Report: Adrian Phillips

IT’S ONLY WHEN Americans and Brits try having a conversation about “football”, that the so-called shared language of English reveals its massive difference. “Soccer”, as our friends across The Pond call it, is a wholly different game from American football, although the passions run equally deep. But this October, for the first time in the game’s history, there will be an official NFL fixture in London, when the Miami Dolphins clash with the New York Giants at Wembley Stadium. Tickets are like gold dust, though, and only a lucky few will get the chance to witness this spectacle. The much easier option is to take in a Bears game (and a taste of sporting razzmatazz) during a city break to Chicago itself.

For some fans, it all started with the man nicknamed “The Fridge”, a defensive linesman called William Perry (right), who played for the Chicago Bears during the 1980s. A gap-toothed mountain of a man who weighed 26 stones (370lb) in his considerable underpants, he got his nickname from his sheer size. He once observed that “even when he was little, he was big”. The Fridge on the hoof was a formidable sight, and the inspiration behind many people’s childhood devotion to the game.

 Earlier this year, the Bears made it to Super Bowl XLI, that end-of-season climax in which the winner of the National Football Conference (NFC) plays the winner of the American Football Conference (AFC) to determine the overall champion of the National Football League (NFL). As it happens, the Bears lost to the Indianapolis Colts in pouring rain. But the event isn’t just about the four-hour match itself. Just as well. On that occasion, the fireworks were spectacular and Prince crooned to perfection.

In the US, the match is just one act of the show. Super Bowl 2004 isn’t remembered for the contest, but as the one at which Janet Jackson had a “wardrobe malfunction” as she performed a duet on the pitch with Justin Timberlake. The players themselves also straddle this blurred line between sport and showmanship. The Fridge recorded rap songs, was immortalised in plastic as a GI Joe action figure, and in 1986 ­ the same year that the Bears won the Super Bowl ­ took part in a televised wrestling match alongside other NFL stars.

The American football jamboree began nearly a century ago. In 1919, the AE Staley company in Illinois founded a team as a way of raising the morale of its employees. The team name ­ the Decatur Staleys ­ lacked sexiness and it wasn’t long before the Staleys became the Chicago Bears, a deliberate nod towards the Chicago Cubs baseball club, whose stadium they shared. Their shaping force was George “Papa Bear” Halas, a man whose fingers were in every part of the team pie ­ from playing and scouting to choosing the club colours of navy blue and orange. Indeed, Halas’ influence extended to the very sport itself as he ushered in the attitude of modern professionalism. After signing Harold “Red” Grange on an unprecedented salary of $100,000 (a sum 50 times that paid to players a couple of years before), he took the team on a gruelling mid-1920s publicity tour in which they played 16 games in nine weeks. Halas and his Bears were courting the masses.

The next 20 years proved a prosperous period for the Bears, who won titles for fun. They continued to have a significant impact on the game, most notably in the 1940s, when they devised the T-shaped attacking formation that remains the staple today. Even though the Bears of the 1950s to 1970s were famed for having tough players, aside from the 1963 NflChampionship trophy, the cabinet remained bare. But in the 1980s they rose once more under head coach Mike Ditka. During his playing days Ditka had been a bull-necked player with a ferocious reputation.

“I just try to hit the other guy before he hits me,” he once said. “And if I hit hard enough, maybe he won’t want to hit me back.” He had some supremely gifted players at his disposal ­ including Walter Payton, who was, in Ditka’s view, “the greatest Bear of them all”.

Payton was as athletic as they come ­ one of his party pieces was to leap over the head of a man measuring 6′ 4″ ­ and his silky running style earned him the nickname “Sweetness”. Allied to this talent was a burning desire to win; his mantra was: “If you are going to die, you should die hard ­ never die easily.” The result was a player who smashed records; between 1975 and 1987, Payton rushed almost 4,000 times for 16,726 yards and 110 touchdowns. He is one of just 13 players in the Bears’ history to have his shirt number (34) “retired” as a mark of respect. While the Bears only won a single championship (in 1986), for the five-year period between 1984 and 1988 they enjoyed the best record of any team in history. Even the rap song they released ­ The Super Bowl Shuffle ­ received a Grammy nomination.

So to the 21st century and the arrival in 2004 of coach Lovie Smith, who made several ambitious promises when he joined and delivered on them the following year when clean-sweeping the mighty Green Bay Packers and winning the NFC North division title. He went on to take the Bears to the Super Bowl for the first time in 20 years, becoming the first African American head coach to do so (an honour shared with his opposite number on the day, Tony Dungy). Next year he’s determined to go one better.

Can Rex Grossman, the much-maligned quarterback, have a consistent and injury-free season? Can Devin Hester ­ a thrilling and game- changing runner who exploded on to the scene as a rookie in 2006 ­ repeat his record-breaking feats? If it all comes together, you wouldn’t bet against the Bears roaring once more, so this is the ideal time to go and see them in action.

Situated along a lakefront, Soldier Field ­ which was originally constructed as a memorial to the men who fell in World War I ­ has been the home of the Chicago Bears since 1971. Rebuilt in 2003 in just 20 months ­ the shortest time ever for a modern stadium ­ it’s now a state-of-the-art arena with a capacity of 62,000.

If you have a ticket to a match, get there early if you want to enjoy the “tailgating” festivities: the pre-game ritual whereby fans gather in designated car parks to eat, drink and soak up the atmosphere. Then the home team enters the field through a giant bear’s head.

WHAT’S GOING ON?

American football can seem baffling to the outsider, but the rules are fairly simple.

The primary aim is to carry the ball over the opposing team’s end line to score a “touchdown”, worth six points (after which the kicker has the opportunity to add a further point by kicking the ball through the goalposts). The team in possession has four attempts to move the ball 10 yards forward; if it succeeds, it receives a further four attempts to advance a further 10 yards, and so on. If the attacking team fail to move the ball the necessary distance, it is turned over to the other team.

Often a team will kick the ball on the fourth attempt to ensure the opposition is forced to start their attack from as far back as possible. Another scoring option is a “field goal”, which is worth three points and involves one player propping the ball upright on the floor and another kicking it over the crossbar of the goalposts. For more information, visit www.nfleurope.com ­ a very beginner-friendly website.

To book a 45-minute stadium tour, call +1 312 235 7244; tours cost from $15 for adults.

To see a game, the NFL fixture list is released each April, and tickets to single games are generally sold in July on
www. ticketmaster.com or by calling +1 312 559 1212