Cubs, Bears, Champions In The Same Year?

Imagine the bliss in the city of Chicago if the Bears and Cubs won a championship in the same year. It could make a very warm place freeze over.

I was asked the question this week as to which cities had already experienced a Super Bowl and World Series champion in the same year, which made me stop and think…good question, I don’t know?

San Francisco, technically, is out because the 49ers will play the Super Bowl in 2013, although the Giants won the World Series just last fall, but in 2012.

From what I gather, a Super Bowl and World Series championship won by teams in the same city, in the same year, has happened only three times:

• 1969 – New York Mets defeat Baltimore Orioles 4-1
             New York Jets defeat Baltimore Colts 16-7
• 1979 – Pittsburgh Pirates defeat Baltimore Orioles 4-3
             Pittsburgh Steelers defeat Dallas 35-31
• 2004 – Boston Red Sox defeat St. Louis Cardinals 4-0
             New England Patriots defeat Carolina 32-29

If, however, we look at football and baseball teams from the same city winning championships in the same seasons it turns out that’s also happened three times…with the chance for a fourth occurrence if the 49ers defeat the Ravens in the upcoming Super Bowl.

• 1970-71 – Baltimore Orioles defeat Cincinnati Reds 4-1
                  Baltimore Colts defeat Dallas Cowboys 16-13
• 1979-80 – Pittsburgh Pirates defeat Baltimore Orioles 4-3
                  Pittsburgh Steelers defeat LA Rams 31-19
• 1986-87 – New York Mets defeat Boston Red Sox 4-3
                  New York Giants defeat Denver Broncos 39-20
• 2004-05 – Boston Red Sox defeat St. Louis Cardinals 4-0
                  New England Patriots defeat Philadelphia Eagles 24-21
• *2012-13 – San Francisco Giants defeat Detroit Tigers 4-0
                   (49ers vs. Baltimore Ravens)

Of course after 100-years and counting since the Cubs last won a World Series (1908), I’ll gladly settle for a baseball only championship as a stand alone accomplishment during a respective season. After all, not a day goes by where the ’85 Bears are not celebrated in the ‘city that works’. And eventually, I hope, the same will hold true for those lovable Cubs.