Chicago Bears: 5 Biggest Draft Steals of the Super Bowl Era

#2:  Mark Bortz

The 1983 draft was the greatest in Chicago Bears history. It was the draft that catapulted the organization to its first and only Super Bowl championship two years later. A big reason for that? How fortunate they were in the later rounds. In fact they had two monstrous hits that became the bedrock of their dominance in the trenches over the rest of the decade. The first of them being 8th round pick Mark Bortz. Amazing fact right off the bat? He was a defensive lineman when drafted.

It didn’t take the Bears coaches long to recognize that Bortz had certain qualities that made a shift to offensive line feasible. He took to it almost immediately, becoming their starting left guard in 1984. A position he would hold until his retirement in 1995. During that long run he’d make two Pro Bowls and help pave the way for the best rushing attack of the entire 1980s. The guy was a model of consistency during the best run of Chicago football in the Super Bowl era.