Walter Payton, the Greatest Football Player of All Time, Promises to End My Career If I Ever Ask Him About the Coin Toss Again

He seemed agitated that I wasn't eating my lunch at his restaurant—because I had already eaten lunch. It was their famed prauns.

It was 1997 and I sat down with the late and greatest football player of all time, Walter Payton, at his Aurora Roundhouse Restaurant to begin working with him on the first of a weekly column for my newspaper chain.

He seemed agitated that I wasn't eating my lunch at his restaurant—because I had already eaten lunch. It was their famed prawns. They were truly the biggest prawns I had ever seen and maybe I feared they'd been mutated through radiation as much as I was just full from eating lunch already. I finally I gave in and ate some of them.

While talking to him for the first time in collaborating on that column, I had to ask him in an unrelated topic about the coin flip before Super Bowl XX.

I asked him this because it had always been my belief he saw the coin hit the ground and called the toss too late but got away with it.

My final Round 1 Mock Draft 2025:

#Bears, #Jaguars, #Giants all making moves.Let’s go Poles#BearDown pic.twitter.com/CVgXV9icDY

Captain Payton waited until after the coin was in the air and it hit the ground, then he made the call, it seemed. Watch the video.With a real big grin and twinkle in his eye—a really big twinkle—he gave a kind of chuckle and said I didn't know what I was talking about.

The first 19 #SuperBowl MVPs

Honored before the Super Bowl XX coin toss at the Superdome in New OrleansJanuary 26, 1986 pic.twitter.com/3sjzytE76i

It was obvious he'd been told this before and he mumbled something about maybe the sound on the NBC telecast was slightly off from their picture.

When the coin hits the turf, all bets are off, except in that case.

People. There is a lot of total BS being thrown out about the Bears tonight. If it doesn’t come from people like Glazer, Schefter, Rapoport, Pellisaro it’s just not true. Some local jerkoff has no relevant information nor does he have access to it

Anyway, the coin has hit the turf on mock drafts. Deadline came at 9 a.m. Thursday. The best mock drafters' efforts are in for this year, at least the best mock drafters according to The Huddle Report.

April 24, 1994Who in the hell is Mel Kiper anyway? He’s never put on a jock strap, never been a coach, or administration and all of a sudden he’s an expert.Kiper has no more credentials than my neighbor, who is a postman that doesn’t have season tickets to the #NFL - Bill Tobin pic.twitter.com/8bcQ0JCVoz

The Huddle Report gathers mocks and posts standings to let everyone know who is most accurate. Only one of the top 10 from the last five years was not obviously posted as of draft morning by 9, but somehow at the last second the most accurate mock drafter of all Jason Boris, made it in at the coin flip. Or did he?

At least it seemed like he may have made it after the coin hit the turf but he has made it.

Believe me, there are a lot of mock drafters scrambling around this morning, hoping they could get an edge by getting a last-second trade into their mock so they look more accurate.

My final mock draft (feels good to say that).https://t.co/QqX5dc3WfK pic.twitter.com/tN6U38UUDl

Here's who the top 10 mock drafters over the last five years say the Bears are taking, after they made it in under this deadline.

1. Jason Boris, Times News

DT Mason Graham

"The Bears are high on Ashton Jeanty, but unless they trade up here, he likely won't be available here. With two second-round picks, they could still maneuver. For now, the pick is Graham—a top-five talent who slides slightly due to positional value," Boris wrote.

Since 2018, every single DE/DL/DT/EDGE ranked inside top-10 of final consensus mocks was a top-10 selection, except Dallas Turner.This is your "why is Mason Graham suddenly being mocked outside the top-10" warning. pic.twitter.com/ACLvUIqC04

2. Brendan Donahue, Sharp Football Analysis

TE Tyler Warren

Donahue had Omarion Hampton mocked to them in an earlier draft. His last posted before today at 8 a.m. explained the pick.

A tight end needs pretty stellar receiving production to merit a