Episode 6: Dick Butkus

On the sixth episode of “Great Dane Nation,” Morten is joined by his Pro Football Hall of Fame brother and Chicago Bears legend Dick Butkus (10:09 – 43:40). But first, he checks in with TommyFreezePops (Tom Carroll) to talk about the weekend that was in the NFL (01:12). The guys lead off with a conversation about Dak Prescott’s devastating injury, and whether Morten had ever seen anything like that in his 25 years in the league (01:19). Then, Morten weighs in on the benching of Michael Thomas in New Orleans, and how it reminds him of an incident with Craig “Ironhead” Heyward during his days with the Saints (03:48). He also relates this incident to playing with Randy Moss in Minnesota in 2004 (06:49). Morten also shares his thoughts on the Atlanta Falcons firing Dan Quinn and Thomas Dimitroff, and what’s next for his former team (08:13).We then move to our interview with Dick, where he discusses a wide array of topics: replacing Bill George and the creation of the middle linebacker position (10:52); why he chose to play for the Chicago Bears in the NFL instead of the Denver Broncos in the AFL (12:07); how close he was to signing with the New York Jets (17:24); extended thoughts on the passing of his great friend Gale Sayers (19:01); his time playing at the University of Illinois and the unveiling of his statue on campus last year (26:47); the Bears amazing legacy at the linebacker position, and why he thinks the organization has been so successful at this position (28:09); how he made a career of avoiding unnecessary contact while still being one of the most ferocious tacklers in NFL history (30:35); what exactly goes on at the bottom of the pile on a football field (32:52); a poem that Deacon Jones used to recite about Dick (33:29); what got him into acting and why it became his career after retiring from football (35:09); and his work with the Butkus Award and Butkus Foundation, and how he’s helping save lives through a program that saved his own life (38:55).Then, TommyFreezePops is joined by Mark Franco for his weekly check-in with the experts from VegasInsider.com (47:13 – 54:00). With Chicago sitting at 4-1, are the Nick Foles-led Bears a legit threat in the NFC? Mark shares his thoughts (48:00). They also talk about the Pittsburgh Steelers hosting the red-hot Cleveland Browns (48:47), the battle of the GOATs between Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers (50:13), and a matchup of two first place teams in the AFC looking to bounce back as the Kansas City Chiefs head to Buffalo to take on the Bills (51:21).Finally, we close things out with Morten’s “Game Winner” – a weekly segment where Morten monologues his biggest takeaway of the week. This week, he talks about his friend Dick Butkus, and how he redefined what it meant to be a linebacker (54:00).