About two hours before Sunday’s kickoff, Patrick Vanier grilled chicken wings and Polish sausage with his family at the Waldron Deck lot outside Soldier Field. The temperature was 5 degrees.
Vanier, who lives in Hammond, Indiana, took the train up to Chicago to bring his son, Elio, to his first Bears game, which turned out to be one of the coldest ever.
“It’s a must-win game today,” said Vanier, 44 a Beverly native. “But they’ve got it, they’ve gotta get it done.”
Elio, 10, said he was excited to see the Bears play in person for the first time, even though it was “insanely cold.” Vanier, a lifelong Bears fan, said he’s excited for a potential playoff run for the team.
The game was tied for the fourth coldest ever at Soldier Field. The temperature was 8 degrees when the Browns kicked off at noon, making the game the second-coldest played at the stadium since 1989. At kickoff, the wind chill was -2 degrees.
The Bears (10-4) beat the Browns (3-11) 31-3. It was the Bears’ largest margin of victory since 2020. They likely need at least one more win to get into the playoffs, and their last three games are brutally tough, beginning Saturday at home against the Packers. They follow that with a visit to the 49ers and a potentially high-stakes finale at home against the Lions.
Bears fan Joe Garcia also braved the cold with his family, bringing homemade chili and jalapeño poppers. Standing at the tailgate of their van, Garcia and his cousin Marco Garcia said they have been season ticket holders the past eight years.
And no matter the weather, they said, they tailgate at every single home game.
“We tailgate in the rain, sleet, snow, cold,” Joe Garcia, 47, said. “It is what it is. You can’t miss this.”
Joe Garcia drives from St. Charles to come to the home games. He said he felt a strong sense of community at this particular tailgate: “Everybody is in the same boat as us, and everybody’s cold. We know what we got ourselves into.”
For Marco Garcia, 49, the positive season the team has had was motivation enough to show up Sunday.
“We’re fighting for the playoffs — we haven’t done that in a long time. So, it’s exciting,” he said.
Their final three games in the regular season will be against the Packers, the 49ers and the Lions.
While she’s been to Bears games before, 22-year-old Lily Vega participated in her first tailgate Sunday. She wore four layers of clothing and brought hand warmers to battle the cold.
Vega said she usually enjoys spending time with her family and watching football at home, but it felt different to actually be there in person. She and her friends became pals with their car neighbors, and she enjoyed the warm community despite the cold temperatures.
“It’s so cold, but I’m drinking, so I feel pretty warmed up,” Vega said. “The atmosphere is so fun, everyone’s out here getting ready and pumped to see the Bears.”
Contributing: Jason Lieser