When the news of Dick Butkus dying broke, I was crushed. We haven’t won in almost a calendar year. We started this season off 0-4. Everybody wants the coach fired. Is Fields the guy or not? We’re losing guys on both sides of the ball to injury. We face planted against the Packers to start the season, lost to an average Bucs team, got embarrassed by the Chiefs, and then blew a 21 point lead to the Broncos while I was at the game. And now THIS?!?! It was too much already; we had reached a breaking point. If the Bears didn’t win this game… they BETTER win this game. This game on Thursday night in Washington DC vs the Commanders all of a sudden took on a whole different meaning. This game became more important than any other game this season. Yes, for all the reasons I mentioned, but more so than any of those, IMO, was to win one for Dick. If the Bears had an ounce of heart, a sliver of a soul, they would come out and lay their bodies on the line to get this W. This wasn’t just any guy…
Dick Butkus was one of the best football players of all time; outside of Sweetness, he was the best Chicago Bear of all time. He was a legend. He was born and raised to be a Bear, growing up in Chicago, playing High School football at CVS (and no, not Walgreens’ competitor), and college ball at Illinois. He was one of the original Monsters of the Midway, and if you’ve ever watched a Butkus highlight reel and/or listened to guys that he played against talk, he literally WAS a monster. He retired before I was born, but I know about him; I’ve read, watched highlights, listened to other people talk about him. He WAS the Chicago Bears. I was lucky enough to cross his path, with about 60,000 other Bears fans on the night the Bears retired both his and Sayers’ numbers. I’m sure I’ve shared this story… I was working as a bus boy on that Monday night, and man, was it coming down… like a monsoon. There was a young couple in there, having a pre-game dinner. Looking at the weather outside, they determined they would not be going to the game, and if I wanted the tickets; I asked the waitress if I could cut out. Once she said yeah, I hopped on my phone, called my friend, picked him up, and headed down to Soldier Field. It was coming down like crazy, we were getting our asses handed to us by Edgar Bennett and the Packers, but, but… when they brought Butkus and Sayers on the field at halftime to retire their numbers… priceless.
Yeah, there was no way possible the Bears could lose this game, on this night. The thought of disowning the Bears, like what my son said “if the Bears lose this one I’ll never root for them again”, doesn’t come in my brain much, and when it does, I chuckle, because I know that’s impossible, but I had those types of feelings after I heard the news of Butkus dying. I hadn’t placed a wager on either side at that point, but once I heard this news, it was an easy decision. There was no way in hell I would bet one red cent against my Bears on THIS night regardless of what I thought the outcome of the game would be. I don’t care how much I want to bet with my head, there is part of my heart that would NEVER allow this. Bears +6, and you know what, ML too, for me… for Butkus…
The Bears came out and kicked their ass… in the first half. We had seen this last week, and yes, the second half did get a little dicey, especially after we lost all of our RBs to injury, but… we prevailed, and let me tell you, I haven’t been this happy about a Bears victory in a long, long time. I know they haven’t won in a long, long time, but man… this one was much needed; I was proud of our boys on this night. We ended our streak, won our first game this year, and honored a Bears legend. There are times when it’s not easy being a die-hard fan, and then there are days like this, that make it all worth it. Nice job guys; congrats. Bear Down!
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