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Mike, with more than 8 million people in the Lake Michigan corridor from Gary, Ind., to Milwaukee, there is no question Chicago and its nearby cities to the east and north could support another NFL franchise. After all, the area at one time did have the Bears and Cardinals playing within miles of one another.

However, the one surviving club, your Chicago Bears , a charter franchise in the NFL, has survived for a reason: The Bears are Chicago. The late George Halas brought the Decatur Staleys to our great city in 1921. The name of the team was changed to the Chicago Bears shortly after that. In their first season in Chicago, the Beloved went 9-1-1 and won the American Professional Football Association championship.

I tell you all of this because history in sports is important, and when it comes to the Bears , it's part of most Chicagoans' DNA. NFL fans in this area have grown up loving the Bears without regard to who was the general manager, the head coach or the players. To ignore these facts and attempt to bring another team into the Bears' backyard would be most unwise and financially very risky.

While the population numbers indicate there is room for one more team, the reality of the situation is something very different. The risk to the NFL of upsetting the geographic balance it now enjoys and the financial risk are too high. One has to remember, it's not like the league hasn't had its problems with all of the above in a major market, like Los Angeles.

Bottom line: Chicago is and always will be a Bears town. While the extended family of Papa Bear Halas may enjoy stewardship of the franchise, Chicago owns the Bears , and the Bears have and always will own Chicago.

I know I'm right.