Tory Taylor
P #16 — Chicago Bears
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About Tory Taylor
Tory Taylor is an Australian punter who made punting cool in Chicago, which is a sentence that should not make sense but absolutely does. He came out of Iowa, where punting is treated with the same reverence that other schools reserve for Heisman-winning quarterbacks, and brought that energy to Soldier Field with a leg that pins teams inside their own ten-yard line and a personality that turned "Punting is Winning" from a sarcastic bumper sticker into an actual lifestyle brand. He flips the ball in his hands before every punt like a man performing a ritual. The hang time on his kicks is so long that return men have existential crises waiting for the ball to come down.
The Australian pipeline to NFL punting is a real thing and Tory is its most visible product. He grew up playing Australian rules football, where kicking a ball with absurd accuracy is the baseline skill, and translated that into a college career at Iowa where he became genuinely famous for punting. Not ironically famous. Not "oh that's cute, the punter has fans" famous. Actually famous. Iowa fans wore his jersey. He had highlights on SportsCenter. When the Bears drafted him, Chicago adopted the whole culture: the accent, the coffin-corner punts, the idea that field position is the most important thing in football and the punter is actually the most important player on the team if you think about it correctly.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the 'Punting is Winning' brand?
It started as a fan movement at Iowa and followed Tory to Chicago. The idea is that punting, normally the most ignored and mocked position in football, is actually the key to winning games through field position. Tory turned it into an actual merchandise line and social media brand. He sells shirts. He posts content about the craft of punting with the seriousness of a documentary filmmaker. It works because he's actually incredible at his job and because the irony of a punter having a lifestyle brand is funny enough to sustain attention.
Why do fans love Tory Taylor so much?
The accent, the skill, and the self-awareness. Tory knows that a punter becoming a fan favorite is inherently funny and he leans into it without undermining his own craft. He'll joke about being a punter in interviews and then drop a 65-yard punt that changes a game. He's also genuinely charismatic in a way that most specialists aren't, partly because Australian humor translates well to American sports media and partly because he treats every punt like it matters as much as a touchdown pass.
Last updated: April 2026