Bears' President Michael McCaskey was about as popular as the Grinch during the team's final game of the season Sunday at Soldier Field.

The Bears managed a Christmas Eve victory over the Eagles, but even as fans celebrated, the Atlanta Falcons in San Francisco carried off their last playoff chance.

Thus ended a season that had both started and ended with rising and falling hopes, leaving thousands of fans irritable and angry.

Within the frozen stands, pockmarked with almost 14,500 no-shows, one hostile sign summed up the common sentiment: "All I want for Christmas is McCaskey's front teeth."

McCaskey kicked off the season with a threat to move the team elsewhere unless Chicago put its money where its team loyalty was.

Mayor Richard Daley quickly followed with the challenge, "Let them move to Alaska."

Lance Hanson, 40, a controller with a Chicago-area electrical contracter, said he spent $1,400 on season tickets and a parking space this year, after spending nine years on the waiting list.

He was not amused.

"Sports now wants to cater to the corporate element. Well, a lot of people out here are working class, and they live for this on the weekends," said Hanson, who lives in Arlington Heights.

He waved his gloved hand toward Lake Michigan.

"This is the Bears. Being on the lakefront, out here in the cold."

Outside the stadium, addressing a live radio audience, Bears Vice President Ted Phillips took questions from ticket-holders.

Asked if he had any regrets about the stadium negotiations, Phillips had just a few words.

"It has become real antagonistic," he said. "That's my real regret."

Both sides have tacitly agreed that McCaskey and the Bears have lost the public relations battle in this war of words over a new stadium.

In a change of tactics, they agreed last week to a news blackout while low-key talks continue through lawyers and fax machines.

Daley originally offered to renovate Soldier Field at a cost of about $156 million. The Bears scoffed, and said that at a minimum, the playing field would have to be rotated, which would add another $80 million to the price tag, according to mayoral aides.

A third option would build a domed, multipurpose stadium next to McCormick Place for about $390 million. Meanwhile, Gary, Ind., business leaders have offered a $482 million project.

The concept of the Gary Bears irritated most fans so much that they said Sunday they would never go there for their team.

"Gary is scary," muttered Al Miller, 45, an auto technician from Delavan, Wis.

"I live in Indiana, but I am still a dedicated Bears fan. It would be a disgrace if they moved out of Chicago," said Ken Chiakas, 29, a diesel engine salesman from Newburgh, Ind.

Phillips told fans Sunday that he also liked the idea of putting a new stadium in either Aurora or Hoffman Estates, but said it would need significant state financial support, something he did not foresee.

"The governor (Jim Edgar) has said we're not going to that," Phillips said.

Throughout the season, Daley and the Bears leadership have battled not just for a stadium deal, but for public sympathy.

Daley accused McCaskey of wanting a new city tax to guarantee his profits; Phillips accused the mayor of having "verbal diarrhea" and mischaracterizing the team's proposal, as the bitterness took on a personal tone.

Tailgating outside the stadium, friends Peter Griffith, 31, of Northbrook, and Kevin Kwaterski, 37, of Rolling Meadows, discussed the battle over freshly grilled hot dogs and beer.

"The team is not doing well enough for McCaskey to make those kind of threats," Griffith said. "If he wants his own stadium, he should foot the bill for it."