I am going to write this as it happened.
Worry - what would the team do
HAPPY - they actually look like a football team
Second Half - why is it Bears coaches seem to give demotivation speeches at half time
Disappointment - they started out so good and raised my hopes only to have them dashed yet again.
We got to NRG park early. This was in part because it was recommended that we get there early in order to get a parking space and in part due to the fact that there was no traffic and we were in our spot less than 30 minutes after we got into the car. There were some outstanding tailgate setups there. One group came in 5 large pickup trucks and set up by backing in to park in every other spot. They then erected 5 popup shelters that covered the entire area in back of the trucks. Music, smokers, bbq grills and great smells then emanated from the area for the next several hours. They were not the most elaborate setup there by far. But with the exception of the tailgaters we didn't see any other cars showing up for a couple of hours. By 10:30 most of the lot we were in was still empty.
We went into the Verizon club. It is one of three different clubs they have at the stadium. The club was nice, but nothing outstanding. Good access, comfortable seats, open spaces and plenty of TVs and bars. There was never much of a line anywhere. Food choices were the stadium standards and also 4 specialty stands. One was BBQ, one was tacos, one was make your own salads and the last one had Korean sloppy joes and some kind of a tater tot casserole. The food was good. Views from the seats were very good and they had a lot of leg room . They provide beverage and food service by ordering from the app on your phone so there was much less getting up and letting people out than at most stadiums. The scoreboards and video screens are large and easily seen from anywhere in the stadium. And it was LOUD. Even when the warmups were going on and the seats were less than 1/3 filled they were able to be extremely loud. My one complaint was the bathrooms. They only had two for the club and they were inadequate to handle the number of people there.
The fans were mostly very nice as were the staff. Everyone welcomed us to the stadium and there were only one or two people that were taunting or rude to the visiting fans. Many people went out of their way to comment on how they thought it was a good game and how the Bears played well. And they were not being sarcastic, just being nice.
Getting out of the stadium was incredibly easy and we were back at the RV in about 45 minutes. The RV is about 25 miles from the stadium.
I am not going to recap the game. It would just be too painful. But at least they stayed competitive into the fourth quarter.
Observations:
Stadium signage superb
Stadium staff incredibly friendly and helpful
Tailgate in full swing 4 hours before game time and quite elaborate
Cheerleaders - energetic
Chicago fans - present, but not abundent
Someone needs to teach White the plays - he looks totally lost out there
On to Dallas to position for the Cowboys game and then back to Chicago for the Eagles.
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