Super Bowl XLI: So close

Until the Bears earn a trophy from the big game, fans swarm to see the next best thing

It's not the big one. But people came to see it all the same.

The Bears' NFC Championship trophy went on display in Chicago City Hall on Tuesday and all day was surrounded by swarms of fans whipping out their camera phones to grab a piece of history.

But it wasn't the history everyone really wanted to see.

"I'll be here next week -- if I'm living and breathing," said Debbie White, of Chicago's Auburn-Gresham community.

White, of course, was referring to a Bears win in Sunday's Super Bowl match\-up with the Indianapolis Colts. She wore a Bears hat, Bears scarf and Bears headband. She had "Go Bears!" painted on her nails. Her cell phone displayed a picture of Robbie Gould's winning field goal over the Seattle Seahawks.

"I'm forfeiting my lunch to come see this," White said. "I came all the way from my office on the West Side, on the CTA. This is the closest I'll get to this trophy."

As the hype builds, more and more of the city has been going orange and blue.

Chicago City Hall itself looked like the Halas Hall locker room. The elevator lobby was lit in blue and orange, with Bears flags replacing the American flags jutting out from the wall. Over the elevators were huge Bears helmet decals.

Bears flags adorn downtown light poles. The Picasso statue in Daley Plaza is wearing a Bears hat. The lions outside the Art Institute were supposed to get Bears helmets Tuesday, but the cold weather and a sizing problem will delay that until today.

And "Brach," the Field Museum's 40-foot-tall steel Brachiosaurus skeleton, is getting in on the act today.

"We're going to dress our Brachiosaurus, who reigns over Lake Shore Drive and Roosevelt Road, in an Urlacher jersey in size 41 XXXL," museum spokeswoman Pat Kremer said.

The dinosaur was moved out of the Field Museum's main hall in 2000 to make room for Sue the Tyrannosaurus Rex and now sits outside the museum entrance, staring over Bears fans as they walk from the train station to the stadium, Kremer said. His jersey will be made by the same company making the helmets for the Art Institute.

"We can't just go to the Sportsmart," Kremer said.

Renee Groebe-Seip, of Chicago's Mount Greenwood community, planned to get a picture of the jersey-clad dinosaur, as well as the lions with their helmets. She and two friends took turns taking photos of each other with the NFC trophy.

"It's been a long time, I've never seen one," she said. "My father's a big Bears fan, I had to tape all the games for him."

Police officers guarding the wood-and-silver trophy said they heard a lot of surprise from people at how small it was.

"I thought it'd be bigger," Groebe-Seip said. "But the Super Bowl one, that'll be huge."

Jonathan Lipman may be reached at
jlipman@dailysouthtown.com
or (312) 782-1286.