Walter Payton provided one of his most inspirational performances on this day in 1977, when he ran for 275 yards and set a new single-game rushing record while battling the flu.
He ran the ball 40 times and scored the Bears’ only touchdown in a win against the Vikings, to set the new mark that stood for 23 years.
Check out this clip about Payton’s incredible durability and toughness, as well as the intense work ethic that gave him his stamina, as originally presented in 1996 on “Pure Payton”: