"Phil and April Emery cruised along the back roads of Kansas City on Saturday afternoon, a coffee in the father's hand and a vanilla steamer in his daughter's.

The drives are their favorite tradition; they agree on a radio station, soak in the scene and chat about whatever comes to mind.

But Saturday's drive was interrupted every five seconds by the pinging of Phil's phone. Text messages flooded in after the Bears named him the franchise's fifth general manager.

''She looked at me and said, 'Dad, a lot of calls,'?" Phil recalled.

After a pause, he looked at her and said, ''But in every one of those, they're saying, 'Go, Bears.'?"

Wearing a Bears sweatshirt, April, 28, looked at her father and excitedly said, ''Go, Bears!''

There's a tinge of emotion as Phil tells the story."