Amid all the hoopla of an impressive Bears victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars, I’d like to take a moment to recognize a fallen brother in Beardom, Chris Pettry of suburban Lake Villa, Illinois.  He went down in Jacksonville but never made it to the Bears game as he was fatally stabbed early Sunday morning just a block from the team hotel where he happened to be staying.

Pettry had left on a flight from Milwaukee Friday to attend the Bears game in Jacksonville and was excited to be making the trip with his best friend, according to his cousin, Quincy Asbury Jr.

Pettry was an avid Bears fan who was too busy working at his construction and remodeling company and helping raise his three children to find time to go to games in Chicago, Asbury said. Pettry’s stepfather recently died and Asbury last saw his-first cousin at the man’s wake.

“He was such a huge Bears fan. . .He never got to go to the Bears game, he never got to enjoy it,” said Asbury, who can’t understand how anyone would want to hurt him. “He was always the guy that made you laugh.”

The attack occurred around 12:30 a.m. Sunday at Fionn MacCool’s Irish Restaurant & Pub, an upscale restaurant about a block from the hotel where Pettry was staying — the same hotel where the Bears team was also staying.

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