NFL: 49er’s Jerry Rice fulfilled Don Hutson’s Prediction

One can only imagine how most NFL fans might wish to celebrate the departure of Jerry Rice from his career of terrorizing NFL defensive backfields all of these years. I for one will do it with a cold bottle of something and a hearty Huzzah! But admit it or not, most fans, actually all of the NFL will miss one of the greatest wide receivers in pro football history.

Don Hutson would miss Jerry Rice were he still here to do so. Hutson, who passed away in ’97, was 50 years ahead of his time playing wide receiver in the NFL. The “Alabama Antelope” broke into football in ’35 when most teams didn’t own a passing game. Hutson created many of his own pass patterns leading the Packers to four NFL Championships during his 11-year career. During that time he led the league in touchdowns 8 times, receptions 8 times, and finished his career 62 TDs ahead of his contemporaries with his record 99 scoring catches.

Hutson knew Jerry Rice was destined to NFL greatness. It was after just 3 or 4 years of Rice’s professional career that ESPN’s Chris Berman sat down and quizzed the NFL Hall-of-Famer about his opinions on the current crop of receivers. When asked who stood out in his view, Hutson said that he thought Jerry Rice would eventually hold every receiving record in the league. Well, Don Hutson was right.

This from one of the Packer greats that set the standard for receivers in the NFL for generations to come. Hutson’s career touchdown reception record stood for 44 years until broken in ’89 by Steve Largent. Rice now holds that record with 176 receiving TDs through the end of the 2000 season. And Rice did it without the overkill showboating and commercialization all too common amongst many of today’s prominent athletes.

What did Hutson see in Rice that reminded him of the great receivers of his day? He saw that smooth, fluid running motion. He watched Rice leave opponents grabbing for air when he put on that unexpected burst of speed. He saw a receiver who could find the open area of the field and make his own route to get there, signaling his quarterback all the way that this one had touchdown written all over it. He saw a player obsessed with being the best at his position. He saw Don Hutson all over again.

The rest of us learned what Hutson knew, but for the most part we learned way too late. Like after Rice was already in the end zone with another 49er touchdown, notching another 49er win.

Following Hutson’s early prediction Rice stayed atop the NFL receiver charts for the next 10 years. And while Rice seemed destined for NFL greatness from the early stages of his career, it certainly didn’t hurt being teamed with two of the great pro quarterbacks in the history of the game during his 16-seasons.

With the likes of Joe Montana and Steve Young throwing his way Rice now holds NFL career records for receptions (1,281), receiving yards (19,247), total yards from scrimmage (19,878), touchdowns (186), receiving touchdowns (176), 1,000-yard receiving seasons, consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons and games with 100 receiving yards. Nobody has done it like Rice in the history of the league.

With the long-legged Rice running the best routes in the NFL San Francisco won 3 Super Bowl titles and Jerry attended 12 Pro Bowls in his sixteen seasons. I know that whenever Dallas played the 49ers it was inevitably Jerry Rice that made our day miserable. If not, then the Pokes had been extremely lucky that game. It was Rice that pegged down the 38-28 playoff win over Dallas in ’94 that blocked the Cowboys from their shot at a four-year sweep of Super Bowl titles in the last decade of the old millenium. Damn that Jerry Rice.

Jerry and his teammates know that he’s lost a step this last few seasons. But Rice has been a leader and a teacher to the entire 49er receiving corps and his presence will be sorely missed. Rice is the last remaining vestige of a glorious 49er past and he has done his best to pass that legacy on to the young receivers now establishing themselves in the bay area. You might know that Rice is Terrell Owens’s idol.

It looks as if Rice’s legacy will live long and well under the guise of Mr. Owens. In what was possibly Jerry’s last 49er home game Owens caught an NFL record 20 passes for 238 yards and a touchdown in a 17-0 route of the Chicago Bears. “What I did by no means overshadows #80,” Owens said regarding his mentor. “He’s been a big part of my success.”

In that game Owens surpassed the Rams’ Tom Fears’ old record of 18 catches in a game set in ‘50, and broke Rice’s team record of 16 receptions set in ’94. Running off the field following his record setting performance, Jerry Rice was the first to hug Owens and congratulate his student on his accomplishment.

Jerry caught 6 passes for 61 yards in what was possibly his final NFL game against the Denver Broncos at Denver last week. His final 9-yard catch came with 6:30 left in the game and in a final mile high salute the fans chanted his name as he left the Mile High Stadium field that is destined to be replaced next season as well. Out with the old and in with the new.

“It caught me by surprise,” Rice said of that parting Bronco tribute. “For them to show me the respect like that, I guess I did something right over the years. I was very appreciative.” I think he did and I’m sure that he was.

Rice wants to come back for a 17th season but 49er general manager and former self proclaimed football genius Bill Walsh has declared that the team likely can’t afford his $4.2 million price tag next. San Francisco is faced with a possible $11 million salary cap overrun in 2001 and may be forced to part with Rice in favor of an established 49er youth movement.

It doesn’t matter if Rice ever catches another pass for the 49ers or anyone else in the NFL, he’ll always be a most worthy opponent in my book. One who has met his pro football destiny and has nothing to prove to me, Don Hutson, or anyone else. I don’t want my Cowboys to ever have to play against him again, but when he finally reaches the end of his NFL road, I will hate to see Jerry Rice go.