Bears superfan Mackenzie Currans arrived at Halas Hall last Thursday — decked out in her team gear and pins she's owned for decades — prepared to enjoy a fan experience at the practice facility courtesy of a team-run sweepstakes.
After enjoying lunch with a few other "fans" — who she later learned were Bears employees — Currans exited the cafeteria to find linebackers T.J. Edwards and Tremaine Edmunds waiting nearby. With Super Bowl LIX tickets in their hands, the captains surprised Currans by thanking her for her loyal fandom and dedication to the community before naming her the Bears' 2024 Fan of the Year.
Fans can now vote Currans as NFL Fan of the Year until Feb. 5, 2025 by visiting NFL.com/fanoftheyear.
"I had no idea at all," Currans said minutes after the surprise. "That's awesome. Wow. That's amazing."
Currans gave Edwards and Edmunds a hug, took a picture with the players and remained speechless as she processed the moment. While the Iowa native has been a diehard Bears fan since the 1980s — when her childhood birthday parties included a Bears cake and her treasured Walter Payton jersey — she never anticipated this level of recognition.
"When I was a little kid, my mom asked, 'who's your favorite team?'" Currans recalled. "I didn't really know. I grew up in Iowa, so people in Iowa were fans of any team because we don't have a pro team. So I said, 'I'm a fan of the singing team' because the Bears had the Super Bowl Shuffle. I've been a fan ever since.
"I ended up moving to Chicago after college and go to a lot of games. We just try to do everything. I mean, everything. I have an entire closet of Bears clothing."
Currans not only attends every home game at Soldier Field she can, she travels with her friends to at least one away game a year, including London in 2019. This year, she has traveled to Washington and Arizona for the team's past two road trips.
"There's just a great camaraderie with Bears fans," Currans added. "My friends and I, as we travel to go to games, you get to know all these other traveling Bears fans, and everyone's always nice to everyone. It's like being part of a community. No matter how the Bears are playing, everyone's in a good mood. Everyone has one thing in common, they're Bears fans."
Along with her loyalty to the Bears, Currans was selected as the team's nominee because of her commitment to supporting cancer patients. Currans was diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2013, and once she was five years cancer-free in 2019, she hosted a fundraising party for a local hospital where she received treatment.
What started as a small way to celebrate her remission and give back to others has turned into an annual fundraising event called "Mac-Attack." In the last five years, Currans has raised over $77,000 to help financially support the extra needs of cancer patients such as meals and transportation.
"That was one of the things that I realized when I was going through treatment was that you're sitting there with long days in chemo and doctors are getting food catered to them," Currans said. "But patients, if you don't have someone with you at chemo, who's gonna go get you food? That's what it started with — realizing that patients need other help.
"Especially during the year of the pandemic, we realized that some people needed rides. One day the hospital took someone home from chemo, and they realized the patient had sold all their stuff to pay for chemo. So we bought the person a bed. So, we're just a third party event for [a local hospital], but it's a lot of fun. We have a fun time throwing the party and raising awareness."
Currans is honored that her involvement in the community helped earn her the Fan of the Year nod. The NFL's annual celebration recognizes the extraordinary fans who elevate gameday through their unwavering love of football, embody the essence of true fandom and inspire their community throughout the year.
"I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason," Currans said. "I feel like me getting cancer was a good thing because, first of all, I was a workaholic before that, so it forced me to live. But then it forced me just to be a better person because I'm like, 'how can I help other people have a good experience?' Trying to always make people smile and doing something good for other people is something I've always wanted to do. There's too much negativity in this world."
