GOAT Index

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Walter Payton: the case for the GOAT

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    Walter Payton: the case for the GOAT

    RB · Bears · Born 25 July 1953, Columbia, Mississippi, USA · Died 1999 · Career 1975–1987

    Running back nicknamed 'Sweetness' who spent his entire 13-season career with the Chicago Bears, known for punishing runs and rarely missing a game.

    Career highlights

    Why Walter Payton could be the GOAT

    Payton retired holding the NFL rushing record with 16,726 yards, often running behind mediocre lines on poor teams. He blocked, caught and even threw touchdown passes, and missed just one game in 13 years. The league's top honour for character now bears his name, a sign of how complete he was.

    What fans say

    Walter Payton is #20 of 30 in the fan ranking, with a 1–2 head-to-head record from 76 NFL votes. See the full NFL GOAT ranking

    Walter Payton head to head

    How the ranking works. Every head-to-head vote is a result, like a game. The standings use a Bradley–Terry model, the same idea behind chess ratings: beating a highly rated legend counts for more than beating a long shot. Ratings are shown on a chess-style scale centred on 1500.

    One vote per matchup per person. If you see a pairing again in another session your new answer replaces the old one, so nobody can stuff the ballot by repeating a matchup.

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