The Day I Became a Bears Fan

In 1979, I was eight years old and the Chicago Bears were on the verge of going to the playoffs. All the Bears had to do was beat the St. Louis Cardinals (The football Team) and they were in. Except, on that cold day on December 16, 1979, there were a couple of sticking points: The bears had to win by 33 or more points and Dallas had to beat the Washington Redskins. In addition, the Bears had not scored more than 30 points in 10 years.

The morning of that glorious day was a sad chapter in bears history, as the son of founder George "Papa Bear" Halas died.  George Halas Jr., more commonly known as Mugs Halas, died of a massive heart attack at the age of 54. 

This Sunday morning game hooked me on the Bears forever.

With Mike Phipps under center, the bears went to work. Walter Payton left. Payton right. Payton up the middle. That was the offensive game strategy for bears back in the mid 1970s.   This particular day, Payton would score three TD on the ground.  Mike Phipps threw two TD and the Bears went on to Win 42-6.

Later that evening, my parents and I went to a religious function.   The crowd, huddled around a pocket radio, was actively listening to the Cowboys—Redskins. Dallas was down two TD with two minutes to go.  It didn't look good for the Bears. Amazingly, Roger Staubach brought the Cowboys back with two late TD and the Cowboys held on to defeat the Redskins.

The Bears were in the Playoffs and I was hooked.

27 years later, I've seen or been to almost 98 percent of all Bears games.