Today in Chicago History: Super Bowl-bound Bears x 2

News Room

Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Jan. 21, according to the Tribune’s archives.

Is an important event missing from this date? Email us.

Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)

  • High temperature: 62 degrees (1906)
  • Low temperature: Minus 22 degrees (1984)
  • Precipitation: 1.49 inches (1916)
  • Snowfall: 5 inches (1958)
George Halas, owner of the Chicago Bears, flips the opening game coin toss to determine which team — the Pittsburgh Steelers or the Dallas Cowboys — would receive the kickoff before Super Bowl XIII, Jan. 21, 1979, in Miami. The Cowboys won the toss. (Phil Sandlin/AP)

1979: Chicago Bears owner and former coach George Halas arrived at Super Bowl XIII at the Orange Bowl in Miami in an antique car where he flipped a 1920 gold piece — the same year the NFL was founded — as part of the game’s ceremonial coin toss. Halas purchased the coin just for the occasion for $317. Halas gave the coin to the loser of the flip — the Pittsburgh Steelers.

It was the second time in a decade the Bears had been involved in a fateful coin flip with the Steelers. The last one had a grim ending for the Bears — they lost the No. 1 draft pick. The Steelers used it to select quarterback Terry Bradshaw, who led them to four Super Bowls.

Today in Chicago History: ‘McCaskey, you’re a bum!’ The coin flip that cost the Chicago Bears Terry Bradshaw.

 

1987: Darby Williams and Perry Cobb became the first two Illinois Death Row inmates exonerated and released from prison following reinstatement of the death penalty.

(Chicago Tribune)
(Chicago Tribune)

2007: The 2006–07 NFC Championship Game granted the Bears their second trip to the Super Bowl — their first in 21 years — with a 39–14 victory over the New Orleans Saints.

With snow falling at Soldier Field, Urlacher lifts the NFC championship trophy above his head following the Bears' 39-14 whipping of the Saints. Urlacher had a career-high four pass deflections in the game, interfering with Drew Brees' intermediate passing game and leading the club to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1985. (Jim Prisching/Chicago Tribune)
With snow falling at Soldier Field, Brian Urlacher lifts the NFC championship trophy above his head following the Bears’ 39-14 whipping of the Saints. Urlacher had a career-high four pass deflections in the game, interfering with Drew Brees’ intermediate passing game and leading the club to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1985. (Jim Prisching/Chicago Tribune)

2017: An estimated quarter-million demonstrators poured into downtown to draw attention to women’s rights, as well as other issues including civil rights, immigration and racial justice. Organizers of the Women’s March on Chicago said the event was planned for the day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration. Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators packed the streets of several other cities, from New York to Los Angeles and Paris to Sydney.

The women of Chicago would not be stopped on Jan. 21, 2017. An estimated quarter-million demonstrators poured into downtown, so many that organizers of the Women's March on Chicago told the throngs that the event would only be a rally because there wasn't room to march. But people marched anyway. (Chicago Tribune)
The women of Chicagoland would not be stopped on Jan. 21, 2017. An estimated quarter-million demonstrators poured into downtown, so many that organizers of the Women’s March on Chicago told the throngs that the event would only be a rally because there wasn’t room to march. But people marched anyway. (Chicago Tribune)

Want more vintage Chicago?

Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago’s past.

Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather at krumore@chicagotribune.com and mmather@chicagotribune.com

Related posts