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Douglass once threw four touchdown passes in a game -- three of them with a broken wrist. Douglass was listed at 6 feet 4, 225 pounds in an era when a lot of defensive linemen weren't much bigger.
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Before there was Tim Tebow, before there was Michael Vick, before there was Randall Cunningham, before there was Steve Young, there was Bobby Douglass.
If you have a few gray hairs, you will remember old No. 10, who played quarterback for the Bears between 1969 and 1975.
And if you don't have a few gray hairs, pull up a chair and let me tell you about him and why he's significant today.
The Blond Bomber from Kansas played quarterback the way Dick Butkus played linebacker. He finished runs with stiff-arms and helmets flying in the air. If he hadn't been trapped under center, he may have been the next Mike Ditka at tight end.
Douglass once threw four touchdown passes in a game -- three of them with a broken wrist. One of the passes went 70 yards in the air. He played the last four games of the 1973 season with a torn ACL.
Like the current quarterback of the Broncos, Douglass was known as a runner playing quarterback.
Tebow this season has more runs (82) than completions (75).
The last quarterback to turn that trick?
It was Douglass, who did it in 1972 (141-75) and '73 (94-81).
There are other similarities between Tebow and Douglass. Both are left-handers. Both are unusually big for the position. Douglass was listed at 6 feet 4, 225 pounds in an era when a lot of defensive linemen weren't much bigger. Tebow is 6-3, 236.
Both could throw a football through drywall. Both have been criticized for a lack of accuracy and touch. And both were considered candidates for a position switch.
"He's pretty similar, probably very similar, to me," said Douglass, now 64 and living in Lake Forest after having recently survived squamous-cell cancer in his throat. "Not to sound egotistical, but I think I was a little better passer. That's the No. 1 thing he has to become. He probably just needs to work on it. People are probably underestimating his ability to throw."
Douglass might have had more success in the NFL if the Bears had used him the way the Broncos are using Tebow. When the Bears drafted him in the second round in 1969, they saw him as a prototype of what quarterbacks could become, a hybrid passer-runner. But in typical Bears fashion, they didn't trick up the offense to accommodate him.
That's one of the reasons Douglass was 13-31-1 as a starter for the Bears and Tebow is 7-3.
On first and second downs, the Bears typically had Douglass hand off or run. Then, on third and long, they had him drop back to pass.
"Had somebody used my running ability like they've done somewhat with Vick and with Tebow, it would have worked," Douglass said. "There is room for a quarterback like that. I wish they would have run the option with me and Walter (Payton)."
Over the two seasons when Douglass started most of the Bears' games, he averaged almost nine carries per game. But Douglass believes a quarterback in today's game can run it a little more than that.
In the spread option the Broncos use, opposing defenders aren't clumped together and there is more space for the quarterback to operate.
The quarterback also doesn't have to end his run the way he did when Douglass played. In 1985, the NFL adopted a rule that allows ballcarriers to slide to avoid hits.
"They hit me on the sidelines, close to out of bounds, more times than you could imagine," Douglass said. "Now the quarterback doesn't have to worry about being Mr. Macho, running over guys like a fullback does."
So Douglass doesn't necessarily buy the argument that a big, physical quarterback like Tebow won't stay healthy in an offense that counts on him to run as well as throw. It should be noted Douglass carried the ball 410 times in his NFL career and never was injured on a run.
He said his only significant injuries came when he broke his wrist on a sack and when he tore up his knee when he tried to cut on the old Soldier Field artificial turf. It was a non-contact injury.
"Quarterbacks who are good athletes can protect themselves from injury," Douglass said. "They can slide, go out of bounds, and a big strong guy like Tebow can stiff-arm a guy to keep him away. The more physical you are, the fewer injuries you are going to have. He has the physicality it takes."
The lesson the Broncos can learn from Douglass?
Don't try to jam the square peg in a round hole. Make the hole fit the peg.
It just might work.
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Twitter @danpompei
Caption: Photo (color): Bobby Douglass, above at his home in Lake Forest, had more rushes than completions in two seasons with the Bears. CHRIS SWEDA/TRIBUNE PHOTO;Photo (color): (No. 10 Bobby Douglass) TRIBUNE CUTOUT OF A GETTY PHOTO 1971
(Copyright 2011 by the Chicago Tribune)