On Sunday, November 10, 2024, I woke up really early (about 5:30) to get ready to drive up to Chicago for the Bears and New England Patriots game at Soldier Field. It had been raining all night and continued to rain until I was past Indianapolis driving up I-65. After about five hours of driving I made it to a parking lot near Lake Michigan about one or two miles south of Soldier Field then made my way to the stadium. It was a nice day, not too cold, but still not hot, and the view of the lake and the city was nice to have along the way.
This would not be my first time going to Soldier Field but it would be my first Bears game there. Many years ago, Andrea and I went to a soccer game between Manchester United and PSG (Paris Saint-Germain) in 2015. Then a few years later we saw U2 on their Joshua Tree tour there.
After making it to the stadium, I walked around the south side and found a couple of statues. One was of Walter Payton, who some consider to be the greatest running back of all time. The other statue was of George Halas, who many consider to be one of the greatest NFL coaches of all time.
Then I went to the west side of the stadium to get a good look at the columns on the side before entering.
I immediately came upon a wide open area at the back of the stadium. To my front there was a huge piece of art dedicated to George Halas. I don’t know whether to call it a mural or a decoration with bronze statues or what. It was just large and quite well done.
I walked around some more and came across an area where two Bears alumni were signing autographs. One guy was a bit older and I had never heard of him. The other was a former running back by the name of Adrian Peterson, but not the great one that played for Minnesota for a long time.
Soldier Field is dedicated to all of the military members that have helped to protect and serve the nation of the United States. At the south end there is a statue and dedication to what looks to be a soldier that served during World War I. That’s a guess by me since I didn’t see a plaque anywhere but going off of his helmet it should be a pretty good guess. There was a bar behind there with the Sunday morning game in Germany between the New York Giants and the Carolina Panthers on it.
Along the inside of the stadium there are a lot banners dedicated to all of the great players in Bears history. People like Walter Payton, Richard Dent, Brian Urlacher, Dick Butkus, and many others along with my favorite Bear, Devin Hester (he went to the University of Miami).
While I admired these I was able to get some good views of the field and the stadium.
I picked up pizza from a Pizza Soldato spot along with a Dr. Pepper, my favorite soda. A lot of the eateries in the stadium were self-serve and had the payment stations where you put everything on it and it weighs it or does something else to determine what you are buying. I found another bar area with tables so that I could eat. The pizza was just a single slice of Chicago style and only had cheese on it. It was just OK.
From there I made my way up the ramps to the top to get a better look at the columned section that I saw from ground level earlier. It was pretty neat.
After walking around the stadium some more I decided that the pizza slice wasn’t enough and picked up a pretzel and another Dr. Pepper then found my seat. The seat was in a good spot near the center of the stadium and gave me a good view of the action during the game.
After the national anthem there was a flyover from some Blackhawk helicopters.
The game was to be matchup between two rookie quarterbacks from the 2024 NFL draft class-the first overall pick Caleb Williams for the Bears and the third overall pick Drake Maye for the Patriots.
There wasn’t that much action to see in the game though. The game started off really slowly.
By the time the two-minute warning came in the first half there had only been one field goal scored per team for a score of 3-3. Most of the drives for both teams to that point were quite short, with many ending after only three plays. Talk about boring. There were a lot of bad passes thrown by Caleb Williams, though I think New England’s defense had something to do with that. In critical situations, they were playing a lot man-to-man coverage and there just simply wasn’t anyone open. That led to Caleb Williams trying to extend plays and either throwing the ball away or New England getting a coverage sack. In fact, New England would end up with 9 sacks of Caleb Williams by the end of the game.
Shortly after the two-minute warning New England scored a touchdown on a two yard pass from Drake Maye to fellow rookie wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk.
Chicago tried to answer with a score after that but ultimately came up short. New England was able to get into field goal range pretty quickly after Maye spiked the ball with one second left before the half. This led to a 37 yard field goal from Joey Slye and a halftime lead of 13-3 for the New England Patriots.
The halftime show was a Marine silent marching unit. They use no verbal commands at all and are able to march in unison along with doing tricks with their rifles. It was pretty cool to see.
Then there was a small celebration (with cake) for the Marines 249th birthday.
Not much happened in the third quarter. It started off good on the Bears first drive with a long pass play to DJ Moore but then, after two consecutive sacks, the drive died and they had to punt again. New England’s running back, Rhamondre Stevenson, had some good runs, but they weren’t enough to sustain any drives. The score at the end of the third quarter was the same as it was at halftime, 13-3.
In the fourth quarter, the Bears kept trying again and kept failing, not scoring one point. Some fans were calling for the offensive coordinators job (he would be fired the next day). Half the crowd left with about five minutes left in the game. New England managed to kick two more field goals though. Woohoo.
New England’s defense was just too tough for Caleb Williams with their man coverage and his wide receivers inability to get open and he ended the game with only 120 yards passing. Even the Bears running back, DeAndre Swift, had a rough game as well. Drake Maye showed some signs that he could be good though. He had a few long passes to tight end Austin Hooper and also a few good runs as well. At the end of the game there were some chants to fire the Bears head coach.
With the game ending at 19-3, with only one touchdown, it was probably the most boring professional football game I had ever been too. But at least I was able to mark Soldier Field off of my list.
My views on the walk back to the car were nice though. It was still a sunny day though starting to get a bit chilly.
The drive home was mostly uneventful other than a quick stop at Fair Oaks Farms in Indiana for some cheese and a few other things.
I made it home at about 10pm that night and went to bed as soon as I could. It was a lot of driving for one day but was still a good day overall.
Hollar if you see Us 