Constable: Bear market for Cutler jerseys, but Blackhawks still Bullish
Suburban stores ordered their winter merchandise months ago - even before Bears fans heard all those giddy preseason predictions of quarterback Jay Cutler winning the MVP award while leading the Chicago Bears into the NFL playoffs. So there was a risk that a timid merchant wouldn't be able to keep up with the demand for Cutler jerseys.
That is no longer a concern at the Dick's Sporting Goods in Schaumburg, where Cutler jerseys are as abundant as Internet postings of Kim Kardashian's rear. With the last-place Bears losing twice as many games as they've won, fans have discounted their playoff dreams. But Cutler jerseys are still listed at full price, albeit in a less-prominent location than those Derrick Rose Bulls jerseys or the many selections from the Blackhawks, a team with enough marketable stars to stock a closet.
"Everybody thought Jay Cutler was going to have an outstanding season," Rob Karr, president of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, says in defense of those merchandise buyers who planned for a bull market in Bears gear. "It didn't happen that way."
It's not all on the shoulders of Cutler, who, in spite of his boneheaded, game-losing blunders, still is piling up some of the best statistics of his Bears career. Fans don't seem to be clamoring for the jerseys of teammates Brandon Marshall, Alshon Jeffery, Matt Forte, Shea McClellin and Kyle Fuller, either. And that Jared Allen plush figurine is moving off the shelves with the same speed that the old defensive lineman has been showing on Sundays. If anyone buys a Lance Briggs No. 55 jersey these days, it's probably either a reference to the aging linebacker's Double Nickel Smokehouse restaurant or the whopping 55 points his defense gave up to the rival Packers.
Retail, like the NFL, is a tough business. There can be some last-second shuffling, but most retail buyers order their inventories almost a year in advance, Karr says.
"If you buy yellow when the customer wants purple, you've got a problem," Karr says.
Some would say yellow is a good color for a Bears team that has shown little fight while suffering back-to-back historically bad defeats that have left fans embarrassed. One store clerk says the sales situation is summed up nicely by a cartoon flying around the Internet. In the cartoon, Homer Simpson is wearing a Bears shirt. He discreetly disappears into a hedge row and reappears wearing a Blackhawks shirt as if that was the team he was supporting all along.
At the Champs Sports store in Woodfield Mall, my inquiry about the sales of Cutler jerseys draws laughs. The corporate world is as secretive as Bears management, so employees aren't allowed to say if the lack of Cutler jerseys means they sold out (ha-ha). Perhaps they are in a backroom waiting to be brought out as soon as the Bears trounce the Vikings on Sunday. More likely, they are being put to use by the nighttime janitorial staff to, as Cutler likes to say, "clean up some of the little things." Quarterback jersey options for shoppers include the Green Bay Packers' Aaron Rodgers, the Indianapolis Colts' Andrew Luck, the San Francisco 49ers' Colin Kaepernick, Robert Griffin III of Washington, Peyton Manning of the Denver Broncos, the Seattle Seahawks' Russell Wilson and even a No. 2 jersey of Johnny Manziel, who, as a backup quarterback for the Cleveland Browns, has yet to complete an NFL pass, but does have 10 fewer interceptions than Cutler.
Of course, stores still placate Bears fans with jerseys from past glory days, such as the 1966 Mike Ditka jersey or the classic 1985 Walter Payton jersey, which "always sell," a clerk says.
In addition to the attractive displays for the Bulls and Blackhawks, Dick's shelves sport Cubs and Sox gear. Both of those squads still peddle former glory with jerseys of past stars such as Frank Thomas, Greg Maddux, Ron Santo, Paul Konerko and Carlton Fisk. The jerseys of Starlin Castro and Javier Baez dominate the current Cubs offerings, and the store should sell plenty of Sox jerseys featuring star pitcher Chris Sale and newly crowned Rookie of the Year Jose Abreu. But the half-priced jersey of one-time phenom Gordon Beckham, who was traded from the Sox to the Angels last season and now has a less-than-certain future, is a reminder of how fickle the fan market can be.
"It's the same risk for everybody. It's a little bit of guesswork," Karr says, sounding as if he could be echoing the Bears ownership team. "Sometimes you hit it, and sometimes you don't."
Jerseys: Retailers order items almost a year in advance