UPDATE 9:16 p.m. — Bears flight has departed O’Hare for BWI. Officially left at 8:16 CST/now and slated to land at 10:43 p.m. with early arrival expected. You can follow the entire flight path with this link: Chicago Bears flight to BWI!
Isn’t technology cool? Isn’t the web superbadass?
UPDATE 8:05 p.m. — The Bears buses just left Halas Hall en route to O’Hare Airport. Will they get out of Chicago? Will BWI be open? We’ll keep updating you as we know!
UPDATE: 1:51 p.m. –I just got a confirmation that the Bears are being told they’ll depart O’Hare Airport at 8 p.m. That would have them touch down at BWI at 10:30 p.m. We’ll see if they make it. If there are any further “moves” you’ll know first if you keep checking back to WNST.net. Or follow us on Twitter or subscribe to our free, easy and awesome Text Service.
1:35 p.m. — I just got off the phone with two sources within Halas Hall. They both have confirmed that the Bears are in a bit of a “holding pattern.” One put it best: “You kinda have to go where the acts of Mother Nature take you. You have to be flexible.”
Last night the Bears headed to O’Hare Airport to take a jump start on the storm. They weren’t slated to come in until today. The plane was slated to leave at 9 p.m. last night and had a mechanical issue. The players waited until after midnight for the plane to be cleared or replaced and then the weather finally got them grounded in Chicago where the storm got bad.
My sources say most of the players didn’t get home until 2 a.m. and then had to report back at their facility at 11:30 for a “regular” Saturday day. Walkthrough, trip to the airport, etc.
The Bears still expect to get out. They’re still planning on 4:15 tomorrow for now for their game with the Ravens. But they realize that might change as quickly as the Blizzard of 2009 seemed to roll in.
There have also been some indications that they have concerns about getting the Bears from BWI to their downtown hotel later tonight with 18 inches of snow on the ground and the potential of impassable roads in some places.
Stay tuned. It’s gonna be a long night. Our open chat room begins at 5 p.m. We’re calling it the sunset “White Room” chat room.
