ChicagoBears.com senior writer Larry Mayer recently celebrated 25 years of working for the Bears. In honor of hitting the milestone, Mayer reflected on some of his favorite moments during his tenure, including the Bears' run to Super Bowl XLI, last year's magical season under coach Ben Johnson, Charles "Peanut" Tillman's pranks and more.
What is your earliest memory of being a Bears fan?
Wow, that's a good one. I didn't expect that one. It was in 1977. The Bears were playing their season finale against the Giants, and they needed to win the game to make the playoffs. They had not made the playoffs since 1963 when they won the championship, and I was born in 1966. So it was a huge game, and it was a crazy game where it was played on an ice-covered field. Any play was made impossible.
I just remember living and dying with every moment. When they missed a field goal in overtime, I started to cry. My sister, who's younger than me, was making fun of me for crying. Bob Thomas finally made a field goal with nine seconds left in overtime, and they were just rolling around in the ice. I was very excited.
When did you start covering the Bears?
I started covering the Bears in 1992 for a publication called the Chicago Bear Report, which Doug Buffone started when he was playing linebacker for the Bears in the '70s, I believe. And then the Bears website – when it first came out, it was 2000, and the only things on the website were the schedule and a couple of shirts you could buy.
I approached Jim Miller (not the quarterback, but there was a Bears executive named Jim Miller, who was an old newspaper guy in Buffalo). He had known me from my years covering the Bears, and I just suggested the idea, 'How about if I write a couple of stories a week for you guys, and then when we both feel like we want to make it a full-time job, if we do, we'll do it?'
So for the 2000 season, I wrote three stories a week, including a game story. After that season, they decided to hire me in 2001.
Who is your all-time favorite Bear to watch?
It's definitely Walter Payton. The greatest football player who ever lived.
Who is your all-time favorite Bear to cover?
I would say Devin Hester, only because every time he was on the field, it was a moment you had to stop and catch your breath because you didn't know what was going to happen.
Who's your all-time favorite Bear to interview?
Probably Charles Tillman because he would answer questions thoroughly and thoughtfully, and he would go off on tangents that you didn't know where they were going, and they were very funny.
Do you have a favorite Charles Tillman story?
He used to scare everyone throughout the building. At training camp once, he hid in Hunter Hillenmeyer's closet in the dorm for, like, 20 minutes. He would scare people, and I always knew he would scare people, so I was very much on guard, but he got me once when he was hiding under my desk when I walked into my office, and he just popped out. It felt like the feeling in your body when you put a plug into an outlet and get shocked, where your whole body goes numb for a minute, that's what my whole body felt like.
When you think about your tenure here, what games stand out the most?
I would say both the memorable games and the memorable moments. When we won the NFC Championship Game and we went to the Super Bowl. I would say the Devin Hester comeback in Arizona in 2006 comes to mind. And then in terms of experiences, getting to go to the White House with the '85 Bears was the top one.
Second would be being able to be in Brian Urlacher's hotel room when he found out he was going to the Hall of Fame. He was nice enough to allow me and (cinematographer and engineer) Kevin Foy to share that moment with him and his family, so that was cool.
What moment stands out from your 25th season?
The two comeback, incredible wins over the Packers. The playoff win over the Packers, when we stopped them on the last play, was the first and only time that I've worked for the Bears that I was literally hugging all of my coworkers when the game ended. It was probably my most fun season, just given the expectations and the way that we won games. Even when we went to the Super Bowl, I mean, that came after we had a really good season and there were a lot of expectations, and it was obviously a fun season, but just the way we won games last year and having a quarterback and a coach like that, that's been the most fun season ever so far.
Who's the most surprising celebrity you've ever met while at a Bears game or event? Besides you?
I don't know if it was a surprise, but maybe the coolest interaction I've had was when I talked to Pete Crow-Armstrong at three games last year.
Do you have a favorite story you've written here?
Probably the one about (longtime executive assistant) Katie Nagle, just because she was so special to me and to everyone else. It was really difficult because I just wanted to make sure that I captured what she was all about, and that wasn't easy. There are no words I could really write that would really — it was hard to believe how nice of a person she was.
How would you describe Bears fans in three words?
Passionate. Loyal. All-in.
What has the Bears organization meant to you?
I always said if I couldn't be the Bears quarterback, the second-best job would be writing about the Bears for the Bears. So I feel very fortunate to have been able to work for the Bears and for the McCaskey family for so long, and to experience things I never dreamed I'd experience.
