A trip down memory lane of a die-hard Bears fan
I have been a Bears fan all of my life as I am sure many of you reading this have been. When the clock struck twelve on January 1st, 2018 little did I know that that year would be a year that would be glued to my spirit and become a part of who I am today. I remember being at work the night of the draft. Pondering my emotions at the time, I was grumpy because I wanted to be at home to watch it, however, I had to make money for my family. The Bears were on the clock and as my phone buzzed when the Bears picked I was hoping we would draft someone that would take our team to the next level. The pick came through and it was Roquan Smith. Here we draft a linebacker that can close quickly like a lightning bolt with pads on. I knew he would be a great addition to our team.
Let's fast forward to training camp. I will never forget the feeling that I received as I was scrolling through social media and I saw «BREAKING NEWS» with the Bears logo. That is all I needed to see for my heart to drop. WE TRADED FOR KHALIL MACK! I felt like a child would on Christmas morning. Our terrifying defense just got even scarier! This proved true when the season started. Though a heart-crushing loss against Greenbay, we got to see WHO Khalil Mack was. The year was a fun year, a year of laughter and excitement. Nagy's offense was fun that year. My father-in-law and I would joke about how good we were due to the heartbreak of previous Bears teams. Whenever he would see my wife, he would say, «Hey! Did Will watch the game?» and she would tell him I did.
The happiness continued until the night we played the Eagles. I remember that day vividly. I was cooking pasta and a meat sauce. Every now and then I will add wine to my sauce to conjure the richness of the sauce. As I was finishing my sauce, the time came for Cody Parkey to make the game-winning field goal. My heart was in my throat prior to the kick. Two inches from the TV screen my eyes were glued, he kicked it and made it!!!! In excitement, I screamed. My excitement was quickly demolished when I saw that a timeout was called. At that moment I knew we would lose. He kicked it again and the ball hit the field goal post TWICE in what would be known as the famous double doink! Our season ended the way it began, in heartbreak. This was truly a heartbreaking season with exciting moments packed in between. The most memorable part of the season wasn't the double doink. It was that this would be the final good Chicago Bears season that I would get to watch with my father-in-law who later died from Covid on my birthday 11/17/2020. This season would be forever marked as a special season, not only due to the Bears and their success and failures but because it would be the final season I would truly enjoy with my father-in-law.
This article was written by William Tyrone Jackson II
