Many fans had been in the parking lot for four or five hours, and many were cooking up brats.
The pre-game speeches yelled from the back of trucks and vans took on the same flavor as if they were coming from inside the players' locker room.
This is "Monday Night Football." This is for first place. This is Bears-Packers.
"They can kick some massive butt tonight," said Bears fan Marie Stukel. "Yeah, I said butt!"
It might be early in the season, but the Bears are undefeated at 2-0, and optimism reigned in the parking lot.
"I feel like we gotta win tonight. Start the season off right," said Bears fan Lou Hacker. "Gotta go 3-and-0. It's really, really big. It puts them back a game, and we're up."
"This is huge, because right now, we don't know who the Bears are," said Bears fan Erica Taylor. "We can win this game, then that will bring all the naysayers on board. If we lose the game, then we got some work to do."
It felt like a playoff atmosphere at Soldier Field Monday night before the game, and the tickets were going for at least five times face value.
