CHICAGO — Anticipation for the Chicago Bears 2024 season opener this weekend continues to mount, but it’s fair to say another level of sky-high fever will be right before kickoff.
Navy Lieutenant Matt Sebok was born and raised in the city’s Mt. Greenwood neighborhood. He and his Navy partner pilot aboard their EA-18G fighter jet will do the pregame flyover Soldier Field in conjunction with the national anthem on Sunday.
Sebok, an all-boys Brother Rice Catholic High School graduate, enrolled in the Navy’s reserve officer training corp while attending Milwaukee’s Marquette University. With a degree in mathematical economics, he then went to Pensacola for two years of flight training.
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Sebok is now at Washington state’s naval airbase, Whidbey Island, but he will return to Sweet Home Chicago this weekend.
His parents, Maureen and Dave, said they are excited and proud. The pair will be among the 25 family and friends watching from their seats inside the stadium.
Dave Sebok said that if the Chicago Bears are Super Bowl-bound this year, his son, Matt, should do the flyover honors again.
“I think if he does the flyover for the opener and they make it to the Super Bowl, he should do the flyover at the Super Bowl, too,” Sebok said with a smile. “I’m thinking that would be the best.”