Rusty Weiss
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson probably wishes he could rewind the clock after a candid — and widely mocked — radio admission that has Bears fans seeing red.
The Quote That’s Getting Johnson Torched
In an interview on 104.3 The Score this week, Johnson was explaining why Soldier Field’s notorious traffic makes it so tough to host games. To drive the point home, he shared a personal story from a Bears-Packers rivalry matchup that backfired spectacularly.
“Getting in and out of Soldier Field is an absolute nightmare,” Johnson said. “Let me tell you how bad it is. Bears vs. Packers; I’m at the game, we’re losing. I decide to leave to beat the traffic. Before I get out of the footprint, the Bears had come back to win.”
Dude, seriously? This is Chicago, not Los Angeles. You don’t show up mid-way through the first quarter and leave before the fourth quarter starts in the Windy City.
What are we even doing here?
And it gets worse.
Brandon Johnson notes the ingress/egress of Soldier Field must be fixed.
— 104.3 The Score (@thescorechicago) June 3, 2026
"Let me tell you how bad it is — Bears vs. Packers, I'm at the game, we're losing," he says. "I decide to leave to beat the traffic. Before I get out of the footprint, the Bears had come back to win." pic.twitter.com/pN4XfpC0gW
The game in question appears to be the Wild Card playoff thriller earlier this year, where the Bears stunned the Packers with a dramatic late comeback — one of the biggest wins for the franchise in years. Johnson missed the heroics while sitting in his car, trying to beat the exodus of fans.
One can picture Jim Carrey in Dumb and Dumber: “Man, you are one pathetic loser. No offense.”
The timing for the mayor’s story couldn’t be worse. Johnson has been aggressively pushing to keep the Bears in Chicago, championing a lakefront dome stadium largely funded by the team and hotel taxes. Yet the franchise has made it clear that those talks are essentially dead.
Complaining about logistics for the games isn’t exactly a great sales pitch.
The Bears have narrowed their options to a new site in Arlington Heights, Illinois, or Hammond, Indiana, with a decision expected soon. Team officials recently told the NFL they’re moving forward with plans to build outside the city limits.
The Bears outside of Chicago? The Hammond Bears? This is sacrilege.
Bears Fans Explode as Mayor’s Self-Own Threatens Stadium Push
Back to Johnson’s story—Social media lit up immediately after the clip spread. Bears fans called it everything from “grounds for impeachment” to a perfect metaphor for City Hall’s dysfunction.
Others pointed out the irony: the mayor who claims to be fighting for the team couldn’t even stick around for a potential playoff victory.
Johnson’s larger point about Soldier Field’s infrastructure woes isn’t entirely off-base — getting in and out on game days has long been a headache. But using a personal bailout during a historic comeback as Exhibit A has only handed critics fresh ammunition.
As the Bears draw nearer to possibly leaving the city they’ve called home for decades, the mayor’s comments have become an instant punchline. In a town that lives and dies with its sports teams, abandoning ship is one sin fans don’t easily forgive.
Whether this embarrassment hurts his stadium push remains to be seen, but it certainly hasn’t helped sell the idea that Chicago is all-in on keeping the Bears.
