Each day in the month of June, we’ll roll out a fresh topic to get Chicago Bears fans thinking. Be sure to chime in with your answer in the comments so we can all get to know our WCG members a bit better.
As Bears fans, our memories are a lot like southeastern Washington state: a couple of beautiful peaks, with a whole lot of valley in between.
While Bears fans can’t live in their memories like the Swiss Alpinists like they do in San Francisco, Green Bay, or New England, having a Mt. Rainier and Mt. St.
Helens to marvel at is awfully nice when you’re in the gulch.
Alright, enough of my mountain analogy (side note — hope folks get outdoors this summer!). Let’s get on with the real question at hand.
What is your favorite Bears memory?
Without factoring in the enduring high of last season’s two wins over the Packers, it’s hard for me not to say Devin Hester’s Super Bowl kickoff return TD.
Beyond the obvious — a little context on why this matters to me personally. I was a Sophomore in High School when the Bears made the Super Bowl in 2006. After shaking off my childhood naiveté of my grandfather’s push to make me a Green Bay Packers fan (yuck), I didn’t have a ton of interest in football during my early schooling years, opting towards devoting my fandom to the Chicago Cubs.
Then the 2006 Bears grabbed my attention, and Devin Hester made sure it wouldn’t be given back.
Of course, 2006 was a historic year for the Bears, and especially Devin Hester who as a rookie tied the NFL record for 6 return TDs in a single season, including two in a single game (only player to ever accomplish that), and a return TD against the Packers in his first ever game.
Though none were more impactful or memorable than the opening kickoff to the Super Bowl in 2006. The rest of the game served as a valley in Bears’ lore, but Hester’s return serves as one of the great peaks in Chicago Bears history. As a 15-year-old kid, that play did more for my Bears fandom than any other and was seared favorably into my memory.
