LAS VEGAS — The Bears were 1-2 when I spotted Phil Ioriatti, with his two brothers and nephew, inside the Green Valley Ranch sportsbook.
All are Chicago natives who still reside in Illinois except Phil, who lives in Chino Hills, California. They had tee times for golf courses in nearby Mesquite and visited the casino to gamble.
Early in a football season, Ioriatti always bets a C-note on an NFL team that isn’t an odds-on title favorite. So he slapped $100 on the Chargers at 15-to-1 odds.
Then he saw the Bears at 70-1.
“A lousy $20,” Ioriatti laughed, “so I didn’t have too much faith.”
Chino Hills is about 50 miles due east of USC, so Ioriatti had intimate knowledge of quarterback Caleb Williams.
In two seasons as a Trojan, Williams won a Heisman Trophy and threw for 8,170 yards, 72 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
The Bears selected him with the top pick of the 2024 draft. He has thrown for 3,730 yards this season. With 270 on Sunday, he’d become the Bears’ first 4,000-yard passer.
“I was jumping up and down when [the Bears] drafted Caleb,” Ioriatti said. “I’m a big USC fan, and I love Caleb. The guy’s a stud. He just had to figure it out a little bit, with that lousy Bears front line. This year, they have a better line.
“All the Caleb haters are not Caleb haters anymore.”
But 70-1?
“Amazing,” fellow Bears fan and Long Island handicapper Tom Barton said of that ticket. “Such faith.”
Sweetness
With the Bears having clinched their first NFC North crown in seven seasons, the timing is perfect to peek at their futures odds, how they’ve altered, who bit and when.
On Jan. 20 at the Westgate SuperBook, the Bears had 40-1 odds on winning Super Bowl LX, 30-1 on the NFC and +475 (or risk $100 to win $475) on the NFC North.
On Sept. 23, after beating the Cowboys to improve to 1-2, those respective SuperBook odds had ballooned to 100-1, 50-1 and 30-1.
After the Bears beat the Vikings 19-17 in Minneapolis on Nov. 16 for their seventh triumph in eight games, the South Point still had their title odds at 75-1.
Then they beat the Steelers 31-28 for their sixth one-score triumph. The next week, they won in Philadelphia to log a fifth consecutive victory.
Why not?
Two days after that victory over the Vikings, Chicago native, resident and reader Bill Grabon bought a 66-1 position on the Bears winning a second Lombardi Trophy.
He told nobody.
“I’m very superstitious,” Grabon wrote in an email, “and didn’t want to tell anyone I made this bet. But the Bears were getting some defenders back, they had just beaten the Vikes on the road and were 7-3.
“These Cardiac Bears have gotten off the mat late quite a few times this year.”
He included a photo of himself wearing a white Blackhawks jersey and blue Cubs knit cap at the game in Green Bay, which he attended with five pals.
At Soldier Field, the Packers famously blew a 16-6 lead and lost 22-16 in overtime, a seventh one-score win for the Bears. Three days earlier, I took an even-money position on the Bears winning that game, and I nabbed 28-1 title odds.
“After that game,” Grabon wrote, “I thought, this team isn’t lucky. One or two times is luck. More than that? It’s culture.”
And the postseason?
“In the NFL, all you need is to make the dance. That ball takes funny hops, and you never know what the refs are going to do. The Bears are playing with house money and literally have nothing to lose.
“Every team in the playoffs has flaws, and the Lions and Chiefs are out. Why not the Bears?”
Winning ways
The 1985 Bears, as they did for many, hooked Barton for life. His clientele relies on his rational advice and sound judgment.
Futures action runs counter to his approach of capitalizing on point-spread edges, but these Bears have affected him.
After their bye week, he bought 10-1 divisional and 25-1 title tickets. Before the Eagles game Nov. 28, he invested more, at +800 and 18-1, respectively.
“They can win so many ways, and getting [cornerback Jaylon] Johnson healthy was huge,” Barton said. “If they can get [receiver Rome] Odunze for the playoffs, they can win it all.”
Heavyweights
Ioriatti agrees with me, that the Bears, 49ers, Rams and Seahawks resemble Ali, Norton, Frazier and Foreman, heavyweight greats who had famous bouts.
“I just hope,” Ioriatti said, “we don’t have to face Foreman again!”
That would be the 49ers, whose 42-38 win last Sunday was one for the ages.
“I read how the Bears have lost 240 player-games to injury, most in the NFL,” Ioriatti said. “This team is just destined to win.”
And of rookie Bears coach Ben Johnson?
“Love him,” Ioriatti said. “An offensive genius. The Bears’ offense has operated like I’ve never seen in my 75 years of rooting for them. It’s so much more creative.”
He is 75, so from his very first breath, he has been cheering for the Bears?
“Yeah,” Ioriatti said with a laugh. “I think my dad gave me a Bears cap when I was in the hospital.”