According to a report from the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Bears will wear a football-shaped patch on the left shoulder of their jerseys this season in honor of late owner Virginia Halas McCaskey, who passed away in February at the age of 102.
They will also wear their standard navy blue helmets with their navy blue home or white road jerseys with their corresponding white or navy blue pants in every game, shelving their orange alternate helmets and jerseys and 1936 throwback uniforms as tribute to the franchise’s matriarch.
“She said to me many times, ‘If it were up to me, we’d have the same uniform at home and the same uniform away,” Bears chairman George McCaskey said of his mother. “(She) deferred to us in those choices, so we thought this would be a nice way to pay tribute to her.”
The patch is nearly identical to the design the Bears wore when they mourned the loss of her father, team founder George S. Halas, upon his death in 1983. It features her initials in navy blue on an orange football, with navy blue stitches and a white outline.
The letter “M” is outlined in white and flanked by a “V” and “H,” as the last name is often larger and in the center of three-letter monograms. Similarly, George Halas’ patch prominently displayed an “H,” which was flanked by a “G” and “S.”
“We thought it’d be appropriate to have a patch that mirrored her dad’s after he passed away. It came out great. We like the look of it,” McCaskey said. “That was important to the family – that we do something that’s appropriate. We knew that the last thing she would want was any recognition or tribute, so we thought it was appropriate but understated.”
Halas’ patch was replaced in 1984 by a permanent “GSH” memorial, which currently resides within the stripes on their left jersey sleeve.
Additionally, Chicago will also honor late Hall of Fame defensive tackle Steve McMichael, who died in April at the age of 67, by wearing a football-shaped helmet decal that features his No. 76, white laces and an orange outline.
The Bears wore a patch of the same design, albeit with the No. 51, after Hall of Fame linebacker Dick Butkus passed away in 2023. Like they did that season, they will also paint McMichael’s design along the sidelines at Soldier Field.
Photos courtesy of @ChicagoBears and @patrickfinley on X/Twitter.
