Mom, son Bears fans ran into Aaron Rodgers in Chicago, and that was just the beginning

Julia Nicoll still can’t quite believe what happened on that street corner in downtown Chicago on that Saturday night.

It’s the story of two Chicago Bears fans, one Green Bay Packers quarterback and a sprinkle of department store Christmas magic thrown in for good measure.

It was the weekend of the Packers-Bears game at Soldier Field on Nov. 12, and Nicoll and her 11-year-old son, Peter, decided spur of the moment to take the 4:30 p.m. train from their home in Mount Prospect, Ill., to check out the early holiday decorations in the city. They were waiting along with other people to cross the street when Peter said to his mom he thought he recognized Aaron Rodgers standing by them.

“I’m whispering to him like (in a doubting tone), ‘Really? I don’t think Aaron Rodgers is standing right next to us on the corner on a Saturday evening.’”

But when Rodgers looked past her to prepare to cross, she checked for herself — and then did something that’s so unlike the mother of three.

“I never in my life can talk to celebrities. If I go to a book signing, I don’t even talk to them, because I don’t want to bother people, but somehow I had it in me to say, ‘Are you ...?’ really quietly. I didn’t even finish the sentence, because I didn’t want the other people at the corner to bug him if he just wanted to be alone, which I totally get, so I kind of stopped myself.

“He looked right at me and said, ‘I am.’”

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The next thing she knew, he turned around and introduced himself to Peter with a “Hi, I’m Aaron.” He told them he was out enjoying the energy and lights of the city before his dinner reservations. They talked about how he was feeling after his collarbone surgery. He asked Peter all kinds of sports-related questions. When Peter apologized for being a Bears fan, Rodgers told him no need. He should be. He lives in Chicago.

When a group of passers-by recognized Rodgers, Julia and Peter excused themselves and crossed the street. They had stopped to text a photo of Rodgers with Peter to Julia’s husband when No. 12 caught back up with them.

“He just started talking to us again like we were all neighbors and friends. We walked with him again for the next 15 minutes, 20 minutes to Michigan Avenue,” Julia said. “The thing for me that really stood out as so awesome was he asked us questions. I would say he asked us more questions than I asked him, because I didn’t want to be nosy and because I didn’t want to invade his privacy.”

He asked about the Nicoll family’s Thanksgiving plans and their daughter who will be attending the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire next year.

“He was asking me questions that most people would think, ‘Why would Aaron Rodgers care?’ It was so amazing. It was really something, I have to say. It still is,” Julia said. “I told so many people. We just couldn’t believe it, my son and I.”

The story, however, doesn’t end there.

An hour later, Julia and Peter were in the Christmas shop at Macy’s on State Street when they spotted a woman decked out in Packers gear. Julia’s first thought was the woman was going to “flip out” when she hears what just happened to them. She told her about the encounter and, oddly, the woman didn’t seem as excited as Julia had hoped.

“She kind of patted my arm in a sweet, sweet way and she goes, ‘Oh, my son plays for the Packers.’”

It was Ty Montgomery’s mom.

Peter’s face lit up. He’s a fan of the Packers running back and had told his mom after they parted ways with Rodgers, he wanted to ask the quarterback to say hello to Montgomery for him, but he chickened out. That’s the first time Julia ever heard the words “Ty Montgomery.”

While Julia was still in full “Are you serious?” shock, Montgomery’s mom was loving Peter’s reaction.

“She said, ‘There you go! Did you see his face? That’s right!’”

Julia doesn’t know what it was about her, a middle-aged mom who counts the Bears’ 1986 Super Bowl win as one of her greatest family memories growing up, and Peter, a sports nut who met Kansas Jayhawks men’s basketball coach Bill Self at basketball camp last summer, that made Rodgers so gracious with his time and so genuine in his conversation that night.

Maybe it’s because she wasn’t some gaga fan going crazy. “I barely knew certain things,” she admits. (When Rodgers introduced himself, she asked him what he was doing in Chicago, forgetting in all the excitement there was a game the next day.)

Whatever the reason, she knows the flurry of comments the post and photo generated on her Facebook page were on to something.

“Oh my gosh, people went bananas commenting how nice, how lucky, how special, how refreshing to see someone like that be so kind and normal ...”

“It was just such a treat. It was a treat, because it’s a treat to see a celebrity. It’s certainly a treat to see a sports figure when you live in Chicago, because we’re all such big sports fans,” Julia said. “When I said, ‘Are you ...?’ and I didn’t finish, he could have just kept walking and I would’ve gotten it. I wouldn’t even have been offended. And he didn’t. He was so engaging. Just so nice and refreshing, and really, really great for Peter. All I kept telling him is, ‘Peter, what we’re talking about here is one of the greatest quarterbacks ever just hung out with us.'”

Julia hasn’t been able to stop talking about it. She told the pizza guy later that night when she and Peter went out for dinner. On the flight back from Mexico for Thanksgiving break, she spotted someone in a Rodgers jersey and told him.

“I’ve got to tell everyone I know,” she said.

One thing Julia and Peter were sure to keep to themselves that night: where Rodgers was going for dinner. They wanted to respect his privacy.

It was only after encouragement from a friend from Wisconsin, who told her how much Packers fans would appreciate the off-the-field encounter with their quarterback, that she agreed to share the story publicly.

“I’m not bragging that I met him. That’s just pure luck. I’m sharing with the world what a fabulous human being Aaron Rodgers is,” Julia said. “And if you’re a fan, like when I see a guy in the Aaron Rodgers jersey, he’s obviously a fan, he has to know this stuff. I would love it if someone came up to me about one of my No. 1 people and told me something great. I would just be so happy.”