Bears Throwbacks

[Shipley]

Love the throwbacks the Bears are wearing tonight that hearken back to the Monsters of Midway years. I know there are probably purists who think the look isn't close to the same as they had during the 30s-40s glory years, but love they're paying homage. Unfortunately, they've also really limited their options in terms of numbers since they've retired so many. Imagine what it's like telling your first round draft pick or top free agent target they won't be able to wear the number they want because some guy who played in those same early years had his number retired. I know it sounds shallow, but like it or not, giving today's players the number they want is important. The Bears need to solve this...I think it's something like 13 numbers out of 100 that have been retired.

[Rupert Patrick]

Love the throwbacks the Bears are wearing tonight that hearken back to the Monsters of Midway years. I know there are probably purists who think the look isn't close to the same as they had during the 30s-40s glory years, but love they're paying homage. Unfortunately, they've also really limited their options in terms of numbers since they've retired so many. Imagine what it's like telling your first round draft pick or top free agent target they won't be able to wear the number they want because some guy who played in those same early years had his number retired. I know it sounds shallow, but like it or not, giving today's players the number they want is important. The Bears need to solve this...I think it's something like 13 numbers out of 100 that have been retired.

There is no solving the issues as I see it, you just can't un-retire numbers, and I know a team like the Bears understands and respects it's legacy and would not let itself get pushed around by some 22-year old, because if they un-retired a number one time, they would have to un-retire all of their numbers before long because somebody would want Butkus's number, and some other guy would want Payton's number. Number 7 was a pretty obscure (other than Bob Waterfield and Ron Jaworski) number for star quarterbacks to wear until John Elway made it trendy, now it has become (next to 12) the second-biggest quarterback number as Michael Vick, Ben Roethlisberger, Flutie, Randall Cunningham, Esiason, and a bunch of others started wearing it too.

[ChrisBabcock]

Number 7 was a pretty obscure (other than Bob Waterfield and Ron Jaworski) number for star quarterbacks to wear until John Elway made it trendy, now it has become (next to 12) the second-biggest quarterback number as Michael Vick, Ben Roethlisberger, Flutie, Randall Cunningham, Esiason, and a bunch of others started wearing it too.

Same with #8 before the 1990s. Before then, the only players of note were Larry Wilson, Ray Guy, and maybe Bill Paschal.

[Rupert Patrick]

Number 7 was a pretty obscure (other than Bob Waterfield and Ron Jaworski) number for star quarterbacks to wear until John Elway made it trendy, now it has become (next to 12) the second-biggest quarterback number as Michael Vick, Ben Roethlisberger, Flutie, Randall Cunningham, Esiason, and a bunch of others started wearing it too.

Same with #8 before the 1990s. Before then, the only players of note were Larry Wilson, Ray Guy, and maybe Bill Paschal.

Some numbers I'm surprised didn't catch on, such as number 20 becoming very popular for running backs after Barry Sanders.

But to follow up on my earlier point, if some kid just out of college who thinks he's the greatest thing since sliced bread wants a retired number, I would tell him to take an un-retired number nobody else has made popular, and if you're really all that, you'll see others in the future honor you by wearing that number as they honored Jim Brown by wearing number 32 or honored John Elway by wearing number 7.

Has the NFL ever un-retired a number before? I don't think so.

[conace21]

Number 7 was a pretty obscure (other than Bob Waterfield and Ron Jaworski) number for star quarterbacks to wear until John Elway made it trendy, now it has become (next to 12) the second-biggest quarterback number as Michael Vick, Ben Roethlisberger, Flutie, Randall Cunningham, Esiason, and a bunch of others started wearing it too.

Same with #8 before the 1990s. Before then, the only players of note were Larry Wilson, Ray Guy, and maybe Bill Paschal.

Some numbers I'm surprised didn't catch on, such as number 20 becoming very popular for running backs after Barry Sanders.

But to follow up on my earlier point, if some kid just out of college who thinks he's the greatest thing since sliced bread wants a retired number, I would tell him to take an un-retired number nobody else has made popular, and if you're really all that, you'll see others in the future honor you by wearing that number as they honored Jim Brown by wearing number 32 or honored John Elway by wearing number 7.

Has the NFL ever un-retired a number before? I don't think so.

The NFL doesn't retire numbers; it actually discourages teams from doing so. The only team I can remember un-retiring a number is Demver with #18. Frank Tripucka gave his blessing for Peyton Manning to wear it when he signed with the Broncos.
When Joe Montana went to Kansas City in 1993, #16 had been retired for Len Dawson, and #3 (his number at Notre Dame) had been retired for Jan Stenerud. Montana wrote in his coffee table autobiography that Dawson had offered to allow KC to unretire it, but he (Joe) didn't think that was right. However, Dawson was quoted in a NYT article that he would prefer the number not be un-retired. Whatever the truth was, Montana ended up wearing #19, his number in Pop Warner. Oddly enough, #13, his high school number was not considered.

[Oszuscik]

The Seahawks gave Jerry Rice #80 after (I've read) Largent gave them permission to. Regardless, I think it's a little lame going back to past players to get permission for another star to wear their number. A retired number should be a retired number. Even if a team has gone nuts retiring multiple numbers, have to honor it.

[Rupert Patrick]

Has the NFL ever un-retired a number before? I don't think so.

The NFL doesn't retire numbers; it actually discourages teams from doing so. The only team I can remember un-retiring a number is Demver with #18. Frank Tripucka gave his blessing for Peyton Manning to wear it when he signed with the Broncos.
When Joe Montana went to Kansas City in 1993, #16 had been retired for Len Dawson, and #3 (his number at Notre Dame) had been retired for Jan Stenerud. Montana wrote in his coffee table autobiography that Dawson had offered to allow KC to unretire it, but he (Joe) didn't think that was right. However, Dawson was quoted in a NYT article that he would prefer the number not be un-retired. Whatever the truth was, Montana ended up wearing #19, his number in Pop Warner. Oddly enough, #13, his high school number was not considered.

I meant NFL teams not the NFL in general.

I always figured Montana chose 19 as a tribute to Unitas. And as much as Unitas was beloved, it is surprising that other young QB's didn't take his number, they still continued to prefer number 12.

[Shipley]

I agree there's probably not much the Bears can do about it, and that it's lame to go back on your word and unretire a number. The Redskins have a good system. Their only retired number is Sammy Baugh (33), but they work very hard to avoid giving out the numbers of iconic players like Darrell Green (28), Sonny Jurgensen (9), Charley Taylor (42), John Riggins (44), etc. Joe Theismann granted their rookie QB Dwayne Haskins permission to wear #7, his college number, and Haskins handled it nicely by meeting with him personally to ask if he could.

[conace21]

It figured you knew the distinction. Just wanted to provide clarification for any readers who aren't as familiar with the setup.
Montana may have chosen #19 as a kid because of Unitas. This was in the mid 60's, and Unitas was born in Pittsburgh. He didn't mention that in either autobiography, but I do recall an interview from about 10-15 years ago around Super Bowl time. Montana was asked "Who's the best QB of all time," and he said Unitas.

[Rupert Patrick]

I agree there's probably not much the Bears can do about it, and that it's lame to go back on your word and unretire a number. The Redskins have a good system. Their only retired number is Sammy Baugh (33), but they work very hard to avoid giving out the numbers of iconic players like Darrell Green (28), Sonny Jurgensen (9), Charley Taylor (42), John Riggins (44), etc. Joe Theismann granted their rookie QB Dwayne Haskins permission to wear #7, his college number, and Haskins handled it nicely by meeting with him personally to ask if he could.

The Steelers are the same way. Although they've never retired officially Bradshaw's number 12, I doubt we'll see another Steeler QB wearing that number anytime soon. They've never given out 32 since Franco Harris, either. I think both uniform numbers are unofficially retired, as has been Jack Lambert's 58, which nobody has worn since he retired in 1984. However, Antwan Randle-El wore John Stallworth's number 82, and somebody (Heyward-Bey?) wore Lynn Swann's 88. The Steelers have only officially retired Ernie Stautner and Joe Greene's numbers, but have unofficially retired others.

I would think a list of the unofficially retired uniform numbers would be at least as interesting as the list of retired uniform numbers.