Former Bears remember Virginia McCaskey: 'Her life was Bears football'

NEW ORLEANS — When Kyle Long walked into Mugs Halas Auditorium inside Halas Hall and saw a desk set up in front of the room, he knew he was in for something special.

Virginia McCaskey, the Bears’ matriarch who died Thursday at 102, was about to address the team, to explain the history of the founding franchise that was synonymous with the arc of her life.

“Out from behind the curtain would come Virginia — all smiles,” the three-time Pro Bowl offensive lineman said. “Her life was Bears football. I was so appreciative to have the opportunity to spend time with her, to shake her hand, to come visit her in the lunchroom and come talk to her. She always was so sweet. She loved her players, and she loved the Bears.

“It’s a shame that more guys that come into the franchise won’t have the opportunity to see the matriarch of the Bears.”

McCaskey was remembered Thursday by former Bears who flocked to New Orleans for Super Bowl week.

Founder George Halas’ daughter was “such an iconic person in Chicago,” said Ron Rivera, a Bears linebacker from 1984 to 1992, a Super Bowl champion and later an assistant coach and coordinator with the team.

“For her, it was faith, family, football — and she lived it that way,” said Rivera, the former Panthers and Commanders head coach. “That was one of the things that was really, really cool about who she was and what she was to the Chicago Bears. . . . She really lived as a Bear. She wanted to make sure we understood that as players.”

Running the Bears was the McCaskeys’ family business, for better and for worse. Rivera called the team’s decision to bring former assistant Mike Ditka back to Chicago in 1982 — 1œ years before Halas died and left the team to his daughter — a perfect example of the former.

“That was a family thing, a Bear thing to do,” he said.

She was around the team less often in her final years, though she still made plenty of appearances. She attended the team’s Ed Block Courage Award ceremony in March and the Brian Piccolo Award ceremony in April, using a walker and greeting familiar faces.

“She was present; she was felt,” said two-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle Jermon Bushrod, who played for the Bears from 2013 to 2015. “There was just a lot of history in that organization and with the McCaskey family. She lived a long, great, purposeful life.”

Sam Acho, who played linebacker for the Bears from 2015 to 2018 and lived in Chicago until 2022, developed a friendship with chairman George McCaskey during his time with the team. He knew Virginia from her travels with the team — she’d fly on the charter to road games until the last few years of her life — but mostly by the reflection cast in her son.

“You not only get to know him, but you get to know his family and what matters,” he said. “I haven’t had a chance to fully process this. My heart goes out to George and the McCaskey family. . . . The legacy comes from Virginia.”

Living as a Bear meant hating your rival.

“Super-passionate about the Bears — goodness,” said former cornerback Prince Amukamara, who played for the Bears from 2017 to 2019. “Another thing she was passionate about was whupping the Packers’ butts.”

Amukamara paused when he realized that the last game the Bears played when she was alive — and she was alive for all but 36 games in the history of the 105-year-old franchise — ended in a game-winning field goal at Lambeau Field last month.

It was on her 102nd birthday.

“How awesome,” he said.

Long smiled when asked about how she viewed the Bears’ rivals.

“Hated the Packers,” he said. “But more so than hating the Packers, she loved her men — the Chicago Bears was her life.”