If Dan Feeney Fits Right in with Bears There's a Good Reason

Yet another Bears offensive lineman who grew up in the Chicago area, Dan Feeney very early on got indoctrinated to Bears lore.

"As a kid, my grandma would always put on the Super Bowl shuffle on VHS and make me watch it when she was babysitting me, so that was pretty cool," Feeney said. "Yeah. So those are some of the first memories right there."

Now Feeney gets the chance to make his own Bears memories as the second Bears backup guard from Orland Park's Sandburg High in two years to come back home.

Michael Schofield is almost three years older and played last year for the Bears as a free agent signee, but wasn't brought back this year after a respectable season as a role player. Both Sandburg players had been third-round draft picks out of Big Ten schools, Schofield from Michigan and Feeney from Indiana. Both also played for the Chargers.

"It was pretty cool," Feeney said. "Obviously to come back home and follow Michael Schofield, he's from my hometown. He was here last year, so it was kind of cool.

"He texted me, 'Hey, you following me around the NFL now? What's going on?' No, it was really cool to come back home and got a text and call from parents really fast. So it was good."

Schofield would have gladly returned.

"He said he loved it here," Feeney said. "He said he loved Justin. He said the playbook's a lot because Justin can do a lot, so you just have to be ready for that."

Feeney would fit in with the Bears as the backup to Cody Whitehair, Lucas Patrick and Nate Davis until left guard Teven Jenkins returns. He'll bring a style ideal for Chicago, along with an appreciation for playing against their first opponents.

 "Yeah, I like getting gritty out there for sure," Feeney said. "It's the best part about football when you get a knockdown, a little pancake, something like that.

"So I definitely enjoy those moments on the field. You know they are hard to come by cause everybody at this level is a top-tier athlete but you got to love those moments where you can, you know, have a little fun with it."

He wouldn't mind getting the chance to deliver a few of those pancakes against the Green Bay Packers Sept. 10.

"I grew up hating them, so I think I am right at home," he said.

Feeney almost looks like he should be at Soldier Field as one of the "Superfans" from Saturday Night Live, with his mullet haircut and mustache.

"I've gotten that a couple times," Feeney said. "Me and my buddies will pass the Instagram videos around, the Superfans and obviously being from here, I love it. Chris Farley’s one of the best comics to ever do it in my eyes. He's just hilarious in that whole skit."

The haircut came courtesy of the pandemic.

"It was actually during Covid it happened," he said. "Locked down city, couldn't do a whole lot, so my hair grows like really fast and it was long. So the first time I went to the barber shop, I'm like, 'Hey, let's cut a mullet and see what it looks like.' And it just kind of stayed."

Feeney didn't quite recall the words to the Super Bowl shuffle from his younger days but remembered seeing video of Walter Payton, and called the second all-time rushing leader his favorite player.

Feeney actually had a spot on the roster partly because another former Chicago area prep and Big Ten offensive lineman went on injured reserve on Thursday, former Illinois center Doug Kramer.

Now it's Feeney's chance to wear the navy and orange.

"Yeah it was pretty cool," Feeney said. "I put it on looked in the mirror a little bit and was like, 'Wow, that's pretty sick.' Having that 'C' on yah. So it's cool.

"Definitely feel a little bit of juice playing for your hometown team. It's a cool feeling. It really is."