor.
