CHICAGO TRIBUNE WONDERS IF DA BEARS ARE LOSING DA LUSTER

          The Bears were examined by John Mullin in the CHICAGO
     TRIBUNE under the header, "Are Bears Losing Their Grip On
     City?"  Mullin: "The Bears have lost more than games over
     the last several years.  Along the way, they have begun to
     do the once unthinkable: lose Chicago.  The city has always
     been a Bears town.  It is not anymore.  On and off the
     field, the Bears are a franchise at a crossroads."  Last
     year's average of 9,900 no-shows was the most since '83, and
     the '97 home-opener crowd of 59,263 was the smallest since
     '84.  Last Sunday's game drew a local 22.5 TV rating,
     "barely half what the Bears regularly attracted a decade
     ago" and down about 20% from the second game in '96. 
     Mullin: "Bears games simply are no longer the focal point of
     fall Sunday afternoons in Chicago.  The obvious reason is
     losing."  Bears VP/Marketing Ken Valdiserri: "We live in a
     society of what have you done for me lately.  We're feeling
     a little of that" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 9/14).  Yesterday's
     Lions-Bears game had 7,797 no-shows (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 9/15).