Bears return to Abbey Road

LONDON -- In conversation the other day on the University of Notre Dame's campus near Trafalgar Square, Conor McCaskey casually mentioned how excited he was to see his family visiting this weekend.

A classmate who didn't know the McCaskeys from the Windsors asked Conor how many visitors he expected.

"I said my parents will be here ... and some aunts and uncles and about 20 cousins," said McCaskey, a junior business-consulting major studying abroad this semester. "It raised some eyebrows."

When the Bears come to town, it usually does - even in the kinetic, cosmopolitan capital of England, where another kind of football rules. This is one week McCaskey, son of Bears Chairman George and an intern in the NFL office here, doesn't mind answering so many questions about Jay Cutler.

"Everybody in London still knows Refrigerator Perry from playing here in 1986 - 25 years ago," said McCaskey, 20. "This game allows us to repopularize the Bears in Britain so they might recognize Jay Cutler or Brian Urlacher walking down the street."

Abbey Road, here come Jay, Matt, Brian and Lance to strike a pose? Hardly. But it was impossible Thursday to ignore the sight of "Go Chicago Bears!" spray-painted on a wall near the site of the Beatles' famous album cover.

O'Hare-to-Heathrow flights were full of Chicagoans planning to attend today's Bears-Buccaneers game at Wembley Stadium. A British TV newsman gathering man-on-the-street reaction to Moammar Gaddafi's death Thursday confessed he was a Bears fan who would rather be interviewing William Perry. My cabdriver asked if I knew Brian Ur-LATCHER.

"With the exception of the Super Bowl XLI loss, this is the biggest moment for Bears fans in Britain since Super Bowl XX," said Ben Isaacs, a journalist for Time Out London and proud member of the 200-strong Bears UK Fan Club.

The club planned a private get-together Saturday night, while official NFL festivities kicked off Friday when Cuba Gooding Jr. was to introduce a free screening of "Jerry Maguire" in the city center. Of course, no Bears weekend would be complete without hearing somebody scream, "Show me the money!"

Nobody expects the anticipation or excitement to surpass levels for the '86 exhibition game held months after a Super Bowl for the ages. Yet it would be just as wrong to suggest the presence of a Bears team without charismatic figures won't have an impact on the local sports culture.

"It's like 20 Christmases all at once," added Isaacs, a self-described "Jay Cutler apologist."

Colleen Mueller, the daughter of longtime Illinois Senate President Phil Rock, moved to London four years ago because of her husband's job.

"Seeing the Bears at Soldier Field is way better than seeing them at Wembley," she said, "but people have embraced this. You see it all over the 'adverts.' The Bears are coming."

Imagine the buzz if the Bears came earlier than two days before kickoff like the Buccaneers, who arrived Monday. They stayed away as if they were afraid Cutler might yell something profane near Parliament. Waiting risks jet lag affecting the Bears in the second half more than the Bucs, who have been here so long, I swear one of their players asked where the loo was.

Apparently the Bears followed the same timetable the Patriots did in 2009. But the Patriots have the ultimate cure for jet lag: Tom Brady.

Some Londoners contend the 2011 event will be the most unforgettable NFL game on British soil in a quarter-century. It's up to the tardy Bears to make it memorable for the right reasons.