The Chicago Bears Moving To Northwest Indiana is a Joke

Many sports have seen a fall from grace that is too brutal to explain. For one of the most iconic franchises in professional sports, each passing day shows a deeper and deeper fall.

As of today, the Chicago Bears are moving forward to building a new stadium.....in Indiana. Hammond, Indiana, to be exact. Not in the third largest city in the United States, hell, not even in the state of Illinois. This is the franchise that brought you that Super Bowl win in 1985 that Bears fans will swear is the greatest day of all-time. This could have been much easier.

The Arlington Heights proposal was perfect, and it was in the suburbs of Chicago. The team bought a piece of land for a cool $197.2 million in the area. Then came a high property tax and lawmakers making things a little bit messy with bickering and deals that fall through. The Bears, at this point, bought land for absolutely nothing. Mike Florio has said recently that he believes the franchise wants to stay in Chicago, but as of right now, it is a long shot.

The Soldier Field lease runs till 2033, which in theory gives the franchise some wiggle room to seek opportunities and other ventures to where the Chicago Bears play in the future. However, the bottom line is that the Bears need a new stadium since Soldier Field is the oldest park in the NFL and they have been longing for a state-of-the-art venue for the most iconic franchise in sports.

For people that know me, I am a geography nut. When it comes to locations and distances, you are talking my jam. I decided to pull up a map to see the difference from Hammond to Chicago.

So, I circled Hammond on this map and it seems like if you want to go to a Bears game from Chicago by hitting the 90 down, then turn to the 41 and bing, bang, boom, you are in Hammond. I'm not fully aware of how the traffic is around there, but I imagine it is hell. I also checked the mileage and time to get there.

(Thank you, Google Maps and my tablet for this info.)

As you can see, it's 29 miles to get there in 36 minutes, which probably means you would have to leave early to get there. I compared it to where I live and the destination of State Farm Stadium in Glendale.

It's about the same distance, just a shorter amount of time on this end. Also, you can see the Chicago skyline from Hammond, and it is known as the only city in Indiana that borders Chicago, according to Google and Wikipedia. All of this is tempting because the Bears have their stadium plans in Indiana fruitful as the governor of the state, Mike Braun, is fully onboard with the prospect of it happening.

Here's the problem, the Chicago Bears will be playing in another state. This in no form should be happening. They bought land for an insane amount of money, only to have nothing to show for it.

This is the section where I go on a verbal rampage depicting who is the prime culprit of this mess and of course, it's ownership. I won't speak ill of the dead, but at the same time, Virginia McCaskey had made the Bears a target of ridicule for years. Now after her passing, her son George is going to be the wrath of that ridicule. Remember when these fools fired GM Ted Phillips after a 14-2 season?

Also, how does a franchise screw up Soldier Field? You see, due to, wait for it, politics, bickering, and other riff-raff, the Bears decided to renovate one of the most historic stadiums in sports. Not everyone was on board for this, particularly the fans. After their divisional round loss to the Eagles, fans started to trash fires as crews began demolition and they were able to remove 24,000 seats in 36 hours, which is a record. After a year in Memorial Stadium on the campus of the University of Illinois, the Bears returned to Soldier Field, with mixed reviews. Despite winning awards for the new look, it was delisted on the list of National Historical Landmarks. The total bill for this was (drum roll) $632 million, with taxpayers footing $432 million of that bill. Yep, the NFL and Bears management only chipped in $200 million. Now, the irony is that ownership will cheap out on the renovation but pay top dollar on land.

I can hear the comments now, "The Jets and Giants play in New Jersey, how is this any different?" Well, from what I read, New York City is (bleep)ing crowded, like way crowded. Or and the Bears have that land they bought which I probably mentioned at least ten times in this blog.

On the field, the Chicago Bears are a team on the rise. Caleb Williams made the Madden cover, Ben Johnson is one of the best coaches in the league and their offense is improved while their defense will be on par. Hopefully, it's a grand year for them.

In the future, the Bears could hoist a Super Bowl trophy (It could happen, don't laugh), unfortunately that celebration could happen in Indiana, not Illinois.

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