The Chicago Bears will take the field today at Lambeau Field with a quiet but unmistakable mark of remembrance on their helmets.

The Bears have revealed that a navy decal outlined in orange, bearing a white “89,” will sit on the rear left corner of each helmet as the team faces the Green Bay Packers.

The number belongs to Mike Ditka, the Hall of Fame tight end and Super Bowl-winning coach who died Friday at age 86.

Ditka’s connection to Chicago ran deeper than most. Drafted fifth overall by the Bears in 1961 out of Pittsburgh, he quickly reshaped the tight end position.

In an era when the role was still largely about blocking, Ditka became a dangerous receiver, posting 1,000-yard seasons and earning five Pro Bowl selections in six years with the club.

He helped deliver an NFL championship in 1963 before later stints in Philadelphia and Dallas. When George Halas brought him back as head coach in 1982, Ditka inherited a talented but unfinished roster.

Three seasons later, he steered the 1985 Bears to a 15-1 record and a 46-10 thrashing of the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX, still the franchise’s only Super Bowl title.

The number 89 was officially retired by the Bears in 2013, and team chairman George McCaskey indicated at the time that it would be the last such honor the organization would bestow.

That decision makes the helmet decal especially pointed: it is a temporary echo of a permanent tribute. Similar decals have appeared in recent seasons to honor other late Bears greats, including Steve McMichael.

The club has indicated that additional tributes for Ditka will follow when the team next plays at home.

Sunday’s game itself carries its own weight. The Bears enter 3-1 and as slight road favorites against a 2-2 Packers team in the NFL’s oldest rivalry.

Yet for one afternoon the standings and the historic series take a secondary place.

Players and coaches will wear the 89 as they line up against Green Bay, a visible reminder of the man who once defined the franchise’s toughness on both sides of the ball.

Ditka’s family, in announcing his death, noted that while the world knew him as a player, coach, and champion, they knew him first as husband, father, and grandfather.

The helmet sticker will not capture that private side. It will simply ensure that, on a Sunday in Green Bay, the number he made famous is still visible on a Bears helmet.