Bear Fans Start Their Own Mardi Gras in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS —  Hooting and chanting “46 to 10,” waves Chicago Bear fans descended on the French Quarter Sunday night after their team had won the NFL championship.

It was like a miniature Mardi Gras, with crowds shoulder to shoulder along Bourbon Street.

The “Super Bowl Shuffle” blared from loudspeakers in souvenir shops, jazz halls and bars, triggering impromptu dancing in the street.

Fans of the losing Patriots were less conspicuous. When New England red cropped up, Bear fans greeted it with taunts and good-natured jibes.

There were no strangers among the Bears, whose orange and black was everywhere.

Chicago fans wore Bear sweatshirts, Bear painter caps, Bear jackets, Bear ski masks with fuzzy ears, and Blues Brothers sunglasses--just like the ones worn by quarterback Jim McMahon.

They waved Bear pennants, cradled Teddy bears wearing Bear T-shirts.

Headbands were everywhere--with McMahon’s name, NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle’s name, Adidas, and even one that said “I Love New York.”

Sloshing drinks out of plastic cups, they roamed up and down between the bars and nightspots, hugging each other, popping “high fives”, slapping each other on the back.

It took only minutes after the game ended about a mile away at the Superdome for the streets to come alive in the French Quarter--headquarters for a throng of ticketless fans who watched the game on barroom televisions.

It had been bedlam on Bourbon Street all weekend, but things had largely subsided in the hours before Sunday’s kickoff.

The game hadn’t been over with for long, however, before the party started all over again.