You know what else happened to the Bears in 1969? Brian Piccolo, the undersized fullback who finally made the starting lineup that season, was diagnosed with embryonal cell carcinoma after a week 9 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. He would ultimately pass away from the disease seven months later.
Halas had the best interests of a bigger picture with cancer research in mind...but absolutely no way whatsoever could this ever be allowed. So many problems with ever even considering this. Rozelle was a very smart man--His immediate denial needed to happen, as it did. Great story--Never heard this one.
Rozelle would later serve as Major League Baseball commissioner, and ban Pete Rose for life over a very different, much more dishonorable gambling scheme.
How can it cause problems betting on yourself? Noones throwing a game black Sox style when it's your money going on you. Rozelle was not intelligent either and only wanted a stranglehold on the NFL. He was the OG Goodell
A better use of his money would have been to buy your merch. Maybe they should have spiked the ball into the ground on every play to always get a somewhat decent passer rating every game.
The fact that Halas was willing to put up $15,000 in 1970 says something about how he felt about cancer. Mike Ditka said the Papa Bear threw around nickels like manhole covers.
The 1970 Bears leading rusher was Ross Montgomery with 227 yards. Collectively the full/running backs had a total of 1 TD for the season. How is that even possible?,
Halas was also a great motivator and likely thought that the team would become motivated enough to rise to the occasion if the league would let him place this wager for cancer research.
Halas coached a total of 39 seasons, on-and-off from 1920 to 1967. The “off” years were 1930-1932, 1942-1945, and 1956-1957. The Bears won the 1932 and 1943 NFL Championships, and 1942 and 1956 Western Conference titles, without Halas on the sidelines.
"Their only win was a 38-7 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in week 8." The Steelers: the OTHER 1-13 team in 1969! And since they had no draft tiebreaker back then, the Bears and Steelers had to flip a coin to see who would get to draft Terry Bradshaw, even though under the modern rules, PIT wins automatically since Chicago beat them.
@@CTubeMan it's literally the first tiebreaker for teams from opposing conferences operations.nfl.com/journey-to-the-nfl/the-nfl-draft/the-rules-of-the-draft/ though I was operating under the assumption that this was always the case and I wasn't aware that this was a rule change from the past couple of years, so you're half right and I'm half wrong lol. PIT still would have gotten the first pick based on the modern rules, but it would've been because of strength of schedule; if they had been tied there, THEN PIT wins based on head-to-head.
Carrol Rosenbloom who owned the Baltimore Colts from the 50s to 1972 bet a million on his team to lose in SB 3. Jimmy the Greek basically admitted it on tv with out naming him.
That's BS! He was so mad at Shula, for making him the first NFL owner to lose to the AFL, he wanted to fire him right after. Cooler heads prevailed that time. But, then Shula left for the Dolphins 3-4 years later!
You didn't mention the worst outcome of the '69 season for the Bears. Because their only win came against Pittsburgh, both the Steelers and the Bears ended up with 1-13 records. Therefore, to decide who got the number one draft pick, a coin-flip was held. The Steelers won and got the pick which they used on a Louisiana Tech quarterback named Terry Bradshaw.
@@edpinkerton7947 yeah; he wasn't even good in Pittsburgh his first 5 years. Chicago wouldn't have had the patience, nor the coaching staff able to build him up.
It should also be pointed out that Halas paid for Piccolo's medical expenses AND for his funeral--and also made sure that Piccolo's wife and children kept the house they lived in. He deserves some praise for this, IMO...
"The Detroit Lions, who only had 4 losses in 1969." With one of those losses being against that Steelers team the Bears were able to beat; I wonder if they tried using that as bragging rights. "Yeah you swept us, but at least we beat the worst team in the league!" "You mean yourselves?" "No, I...SHUT UP!"
They say Any Given Sunday for a reason...shit, the 1-15 Dolphins only won against a Ravens team that came within a bad call of beating the 16-0 Patriots.
@@TPTGopher Yeah, it was opening day, so the Lions had no idea how embarrassing the loss would be until later; early in the year is the best time for a bad team to get an upset imo. Also, as a Steeler fan, the Ravens absolutely should've won that damn game; Pats were farting out four leaf clovers that entire year lol.
Mike ditka had a famous quote about halas as he was being traded away to the eagles over contract issues. He said halas thru around nickels like manhole covers
You know what else happened to the Bears in 1969? Brian Piccolo, the undersized fullback who finally made the starting lineup that season, was diagnosed with embryonal cell carcinoma after a week 9 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. He would ultimately pass away from the disease seven months later.
Halas had the best interests of a bigger picture with cancer research in mind...but absolutely no way whatsoever could this ever be allowed. So many problems with ever even considering this. Rozelle was a very smart man--His immediate denial needed to happen, as it did. Great story--Never heard this one.
Rozelle would later serve as Major League Baseball commissioner, and ban Pete Rose for life over a very different, much more dishonorable gambling scheme.
How can it cause problems betting on yourself? Noones throwing a game black Sox style when it's your money going on you. Rozelle was not intelligent either and only wanted a stranglehold on the NFL. He was the OG Goodell
A better use of his money would have been to buy your merch. Maybe they should have spiked the ball into the ground on every play to always get a somewhat decent passer rating every game.
The fact that Halas was willing to put up $15,000 in 1970 says something about how he felt about cancer. Mike Ditka said the Papa Bear threw around nickels like manhole covers.
Thank you for making the best videos to watch while making breakfast
Same bub.
The 1970 Bears leading rusher was Ross Montgomery with 227 yards. Collectively the full/running backs had a total of 1 TD for the season. How is that even possible?,
On the next episode, Art Rooney won a poker game to come up with enough money to buy the Steelers!
Halas was also a great motivator and likely thought that the team would become motivated enough to rise to the occasion if the league would let him place this wager for cancer research.
I guess the Bears qb did better than just spiking the ball every play.
That would a great slogan on a t shirt
You can't get no legendary than these two iconic NFL legends. Vince Lombardi and George Halas...
Halas coached a total of 39 seasons, on-and-off from 1920 to 1967. The “off” years were 1930-1932, 1942-1945, and 1956-1957. The Bears won the 1932 and 1943 NFL Championships, and 1942 and 1956 Western Conference titles, without Halas on the sidelines.
"Their only win was a 38-7 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in week 8." The Steelers: the OTHER 1-13 team in 1969! And since they had no draft tiebreaker back then, the Bears and Steelers had to flip a coin to see who would get to draft Terry Bradshaw, even though under the modern rules, PIT wins automatically since Chicago beat them.
I don’t believe head to head is part of the tiebreaker process for the draft.
@@CTubeMan it's literally the first tiebreaker for teams from opposing conferences operations.nfl.com/journey-to-the-nfl/the-nfl-draft/the-rules-of-the-draft/
though I was operating under the assumption that this was always the case and I wasn't aware that this was a rule change from the past couple of years, so you're half right and I'm half wrong lol. PIT still would have gotten the first pick based on the modern rules, but it would've been because of strength of schedule; if they had been tied there, THEN PIT wins based on head-to-head.
How many games were the Bears below the “Nine Line” in 1969?
Carrol Rosenbloom who owned the Baltimore Colts from the 50s to 1972 bet a million on his team to lose in SB 3. Jimmy the Greek basically admitted it on tv with out naming him.
Stop trying také credit away from the Jets!! Jets kick the Colts ass.
@@erickennedy5993 Jets did play well but Baltimores offense layed down.
@@sammyvh11 Colts offense was surpise that Jets had a great defense.
That's BS! He was so mad at Shula, for making him the first NFL owner to lose to the AFL, he wanted to fire him right after. Cooler heads prevailed that time. But, then Shula left for the Dolphins 3-4 years later!
@@Lawomenshoops 2 years later
You make the off season bearable, so thanks
Love this channel. Someday each of these videos will have hundreds of thousands of views.
Great stuff!! I never knew about this!
You didn't mention the worst outcome of the '69 season for the Bears. Because their only win came against Pittsburgh, both the Steelers and the Bears ended up with 1-13 records. Therefore, to decide who got the number one draft pick, a coin-flip was held. The Steelers won and got the pick which they used on a Louisiana Tech quarterback named Terry Bradshaw.
And two of the Bears on the 69 team were Gale Sayres and Dick Butkus. HOF talent surrounded by seriously inferior talent.
@@tygrkhat4087 Sayles was hurt in 69.
Wouldn’t have mattered. Bradshaw would have washed out in Chicago it’s where QBs go to die
@@edpinkerton7947 yeah; he wasn't even good in Pittsburgh his first 5 years. Chicago wouldn't have had the patience, nor the coaching staff able to build him up.
He would have had 4 knee & shoulder operations by 73 😂🤣. Worst era in bears history. Had more talent on my Chicago park district flag team
Actually Lombardi died on September 3rd 1970 and not on October 3rd.
It should also be pointed out that Halas paid for Piccolo's medical expenses AND for his funeral--and also made sure that Piccolo's wife and children kept the house they lived in. He deserves some praise for this, IMO...
He knew the Bears 🐻 couldn't win that division and he knew Rozelle would never allow it
Lombardi died Sept 3rd 1970
"The Detroit Lions, who only had 4 losses in 1969." With one of those losses being against that Steelers team the Bears were able to beat; I wonder if they tried using that as bragging rights. "Yeah you swept us, but at least we beat the worst team in the league!" "You mean yourselves?" "No, I...SHUT UP!"
They say Any Given Sunday for a reason...shit, the 1-15 Dolphins only won against a Ravens team that came within a bad call of beating the 16-0 Patriots.
@@TPTGopher Yeah, it was opening day, so the Lions had no idea how embarrassing the loss would be until later; early in the year is the best time for a bad team to get an upset imo. Also, as a Steeler fan, the Ravens absolutely should've won that damn game; Pats were farting out four leaf clovers that entire year lol.
Completely off topic - but I've just learned from this video that there were 4 glorious days in history when Vince Lombardi and I were both alive :)
I want to know who the hell had a worse point differential in 1969
Steelers
How could they not win with the immortal Jack Concannon at quarterback?
Lombardi died September 3, 1970, not October
just imagine if the bears had won their division that year. it would have been a great phone call between halas and rozelle
Just think, if it hadn't been for Pete Roselle, the Minnesota Vikings, the Packers and the Lions, we could have a cure for cancer. Thanks jerks
I kind of like the idea
Hell he would've been better off saying that he was going to put that $15,000 in scratch offs
51 Years Ago
Ad-mir-a-ble.
I never new George halas was that greedy
Penny pincher.
Mike ditka had a famous quote about halas as he was being traded away to the eagles over contract issues. He said halas thru around nickels like manhole covers
@@jewsco George Halas also mentioned that he came cheap when asked why he is a penny pincher
@@Davepool-hs7vr yep
News flash: The league is all already rigged!
But I still watch football games like it's not.
Maybe the players would have played harder if they knew they were curing cancer by doing so
Well...the NFL is fixed, so...