The last time the Bears won the NFC championship, Wilber Marshall picked up a Los Angeles Rams fumble caused by a Richard Dent sack and headed into Chicago immortality. He scored that final touchdown as snow began to fall, allegedly a sign from above that the late George Halas was sending down his blessing on the moment.
Dent was the Bears’ honorary captain Sunday, and Halas’ daughter and Bears owner Virginia McCaskey was on hand, later accepting the NFC championship trophy named after her father. And the snow fell once more, this time on a 39-14 victory over the New Orleans Saints that propelled the Bears into their first Super Bowl since that snowy day in January 1986.
“What made me think about it was that it actually started snowing when Wilber Marshall was returning [that fumble],” defensive end Alex Brown said.
“It was real sweet.”
Brown and the Bears earned their chance to join that team in franchise history by destroying a New Orleans team with the third-most points scored in an NFC championship game since 1970.
They did it, including putting up the last 23 without an answer, by ransacking the Saints for four takeaways, by rushing for 196 yards and three touchdowns and by scoring more than 30 points for the seventh time in 18 games.
The Saints did themselves no favors against a team already fuming about a perceived lack of respect from fans, media and even peers.
Defensive end Adewale Ogunleye pointedly mentioned that someone had left in his locker a sheet showing that a panel of eight national experts, mostly ex-NFL players, had unanimously picked the Saints to defeat the Bears.
So when Reggie Bush somersaulted into the end zone in front of a pursuing Brian Urlacher at the end of an 88-yard scoring pass early in the third quarter, Ogunleye was close to smacking the talented rookie in the mouth.
The already angry Bears had just that much more motivation.
“He had his little moment,” defensive tackle Tank Johnson said. “We had our big moment.”
The Bears had stalled repeatedly on scoring chances off turnovers in the first half, and Bush’s touchdown cut the Saints’ deficit to 16-14.
But from that point on, the Bears clamped down, holding the Saints to 102 more yards and zero points on five possessions, one of which ended ignominiously in a safety when Drew Brees was pressured into intentional grounding in the end zone.
While the defense was destroying Bush, Brees and the rest of the New Orleans offense, the Bears were shaking off a sluggish third quarter and scoring touchdowns on three of four possessions in the fourth quarter.
The locker room was a happy place after another obstacle had been cleared in a season marked by the chant “Super Bowl!” after practices.
But there were no wild celebrations, no showers of carbonated beverages, no victory cigars. Perhaps because in some Bears’ minds, they haven’t won anything yet.
“We haven’t,” cornerback Charles Tillman said. “Today we are one step closer to attaining our main goal.
“The journey of a thousand miles has one more step to take.”
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jmullin@tribune.com
