Authentic Chicago Bears Away Urlacher Jersey

Hello guys...I currently work for Marshalls which is a discount retail store. We get jerseys in periodically, though not often, and never of the authentic variety.

We got in 6 Bears authentic jerseys about 3 weeks back. 3 blue, all of which sold out before I got the opportunity to check them out. I am assuming that they all had mesh tops/shoulders (75 percent sure about that) and open sleeves. The number and letter stitching was legit and the jock tag seemed legit as well. But, as I said, they all sold out before I got a chance to really look them over.

By the time I had come to the conclusion to purchase the jersey, we only had the 3 white jerseys left. The reason why I'm only 75 percent sure the blue jerseys had mesh tops and open sleeves is because we had 2 white jerseys with mesh tops/shoulders and 1 that had the solid shoulders and cuffed sleeves.

I put one of the all mesh/non cuffed jerseys on layaway and will be picking it up soon. The jersey with the solid shoulders and cuffed sleeve is still on the floor, and I'm thinking about buying that as well. I just want to make sure they're authentic before I do that.

I currently have no pictures of my own (of the jerseys in question) to share, but I've been doing a TON of research trying to figure out if my store got in the real deal. I've found a couple of threads here that I will be borrowing pictures or links from to give you guys a description of what I have. I hope to purchase the jerseys before February so I can give you guys a look at what it is you're actually supposed to be judging.

After all of my research, I'm almost certain that both of them are authentic. The confusion for me lies in a couple of places:
One being the fact that we got in authentic jerseys from the same team that are built in such different fashion. I figured the materials used for the jerseys would be consistent, and since they weren't consistent, then perhaps both jerseys were fake. But after reading threads on here that had comments from a Bears fan/jersey collector, it seems as though perhaps both jerseys are real.

Another area of confusion is the fact that orange stripe on the sleeve goes through the GSH whereas in just about every picture of actual game day jerseys on players from the game itself has the GSH outlined by the orange stripe (not going and showing through the letters). As I said, I don't have any pictures of the jerseys in question but here are some close examples to what it is I'm talking about.

All Mesh Jersey with questionable orange stripe:


As you guys can see, the orange stripe goes through the letters. In all game day photos, the stripes frame the letters. I've tried to get images from as far back as 2002, and the yall seem to frame the letters instead of going through them. Can't say for sure about 2003 and 2004 though.

That is the only question I have about that jersey. I've checked the jock tag and it's fine. I've check the shield and it seems fine. It doesn't have the original NFL tags, so that's also a question mark, but just judging from what I can judge, the only question mark is the orange stripe.

And here is an example of the other jersey that has solid shoulders and cuffed sleeves:

It's the only photo I can find of that style, although I haven't looked too hard, and got it from the same thread where I got the other 2 photos. The jersey seems suspect to me because of the inconsistencies in the materials used, but having read other threads with comments like these:

Quote :

Funny thing is, the sleeve numbers are actually correct! Unlike most teams, the sleeve #s on the Bears jerseys have a different font than the chest/back #s. *** On real Bears jerseys, the sleeve #s should be of a thicker and fatter font ***. So, if you ever see a jersey like this on eBay, there's a good chance it may be real.

Open sleeves are also correct. When Reebok took over, they made Bears jerseys w/ cuffed sleeves and solid shoulders (as opposed to mesh) up until 2002 I believe. After that, all Bears jerseys were made with OPEN sleeves and MESH shoulders (so actually the entire jersey would be mesh). So, if you see a Bears jersey on ebay w/ cuffed sleeves, mesh shoulders, and 'thinner' sleeve #s, it's fake. If you do see a bears jersey w/ cuffed sleeves, the shoulders should be solid

It seems as though the jersey may actually be real. To provide a better note on the item before I can put up pictures of it, the small numbers located on the sleeves of the jersey with the solid shoulders actually are a thicker or fatter font than the numbers on the front and back of the jersey. The jersey with the orange stripe but mesh shoulders has a small number font that is more like the font of the large numbers.

I know you guys can't say anything about the jerseys in question until I can actually show you the jerseys in question, but if anyone could explain the orange stripe through the letters vs framing the letters and if the jersey with the solid shoulders should still be around, that'd be great. I'm pretty good with jerseys, but this has me pretty confused, and I just want to make sure.

Oh, and just for the record, this is the jocktag on both jerseys


Thanks for your help guys. Should be able to get pics of the jerseys up soon. Good thing about this situation is they're at a store...Not online...So I can purchase them and if I'm not satisfied, I can just return it.

I'm no expert on Bears jerseys, so have no idea regarding the GSH detail, but the sleeves on the pictures provided look absolutely fine to me. Retail authentics aren't always identical to the team issued jerseys, so I wouldn't use this as an absolute reference when trying to compare the jersey you have from jerseys of that era since there may be differences. Generally, counterfeiters aren't capable of replicating screening like that. I would also expect a retailer like Marshall's to get their jerseys from reliable sources, so would be very surprised if any fake "authentics" wound up in their stores.

The jocktag that you provided was used by Reebok between 2002 and 2004. I had thought that Reebok stopped using mesh shoulders after 2001, but it could be that certain teams had them in 2002, before all teams moved to solid shoulders from 2003 onwards. This would explain why one of the jerseys has mesh shoulders (presumably 2002) and the other is solid (2003 or 2004) despite the fact that they have the same jock tag.

Hope this provides some help, but it will be easier to provide more definitive comments once you have pictures of the actual jerseys in question.

Thanks for the reply RJ3000.

I agree with you when it comes to a retail discount stores. I know they purchase their items from department stores and the like that have overstock they can't move and have to get rid of to make room for the new items for the season. But as I said, I had never seen an authentic jersey there. We've gotten plenty of EQT jerseys. We've gotten in the Adidas swingmen jersey for the NBA. Even some swingmen Nike jerseys from the Olympics. But never on the authentic level. I'm pretty comfortable with this though, I just wanted to provide as much info as possible so you guys could tell me what you thought about the situation.

Since the jocktag is from jerseys that are so old (it couldn't have been made and sent to stores any later than 2005 or 2006, no?), I'm wondering...why? How could something have been sitting around so long?

Bears authentic jerseys are all mesh to this day. Reading some of the threads from a couple of years back, the Bears fan that I quoted said that the change from a solid shoulder material to a mesh shoulder material came in 2002. Which puts the jersey with solid shoulder material into even more question given it's jock tag from the 02-04 range and the jersey material based on a pre 2002 design.

I think I'll just purchase them today and get some pictures up for you guys.

Welcome to the forum,

I don't really like to comment on jerseys I haven't seen in the flesh or pictures of it, but the Bears are one of those teams where Reebok never really got it right, some had cuffed sleeves others haven't some have mesh shoulders, some have dazzle. it is confusing. When you pick them up post some pictures and we'll tell you for sure.

Thanks for your reply Billsfan. I've got 18 pictures to up here.

I only purchased the jersey that had the solid shoulders, as I'm fairly certain that the mesh jersey is legit and I have it on layaway already. I'll be picking it up soon and posting pictures of it as well, but to get this one out of the way first...

If there are some more pictures that I should take, just let me know, and I'll get them up.





That's the jocktag.











That's the numbering, lettering and stitching.






There's the shield.

Here's just 1 random pic showing that the body is mesh and the shoulders are solid


So what's the verdict on this one guys? Thanks for all your time and help.

Sorry for the enormous pictures.

oh yeah man thats definitely the real deal, I have absolutely no question on this one. The shield is spot on. Everything seems to look right to me. Mind me asking how much you happened to buy it for?

50 bucks, with another all mesh version waiting just for me...

Man I really wish I got one of the blue ones as well.

Thanks for the reply Joe.

I also see it's made in El Salvador, which means it is most likely from 2002 and superior quality to anything you'd get from Reebok just now.

MAQ25060 wrote:

Bears authentic jerseys are all mesh to this day. Reading some of the threads from a couple of years back, the Bears fan that I quoted said that the change from a solid shoulder material to a mesh shoulder material came in 2002. Which puts the jersey with solid shoulder material into even more question given it's jock tag from the 02-04 range and the jersey material based on a pre 2002 design.

I don't think that's correct. They were all mesh up until 2001 and switched to solid shoulders from 2002, as did all teams. No teams in the NFL have all mesh jerseys any more. Assuming the jocktag is the same as the above, this makes the other jersey more intriguing. It could have been a blank 2001 body which had a 2002 jocktag attributed to it at a later date, but it will be easier to tell with pictures of it anyway.

You can't go wrong for $50 for an Urlacher!

Oh yeah. $50 is a steal, 100% genuine jersey nice pickup.