Da Bears: The Saturday Night Live Sketch that Changed a Franchise

Oct 26, 2014; Foxborough, MA, USA; Youch Chicago Bears fans hold a sign from the stands during the third quarter against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium. The Patriots won 51-23. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

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Da Bears! It’s become such a common phrase that most Chicago Bears fans, NFL fans or non-fans alike all use the term as if it’s part of the 1920 Decatur Staleys charter. If you tell someone you’re from Chicago or you’re a Bears fan, it’s inevitable that you’ll hear DAAAAA BEARSSSSS in dat over-the-top Chicaaago aaaccent, Few people probably even know the origin of the phrase was the wildly popular Bill Swerski’s Superfans Saturday Night Live sketch. As they celebrated Saturday Night Live’s 40th anniversary with the SNL 40 special, I wanted to refresh my memory on that favorite sketch.

"Bill Swerski’s Superfans is a Saturday Night Live sketch. It first appeared on January 12, 1991, starring Joe Mantegna as Bill Swerski along with Chris Farley as Todd O’Connor, Mike Myers as Pat Arnold and Robert Smigel as Carl Wollarski. Subsequent sketches starred George Wendt as Bob Swerski with occasional appearances by Beth Cahill as his daughter, Denise Swerski."

The characters appeared in a total of nine sketches over a two year span from 1991-1993, but after Dikta’s firing the sketches faded in popularity. Da Superfans made an occasional appearance to plug Da Bulls. The last sketch made an appearance when Chris Farley was the host in 1997 but his untimely death a couple of months later essentially spelled the end of Da Superfans.

Here are some of my favorite sketches:

If anyone knows were I can find the original Joe Mantegna sketch, hit me up in the comments. I scoured the interwebs and couldn’t find it.

Which is your favorite skit? Who was your favorite superfan?

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