Renderings were released. Job-creation stats were projected. Charts were made. The possibility of a Chicago Super Bowl was dangled as if it were a done deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cLittle help here?\u201d is all the McCaskey family was saying, like a kid asking their next-door neighbor to retrieve a ball that landed in their yard.<\/p>\n
But the \u201cnoes\u201d kept coming.<\/p>\n
No, we have more pressing problems than helping you get richer, and no, even if we did need a new Bears stadium, we already helped you jerry-rig a new one inside your old stadium, and outside of the suite level it\u2019s almost as outdated as the old one some 20-odd years later.<\/p>\n
Still, the Bears persevered, like Monsters of the Midway often do, and even made a few audibles along the way. They announced a plan to build a new stadium<\/a> on the Arlington Park site in Arlington Heights in 2021, then switched back to the lakefront, then back to Arlington Heights again.<\/p>\n No, no and no.<\/p>\n They\u2019d build it themselves,<\/a> by gum, but hey, how about a little help on infrastructure and with the property taxes?<\/p>\n \u201cThis project does not represent us leaving, it represents us expanding,\u201d President and CEO Kevin Warren wrote in a letter sent to season ticket holders on Sept. 8. \u201cThe Bears draw fans from all over Illinois, and over 50 percent of our season ticket holders live within 25 miles of the Arlington Heights site.\u201d<\/p>\n But the answer, once again, was no.<\/p>\n Then, out of the blue, the unthinkable happened. The Bears dramatically improved under a new coach and are in first place with a 10-4 record heading into Saturday\u2019s showdown against the Green Bay Packers<\/a> at Soldier Field. A win over the Packers likely would seal a playoff spot and offer hope that the suffering under the reigns of Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love was finally over.<\/p>\n To the Bears owners, this seemed like the logical time to finally say \u201cOK, we took the hint and we\u2019re changing our minds and open to moving to northwest Indiana.\u201d So Warren revealed the team\u2019s plan<\/a> to look at alternative sites in an interview with the Chicago Tribune\u00a0and sent another letter to fans to let them know their hands were tied by the lack of legislative help, forcing the Bears to \u201cexpand our search\u201d to other communities, including Northwest Indiana.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom a TV, media, radio-rights standpoint and our fan base, it\u2019s an extension of Chicago,\u201d he told the Tribune. \u201cIt seems like it would provide a viable opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n Warren wrote to fans \u201cthis is not about leverage.\u201d There was no angry-face emoji added to the letter, but the tone was clear: We are serious, people. If you don\u2019t believe us, just watch.<\/p>\n The politicians acted accordingly. Gov. Pritzker\u2019s office called the Indiana plan a \u201cstartling slap in the face\u201d to all Bears fans, presumably including his own. Mayor Brandon Johnson, after many hours spent coming up with the right response, offered this gem: \u201cIs my face straight? All right, keeping a straight face here. The Bears belong in the city of Chicago. The Chicago Bears belong in the city of Chicago, right?\u201d<\/p>\n No one cracks up Brandon Johnson like Brandon Johnson, who at least refrained from threatening to sue the team over using the name Chicago if they moved to Indiana, as the late Mayor Richard J. Daley threatened to do 50 years ago. That was when former owner George Halas, the beloved patriarch of the unbeloved family that currently owns the team, announced the Bears were leaving<\/a> for a new stadium in Arlington Heights that would be financed through revenue bonds issued by the suburb.<\/p>\n \u201cThe area is just a natural,\u201d said George Halas Jr., the team\u2019s president and son of Papa Bear, at the announcement of the plan. \u201cWith all the existing highways, it\u2019s accessible to Wisconsin, Indiana, and the north, west and south sides of Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n That never happened, and neither did any of the other threats<\/a> to leave in the ensuing 50 years, though the Bears did secure public funding for the Crash-Landing Spaceship By the Lake renovation of 2003.<\/p>\n Meanwhile,\u00a0Indiana Gov. Mike Braun and various Indiana politicians began shouting about how great the Hoosier State is<\/a> and how they\u2019d love to have the Bears call it home. The idea of the Bears playing in Krazy Kaplans Fireworks<\/a> Stadium near an oil refinery off the Skyway was suddenly a reality.<\/p>\n These are heady times for Indiana, a border state our ancestors once crossed only to buy cheap cigarettes, fireworks and maybe an anniversary dinner at Phil Smidt\u2019s<\/a> or Al Knapp\u2019s. Even if the \u201cHell is Real\u201d billboard off I-65 suggests otherwise, it\u2019s a new era for our Hoosier friends.<\/p>\n The perennially awful Indiana University heads into the College Football Playoff<\/a> unbeaten and the No. 1 seed. Republican state legislators earned applause from blue-bleeding Democrats for standing up to President Donald Trump\u2019s gerrymandering demands.<\/p>\n Indiana wants your money and has been successful in luring Illinois residents across the border for a less taxing life and a lower tax burden. It\u2019s a short hike down Route 41 from Hegewisch to Hammond, and you can\u2019t really tell the difference. So it makes sense they also would want to lure the Bears to create jobs and revenues and put their names on a map like Arlington, Texas, or East Rutherford, N.J.<\/p>\n While everyone speculates about whether the Bears would dare to move to a different state, Bears fans are preparing for the biggest game in years<\/a>\u00a0on what should be a raw and raucous night at Soldier Field. The names of Papa Bear and Vince Lombardi will be invoked again, along with Butkus and Sayers, Favre and Rodgers and other legends of sports\u2019 greatest rivalry.<\/p>\n Back in 1975 when the Bears first threatened to move to their domed stadium, the original Mayor Daley was asked whether it was really needed. \u201cWhat the hell, you don\u2019t need a closed stadium in Chicago,\u201d he barked. \u201cWe\u2019re robust people, sturdy people, in the Midwest. We like to sit out in October and November and inhale that fine breeze and pure air from Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Bears](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CTC-L-bears-vikings-sweda064.jpg\")
Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren, second from right, and Chairman George McCaskey, second from left, chat on the field before facing the Vikings on Nov. 16, 2025, in Minneapolis. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n