Delayed by Challenger explosion, ’85 Super Bowl champs to visit White House

Twenty-five years after their visit to the White House as Super Bowl champions was cancelled because of the Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy, the 1985 Chicago Bears will get to see the president. 

The president they will meet, of course, is very different from the president they would have been greeted by in early 1986. That president, Ronald Reagan, was a Republican from California. This president, Barack Obama, is Democrat from Chicago.

{mosads}The Challenger exploded shortly after take off on January 28, 1986, just two day after the Bears defeated the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX.

President Obama is a noted sports fan, and he proclaims his love for Chicago sports teams often. Earlier this year, he greeted the 2010 Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers by lamenting their defeat of the Bears on the way to championship. 

“I’m just going to come out and say it,” Obama said as he met with the Packers. “This — this hurts a little bit.”

“You know, you guys come into my house, to rub it in,” he continued. “But what are you going to do? Go to [former Bears coach Mike] Ditka’s house next?”

The 1985 Bears team will visit the Friday, Oct. 7, the White House said.