Seattle Seahawks 17 at Chicago Bears 24 - September 17, 2018

One of my new and entirely pointless goals is to see every team in the Big 4 on the road. Yeah, I'm really running out of reasons to go on sports road trips. Anyway, I have seen every team in the NHL, NBA, and MLB as visitors but still had seven squads in the NFL that I had yet to witness being booed savagely by the fans. I saw Jacksonville open the season against the Giants last week, and this week decided to spend a night in Chicago to see the Seahawks take on the Bears on Monday Night Football.



After an uneventful flight from LaGuardia, I took the train into the city. I stayed in Chinatown, which is actually just a short walk from the Solider Field. There is a pedestrian bridge over the train tracks that can be accessed from 18th Street and leads to an underpass to the stadium (above). Even two hours before the game there were plenty of fans on the way, so you can't get lost.



After coming out of the underpass, you are at Gate 0 on the south side of the stadium. The west side is where I would be sitting, so I entered via Gate 9 and walked up the long flight of stairs to the 300 level, where you can find the promenade with its Doric columns.



Thanks to fellow sports traveler Andrew, who has season tickets, I was sitting at the goal line in the upper deck (view below).



I wandered around a bit, getting my free bottle of water as a designated driver and grabbing a Buona Italian Beef, my go-to sandwich when in Chicago. Along the way, I took a few pictures from different areas of the stadium. Below is a shot of the north end zone, which is not as steep as the other areas.



The upper deck looking south.



The seating bowl from the promenade level, with the columns to the right.



The field from the north end zone.



There are also some historical touches and a couple of displays that were interesting. Above each section is a past Bear great, such as Red Grange welcoming you to Section 443.



On the first floor near Gate 15 there is a large monument dedicated to Bears founder George Halas.



When I visited on my 2013 trip, there were a number of historical displays on the west side, but they had been removed. In their place was a Bears locker room experience booth, where you could put on helmets for photo opportunities.



The theme this season is Monsters of the Midway and set to a comic book motif. Former Bear Israel Idonije and his company Athlitacomics came up with the idea and you can see it everywhere around the stadium, including this giant poster. Tickets and the game day program are also designed in this style and are collectibles if you can get every one.



Before the game, five military skydivers jumped in, with the final two unfurling the Stars and Stripes and the POW/MIA flag. Quite a cool sight as always.



Of course, Bear Down Chicago Bears is the theme song, and this slogan was on display as the Bears defense was introduced. Newly acquired Khalil Mack received the loudest cheers.



Halftime saw Brian Urlacher honoured for his Hall of Fame induction earlier this year. NFL halftimes are usually 12 minutes but today it was 14 minutes so they could get everything set up, introduce many of Urlacher's former teammates, listen to a speech from owner Virginia Halas McCaskey, and have Urlacher speak as well. It was done with precision timing and most fans stayed in their seats to watch.



There was also a game, which turned out to be exactly the type of game I like: defensive, with lots of running plays and some extended drives to take time off the clock. Seattle got the ball first and punted after an 8-play drive that ended with the first of 6 Chicago sacks on Russell Wilson. The Bears started from their 4 and marched down the field, helped by three Seattle penalties, scoring a touchdown on a shovel pass from Mitch Trubisky to Trey Burton. In the second quarter, Trubisky threw a couple of picks leading to a few TrubINTsky tweets, but the Seahawks could not capitalize. With 6:33 remaining in the half, Chicago began a drive from their own 49. They ran 12 plays for only 44 yards, taking 5:26 off the clock before kicking a field goal. It was almost perfect, but they left Seattle just enough time to run the two-minute drill and Sebastian Janikowski nailed a 56-yard field goal to make it 10-3 at the half.



The third quarter was scoreless, but the Bears used the last 5:30 to move the ball to the Seattle 17. On the second play of the final frame, Trubisky found rookie Anthony Miller in the end zone to give the Bears a 17-3 lead. It was Miller's first NFL touchdown, quite a story for a guy who was a walk-on at Memphis.  On their ensuing possession, Seattle finally got their offense clicking, driving 75 yards culminating in a 19-yard pass from Wilson to Tyler Lockett. After the Bears punted, Seattle had a chance to tie, but Wilson was intercepted by Prince Amukamara, who took it 49 yards for the touchdown. It was Wilson's first pick six since 2012, his rookie year and it essentially clinched the game. Seattle did score a touchdown with 14 seconds left as Chicago allowed them to march down the field taking time off the clock, but the onside kick was easily taken by Chicago as they won 24-17, my favourite football score.



A good game with Chicago winning due to ball control and stifling defense. Trubisky still has some learning to do, but he could become a competent game manager and this team could surprise later in the season.

Notes

The remaining NFL games this season to see all road teams: Houston at Indianapolis on September 30, Tennessee at Buffalo on October 7, Pittsburgh at Cincinnati on October 14, Tampa Bay at the Giants on November 18, and Green Bay at the Jets on December 23.

Best,

Sean