Before Drew Brees could win the Super Bowl, he had to lose at Soldier Field.
Almost 14 years ago — and, for the Bears, 14 starting quarterbacks and four head coaches ago — Brees’ Saints lost the NFC championship game, 39-14, at Soldier Field.
The Bears went to the Super Bowl — Virginia McCaskey held the trophy named after her father while the snow poured down on the field — but it was the Saints who laid the foundation for a dynasty.
“That was obviously all of our first playoff experiences here in the [coach] Sean Payton era … kinda culminating into that game, which kinda capped off what was a storybook season,” Brees, who was then in his first season with the Saints, said Wednesday.