NFL: Lean, mean crew takes Americans by surprise

An hour's drive north of downtown Chicago, through the commercial fringe and among the cookie-cutter suburbs, is Lake Forest, home to Halas Hall and the Chicago Bears.

It's an impressive facility, dedicated to George Halas, who was a founder, owner, player and coach of the Bears as they morphed from the Decatur Staleys to the Chicago Staleys and, finally, Bears.

It houses the Bears' administrative, business and football operations and has a full-sized outdoor field and the aircraft hangar-sized indoor Walter Payton Centre, named after the Hall of Fame running back widely regarded as the Bears' greatest player.

The contrast in fortunes between the Bears and the All Blacks is stark. The All Blacks' win record under Steve Hansen is historically high, they're defending world, Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup champions and are ranked No1 in the world on any metric.

The Bears, under head coach Marc Trestman, have slumped to a 3-5 win-loss record this year and are a distant third in the four-team NFC North division.

But it is behind the scenes where the differences are even greater. There were a few raised eyebrows at the All Blacks' "bloated" support staff for this trip. They are taking 34 players and 20 staff.

The Bears would laugh at such a threadbare crew.

They have 21 fulltime coaching staff alone, ranging from head coach Trestman to the more exotic sounding offensive quality control (Carson Walch if you must know).

The Bears have four trainers and five personnel in charge of equipment. There are four staff employed in video, and the player personnel department, which is essentially the scouts, numbers 18 - yes, 18.

They have anywhere between 50-60 players, depending on injuries and roster reshuffles.

And before you argue that the Bears' season is much longer and involves a lot more games, it's not really true. The pre-season starts in August, the regular season in September.

Barring a huge form turnaround, the Bears' season will end on December 28. They will play 17 regular season matches.

This year, the All Blacks' season began against England at Auckland on June 7 and will end against Wales in Cardiff on November 23. They would have played 14 tests in all.

This is America, though, where everything is bigger.