Chicago Bears: Could Charles Tillman Take Home The NFL MVP Award?

What the Chicago Bears have managed to do on defense this season is absolutely incredible.

Against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, they continued to display why they may be the most feared unit in the entire league. Turnovers were the driving force, as they have been all year, in their incredibly dominating effort in a 51-20 win down in Nashville in Week 9.

Once again, Charles Tillman was right in the middle of it all. He didn’t score a touchdown, as he’s already done multiple times this season, but he forced four fumbles on the day. Of the four, three were recovered by the Bears, with Kelvin Hayden returning one inside the Tennessee 10-yard line in the second half.

It’s just another chapter in the brilliance of Charles Tillman this season. Peanut has been a very steady player over the course of his career with the Bears, but up until this year, he was one of the more under-the-radar types. Now, his play is reaching a national audience, and it could lead to some major accolades by the end of the year.

Tillman was named the NFC Defensive Player of the Month for the month of October, coming off of a pair of games in which he returned interceptions for touchdowns. The month also included a performance against Calvin Johnson, in which Peanut rendered Megatron invisible all throughout the night.

On the season, Tillman has seven passes defended, seven fumbles forced, and that pair of interception returns for touchdowns. His penchant for forcing turnovers has always been a game-changer, but it’s been a tremendous factor in the Bears reaching 7-1 on the season. Is his play enough to warrant some talk for the MVP award?

It’s unlikely that Peanut would take home the award for Most Valuable Player, even if he does continue this absurd play. It’s a quarterback award, and a quarterback will likely take it home once again this year. But at the very least, he’s the odds-on favorite to take home the NFC Defensive Player of the Year award.

Regardless of who actually wins the MVP, it’s clear that Tillman has been one of the more dominant players in the league this season. He’s playing at a sky-high level and might just be the most important player on this team. As the Bears head into the toughest stretch of their schedule, look for him to continue changing games and at least continue to work his name into the conversation for MVP.