When you walk into Soldier Field, you can feel the history.

I know this, fortunately, because I was able to go to a Chicago Bears home game for the first time ever this year. Following the lead of my father, I've been a Bears fan my entire life, and that means for thirty-one years I've had to wait for the day when I would be able to travel from my home in either New York or Florida to Chicago to see my beloved Bears play a home game.

I've been waiting for the day when the Bears would win a Super Bowl that I would be able to watch live, instead of on an old VHS tape. I've been waiting to draft a legitimate franchise quarterback, and waiting for the Bears to overtake the Packers as the class of the NFC North. It's always been a waiting game, and oftentimes, it's exhausting.

But I hope I never have to stop waiting for the Bears to leave Soldier Field. 

A sixth Chicago suburb has tossed its metaphorical hat in the ring, hoping to lure the Chicago Bears outside the city of Chicago and away from Soldier Field, which is the NFL's oldest and smallest stadium. Country Club Hills would provide a location 25 miles south of where the Bears currently play, according to Mitchell Armentrout of the Chicago Sun-Times (h/t Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk). Where Country Club Hills falls into place among the other five contenders — Arlington Heights, Naperville, Waukegan, Aurora, and Richton Park — remains to be seen. I personally hope all six options fall out of contention.

Right now, the Bears are a franchise that is rooted in history and not much else. There's been minimal success since I've been alive. More coaches than Playoff wins. More quarterbacks than winning seasons. The fanbase hangs onto its history and still treats it like present-day success.

The '85 Bears, Mike Ditka, the '63 championship team, the legends of Dick Butkus, Walter Payton, and Gale Sayers, and Papa Bear Halas are the brand of the Chicago Bears, and for what it's worth, I've never seen any of them play live. Even the new Chicago Bears tattoo I have on my thigh is their logo from the 1940's.

Nearly my entire Chicago Bears fandom has required me to live in a past where I did not exist, and that's the case for all Bears fans under the age of 35. We've been coasting on the proud, glorious history of the NFL's longest-tenured franchise for decades, save for a few years in the mid-'00s when Brian Urlacher, Peanut Tillman, and Lance Briggs made us believe in Monsters again.

Does departing Soldier Field diminish that long, rich history? I certainly hope not, but as more time goes by, the prestigious luster of being a fan of the NFL's oldest franchise keeps wearing off.

The loyal fans of the team deserve more success than we've had, and I realize that's a tremendously entitled position for me to operate from, so let me say this: we definitely do deserve for the team to continue playing at Soldier Field.