Everything You Need To Know About Lance Briggs

Lance Briggs is a former American football linebacker for the Chicago Bears, seven-time Pro Bowl selection and one of the 100 greatest Bears in history.

Lance Briggs Early Life and College Career

Lance Marell Briggs was born on November 12, 1980, in Sacramento. He spent his childhood in another city in the same county, Elk Grove. After high school, despite the abundance of football programs in California, Lance chose to go to another state. The place where he chose to spend his college career was the University of Arizona. He defended the Wildcats' colors from 1999 to 2002, playing in 33 games at the strongside linebacker spot. Twice, Briggs was named to the Pac-10 Conference All-Star team.

Lance Briggs NFL Career

At the 2003 NFL draft, Chicago selected Briggs in the third round. After training camp, the team coaches assigned him the role of backup, but as the debut season progressed, Lance won the battle for a spot on the roster. Playing in all sixteen games, he noted an interception and a touchdown on defense.

In 2005, he was already the leader of the defense, earning inclusion on the All-Pro First Team and the first of seven consecutive Pro Bowl invitations. Briggs' importance to the team was so great that in 2007, when it came time to sign him to a new contract, Chicago's other star player Brian Urlacher was willing to take a pay cut to keep him. The Bears' front office opted to impose a franchise tag on Lance, which caused a lot of resentment from the player: he stated on one show that he liked the partners, coaches and fans, but he was tired of the organization and wanted a trade. The team received an offer from Washington, but general manager Jerry Angelo turned down the offer. Briggs went on strike and played out the season under the tag, and in March 2008, the franchise gave him a coveted six-year, $36 million contract. As a result, Chicago became the only team of his career to do so. Lance played twelve seasons in the Windy City, making over 1,000 tackles, 15 sacks, and 16 interceptions. In 2019, the Bears named him to their list of the 100 Greatest Players in team history.

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Briggs worked as an analyst for NBC Chicago, where his colleagues include former teammates Olin Kreutz and Alex Brown. Lance is also known as a huge comic book fan. A graphic novel he co-created with Kyle Higgins.