Media: November 2024 • Danny Mac’s Beloved Bears Book
Dan McNeil
Dan McNeil was one of Chicago’s most controversial sports talk show hosts for decades. After long stints at the Score (670 AM) and ESPN (AM 1000), along with a few other stops on the radio dial (the Drive, the Loop), Dan has turned his talents to the written word. He has a new book about the Chicago Bears, I Bear Witness.
Why a Bears book, and why now? “The timing was right to do it now,” he explains. “I was 80% wrapped up with a radio autobiography and was planning to punch that out after the new year. The Bears again had the number 1 pick in the draft after Carolina’s 2-15 finish, and the fever for the Bears never burned as hot as it did in the offseason. Caleb Williams jerseys were selling more than any jersey in the country, and enthusiasm skyrocketing. This is also my 40th season of covering the Bears…exactly 25 years after Walter’s death. We had two and a half Bears get enshrined in the Hall of Fame in August (McMichael, Hester, and Peppers). The stars were aligned to do this first.”
While writing the book, McNeil talked to a dozen or more Chicago Bears legends, and though he had spoken to all of them many times over the years, even he was surprised at the new information he learned.
“I learned the ’85 guys got screwed by Michael McCaskey on their Super Bowl rings,” he says as an example. “Shit, I told some of them. It didn’t surprise anybody, but it still pissed them off. The players picked out a $5K ring ($5K was the stipend the league gave every Super Bowl winner for each ring), and McCaskey deducted $1500 for pendants his mother wanted to have made for the wives. Instead of digging in their own pockets, and very few guys were making great money in the mid-’80s, they downsized the ring. What was supposed to be 14-karat gold became 10-karat gold. The blue sapphire became aluminum with blue enamel paint. That story never was told before. I learned Bear ownership and management make decisions it isn’t qualified to make. Personnel decisions. Compensation in trades. And they let the GMs and coaches take the heat for the ones that don’t work. Dave Wannstedt took the bullet for almost 30 years for trading a first-round pick to Seattle for Rick Mirer. Wannstedt was informed of the compensation by one of the suits.”
Anyone who has listened to McNeil knows he has strong opinions about his favorite football team. I wondered if his opinions evolved during the writing of the book.
“I think the narrative of the ’85 team being a one-hit wonder needs further inspection,” he says. “They themselves have spent almost 40 years pointing fingers. No doubt they handled their success poorly – (Mike) Ditka at the front of the line on that one – but what everyone forgets is how awesome the NFC was in the ’80s. Montana and Lott in San Francisco. Washington had the great Joe Gibbs coaching them, and Gibbs won three Super Bowls with three different quarterbacks in a 10-year stretch. The Giants with Lawrence Taylor, are you kidding? That ’86 Giants team, especially defensively, was much closer to the ’85 Bears than anybody ever talked about. I walked away from several interviews feeling a little bad for Ditka. I mean, he made the mess, but Mike turned 85 last month. With a few of the guys – Richard Dent more than anybody — those resentments still run hot. When does the statute of limitations expire? Let it go.”
This book covers the 40 years that Dan has been reporting on the Bears. Did he have any favorite Bears?
“I have two favorite Bears,” McNeil volunteers. “Walter Payton, who was the apple of my eye as a teenager, and Brian Urlacher. It’s Chicago; I have to pick a running back and a middle linebacker, right? Payton was the best player on the best team in the NFL and was the hardest worker on the team. He defined the word ‘competitor’ every day of his life. A perfectionist. To the point, he became a tortured artist. Walter wasn’t a happy man often, but he never missed games. Ever. And they played on that nasty Astroturf, a reprehensible product that never should have been approved by the league or accepted as playable by the players union. Urlacher was the smiling assassin. Where Butkus spat on opponents and snarled, Urlacher always had a grin on his face, and his boyish enthusiasm for the game was infectious. He was a freakish athlete. Guys 6-4 and 255 aren’t supposed to run that fast and then have the agility to break down, sinking the hips and making a perfect form tackle. I never saw a bona fide superstar get off on his teammates’ successes more than Urlacher. He loved playing the game and had a child-like passion for those who played it with him.”
Is there any chance we’ll hear Dan back on the air again?
“I’d enjoy doing fill-in shifts or Bears / NFL specialty program, but nothing full-time. There are at least three writing projects I’m playing with, and I’m excited about my radio autobiography, which should be released next year.”
I Bear Witness by Dan McNeil is available for pre-order now at Eckhartz Press (eckhartzpress.com).
– Rick Kaempfer
