Gordon, a Dolphins running back, found the end zone on a 2-yard run with 6:29 to play in the first quarter of Miami’s 31-21 loss. The retweets and likes — over 44,000 — poured in and piqued Levy’s interest to create a promotion between his hot-dog stand and his favorite football team, the Chicago Bears.
“It got me thinking, what can we do to just get in on the fun?” Levy told ESPN. “What’s a somewhat improbable but achievable number for [quarterback] Caleb [Williams] to hit? I looked at some data and thought there was maybe a 5 to 10 percent chance that he would hit [four touchdowns]. He did it once last year, so I thought we’d get in on it.”
The next morning, Levy fired off a post on X. As Williams and the Bears looked for their first win of the season, fans in Chicago would be treated to free hot dogs on Sept. 23 if the quarterback threw four touchdown passes, something he did as a rookie in a win over Jacksonville.
The post was reshared over 1,700 times and received more than 7,900 likes. Late Sunday afternoon, as Levy watched the Bears take down the Dallas Cowboys 34-14 while Williams threw touchdown passes to wide receivers Rome Odunze, Luther Burden III, DJ Moore and tight end Cole Kmet, The Wieners Circle co-owner was stunned when he heard the quarterback acknowledge his restaurant’s promotion.
“I’ve heard about the four-touchdown thing,” Williams said postgame. “Congrats, everybody, you got free hot dogs.”
The Wieners Circle ordered an extra 2,000 hot dogs ahead of Tuesday’s giveaway where patrons could visit the Lincoln Park location for a free hot dog between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m., or until they ran out. Levy credited Chicago-based bread company S. Rosen’s for donating 2,000 poppyseed buns to support the giveaway.
By noon on a sunny September Tuesday, the line stretched up Clark Street and around the corner of Drummond Place. Local news trucks set up in front of the famous hot-dog stand to capture the scene. Cars drove by with the windows rolled down and shouted, “Go Bears!”
When the Vienna Beef hot-dog truck whizzed by and honked its horn, the line of hundreds of Bears fans and Chicagoans patiently awaiting their free hot dogs cheered.
Jose Figueroa, who calls himself the “No. 1 Bears fan” pumped up the crowd as they waited, walking back and forth in front of the line on the sidewalk. “Let’s go Bears!” he shouted over and over as he waved his arms.
Figueroa, a Bucktown resident, wore an apron with a Chicago-style hot dog on it that could pass him for a Wieners Circle employee, but he was there in an unofficial capacity.
“I got here at 8 a.m.,” he said. “I’m just volunteering and wanted to come down and bring everyone together.”
Gina Parentino and Michael Parent had the day off from work, so they waited an hour in line for their free hot dogs. Parent said he was still living off of the ’85 Bears but is feeling optimistic now about the 2025 team.
“If Sunday was a preview of what we’re going to keep getting, that’s great,” Parent said.
Parentino added: “If the Cubs can win after 108 years, Bears can win after just 40, we got this.”
Joe Patrick, 67, a lifelong Bears fan, was fishing Tuesday morning nearby on Lake Michigan.
“I love The Wiener Circle, and I was in the neighborhood, so I’d be crazy not to come and support the Bears,” Patrick said. “The Bears are going to win every game until they lose one, and then they’re going to win every game after that until they lose that one.”
Allison Miller and Davin Strouse waited in line with their golden retriever, Clark, who donned a Bears jersey for the occasion. Miller and Strouse moved to Chicago six years ago and have gone to one Bears game a year since.
They were sitting in the North end zone Sunday and counting Williams’ touchdown passes. They’d seen The Wieners Circle’s post about free hot dogs if Williams passed for four touchdowns, but they didn’t think it would ever happen.
“Probably not,” Miller said.
“With the way the season has gone,” Strouse said, “but he hit two pretty quick, and that flea-flicker was pretty remarkable.”
When Williams had three touchdown passes by halftime, Miller and Strouse started talking about the possibility of free hot dogs with the other Bears fans in their section, and when Moore caught the fourth touchdown in the north end zone, right in front of them, they all high-fived to their free hot-dog future and the Bears’ win.
“The trick plays and even the scheme gives you a lot of hope,” Strouse said. “And the way Caleb played on Sunday, hopefully it’s a turning point.”
ESPN Staff Writer
ESPN