CHICAGO _ The 68-year-old man and the 350-pound trunk come through the doorway together and start up the ramp, one dominating the other. As if that weren't enough, three boxes of Gatorade powder sit atop the trunk. Ken Miller's need for efficiency outweighs the cargo.
It's approaching 2 p.m. on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. In less than 48 hours, the Bears and Lions will kick off in Detroit _ 316 miles and a holiday rush hour from the Halas Hall loading dock.
Miller is bent at the waist with both arms extended, slowly but steadily pushing the navy trunk on wheels from the Bears equipment room toward the 40-foot semitrailer he'll use to haul an estimated 12,000 pounds of supplies and equipment to the game.
"This," Miller says, "is nothing compared to carrying a dresser down a flight of stairs."
He would know. As the owner of Meyers Movers, Miller has helped move the Bears to and from games and everywhere in between since 1989.
Somewhere on his 29-year ride from that first training camp in Platteville, Wis., to this weekend's trip to East Rutherford, N.J., Miller became part of the Bears fabric.
His company has moved every coach since Dave Wannstedt and every top personnel executive since Mark Hatley. Meyers' Rolodex of player clients spans from Anthony Adams to Chris Zorich. Many of the names are familiar. Singletary and Dent. Cutler and Hester. Pace and Nagy.
"Ken is kind of like family," said Tony Medlin, the Bears' venerable head equipment manager. "What he does for the Bears, he goes over and beyond. It's his dedication, the way he always goes about getting it done right. He knows exactly what we need, and his role is just as important as everything else."
The move to Detroit is the eighth of 11 scheduled for road games this season. The NFL doesn't stop for holidays, and neither do Miller and his crew.
The Bears bring their uniform gear _ helmets, pads, jerseys, etc. _ on the team plane, but most of their equipment and supplies travel to most road games in Miller's truck.
And the Bears use tons of stuff for just one game.
Towels, jackets, shoes, thermals, medical supplies, collapsible training tables, football equipment, coolers, etc.
The most random item? Probably the pair of blue, metal stools. They're only 2 feet tall, but offensive line coach Harry Hiestand and defensive line coach Jay Rodgers like to sit low to talk to their players on the bench.
Having Miller drive all that stuff saves players an uncomfortable wait on a tarmac after a game while the plane is packed. It also allows United Airlines to charter the Bears a smaller plane.
Miller's passion for the work and the team has kept him lifting, pushing and driving through some recent health potholes. He had radiation for prostate cancer in the spring of 2016. Then he had a heart attack on the job at the Patriots' Gillette Stadium in August that year.
The latter is a heck of a story, part of the library Miller and his crew have amassed over countless miles and hours working for the Bears and people connected to the team.
Like when they moved Jim McMahon and rode with his pet gerbils in the cab so they wouldn't freeze in the trailer.
Or that time an old lady in Green Bay flipped off Miller after seeing the big Bears logo on the truck.
Or when they moved coach Matt Nagy from Overland Park, Kan., in June, and one of the crew members mentioned to the former Eagles assistant that he's an Eagles fan.
Nagy immediately dug into a box and gave him autographed photos of Michael Vick, LeSean McCoy and DeSean Jackson.
This move to Detroit should be more routine than colorful, but that's never a certainty. As Bears players do their walk-through to prepare for the Lions, Miller and his crew roll the last laundry tub onto the truck.
Miller climbs into the cab and settles in behind the wheel with his mini-cooler full of Diet Coke and oranges. Bryan Carlson, the Meyers Movers sales consultant and Miller's top lieutenant on Bears jobs, buckles in shotgun. They roll over to the Payton Center, where the team is practicing. One last item must be loaded.
Finally, the Bears are done using the JUGS machine. It goes in the trailer, and the door is locked. At 2:57 p.m., the truck growls past the Halas Hall security gate.
Miller is back on the road.
