Chicago Bears take April Fools' Day jersey joke to pretty decent lengths
Our theory on April Fools’ Day jokes is twofold: In order to qualify as good, it must be (1) funny and original and (2) involve a little bit of planning and thorough execution.
The Chicago Bears appear to have checked off both boxes with their Twitter gag that dropped on Twitter early on April 1.
Yeah, it’s pretty obvious right away when you watch the following video that you’re being taken for a ride:
A historic jersey for a historic year.#Bears100 pic.twitter.com/p0ZsbSjO7Z
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) April 1, 2019
But the fact that it’s moderately funny — and funny looking when you see the guy stitching up a three-digit jersey — gets a solid thumbs up here. They also did some advanced planning with the pre-canned videos from quarterback Mitch Trubisky and team chairman George McCaskey, and neither of them are terrible actors.
More points awarded there.
“At first I thought the idea was kind of crazy,” Trubisky said. “I am like, ‘Why are we all changing our numbers?’ But you know what? It’s an honor to be a part of this historic franchise, we’re celebrating our hundred-year anniversary and I think it would be cool to put the one in front of every single jersey number. ...
“I’m pretty pumped I’m gonna be wearing 110 this year.”
And just in case you really wondered if there was a prank or not, the confirmation came in a follow-up tweet.
Wait for it...#Bears100 pic.twitter.com/ghW483Zv9l
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) April 1, 2019
Next-level commitment to the joke
The Bears could have dropped the Twitter video, everyone chortles and we move on. That would have been your garden-variety April Fools’ joke these days — the minimum commitment required.
But credit the team, even at the risk of throwing off unaware people who just happened to surf onto the official website, for carrying the joke out even further.
Check out the team’s roster on the website — for one day only, we assume:
Have to admit they’re at least going the full 60 minutes on this gag.
It’s also funny because the NFL is notorious for putting out special jersey, commemorative ones, throwbacks — the whole nine yards — and making money off of them. Sure, some are used for charitable endeavors, too. But the league certainly isn’t against the idea of making a whole lot of jerseys and profiting off them as well (all while being notoriously stringent on what players and coaches can and cannot wear on the field during games).
So there also is a little inside humor involved in the joke, too.
April Fools’ Day might be an eye-rolling holiday for many folks. We’re kind of right there with you on that one. But give the Bears a little credit for putting some effort into this one, all while getting out a little publicity for their historic season coming up.
Mission accomplished. Job fairly well done.
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