March 10, 2021: Finding Sid

Well, I finally found him. We’ve talked about Pard Pearce and Keith Molesworth, the QBs at the helm of the 1st, and then 2nd & 3rd Bears titles respectively. I know we still have to talk about 1963, and of course, 1985. But when you talk about a franchise QB for the Bears, there is a reason this guy’s name always comes up. It doesn’t matter that they were still wearing leather helmets at the time back about 80 years ago. It does matter that this guy, Sid Luckman, was at the helm for 4 Bears championships in the 1940s. Again, if there is one position in any sport that is linked to winning it is the football QB. To have 4 Championships linked to your name at that position, I firmly believe, qualifies you as a franchise QB. Even though this was before my time, I’m glad we actually had one… maybe the only one… ever… so far…

Yes, as the QB wheel turns today, we’re hoping the Bears land on Wilson or Watson, two guys that can possibly fill that franchise QB role for our team. Back then, you could say Halas hit jackpot when he convinced Sid Luckman to play football in Chicago. A QB at Columbia University, in a time where running and defense still dominated the landscape, in a time where College Football was much more popular than professional, Sid was ready to get into his family’s trucking business in Brooklyn. But Halas pulled another one of his shrewd moves; I’m starting to get the feeling like this was one of his calling cards. He looked past the stats; he looked past the wins and losses. He went to see him play with his own two eyes. He saw a guy, the guy, that could be at the center of an offense that would eventually transform the NFL. “We’ll never forget the way you thrilled the nation, with your T-formation.” Yep, it had been around before, but not until 1940, the first of four championships (1940, 1941, 1943, & 1946) that decade for the first dynasty in the NFL, did it really explode. Halas was right about Luckman, and the Monsters of the Midway were born.

It was still mostly about running and defense of course, especially in the 73-0 drubbing of the Redskins in 1940, which still stands as the biggest blowout ever, in any game, let alone a championship game, but the forward pass was about to explode on the NFL; Luckman would be a part of this major change in the game, one that continues to rule the game. Luckman lead the NFL in yards per attempt a record 7 times; his career average of 8.4 yds/pass is 2nd in NFL history. He holds the record for most TDs in a game with 7. In 1943, his MVP year, 13.9% of all of his passes went for TDs, a record that still stands today. He has the stats, he has the championship pedigree; he had it all. I felt the need to find out more about Luckman besides what I could see on his wikipedia page… there was something else that was very interesting about him. His father was hooked up with the mafia back in Brooklyn, and served time at Sing Sing for murder. Crazy right?

So yeah, not only do I want to read more about Sid Luckman, the 4 time NFL champion, leading the only Chicago Bears dynasty in history, what about this mafia business with his family? It was a turning point not only for the NFL, but for the mafia, and Luckman was in the middle of both. So I made a trip to the library, and picked up the book “Tough Luck”… I’m already halfway done; it’s awesome. I will report back when I’m completely finished with more great stuff about Sid Luckman, the only franchise QB in Chicago Bears history.