No Meeting With Reagan for the Bears

The Chicago Tribune reports that the 1985 Chicago Bears, who won the Super Bowl in early 1986, will finally be invited to the White House to visit the president. "On that frigid day in 1986 when Chicago threw a tickertape parade to honor the Bears' Super Bowl win, Illinois Senator Alan Dixon sent a letter to the White House: Would President Reagan host a reception for the team?" Peter Nicholas of the Tribune Washington Bureau writes. "It never came off."

The day after the parade, but before plans could be finalized for a visit, the Space Shuttle Challenge was destroyed in flight. Understandably, the Reagan White House had other things on its mind in the wake of the accident, and the idea of a Bears visit faded away.

"But now the White House is home to a Chicagoan who roots for the Bears, reads local newspaper coverage of the team and is always eager to showcase his everyman credentials," notes Nicholas. "The NFL called the White House soon after Obama was sworn in and asked if the '85 Bears could get a belated celebration... On Friday, a quarter-century after they crushed the New England Patriots 46-10, Da Bears are getting their celebratory visit to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue."