Connie Payton, the widow of Chicago Bears great Walter Payton, said Wednesday that she has been surprised and overwhelmed by the outpouring of sympathy since her husband's death last week.

Her comments came after passage of a City Council resolution honoring the Hall of Fame running back, praise by a parade of aldermen and Mayor Richard Daley and a moment of silence.

"To see what has happened in the last week has been truly a blessing, and it is something I know my kids will cherish," Payton said. Her husband "will live in my heart and their hearts, and it is good to see he will live in the hearts of all these people forever and ever. I am just honored to be here."

Payton, poised and composed, listened as Daley said her husband "exhibited excellence, grace and dignity on and off the football field."

Departing from prepared remarks, the mayor praised him for "taking responsibility for his own life."

"There were no excuses in Walter Payton's life," he said.

The many expressions of sympathy since her husband's death "really make the whole thing a lot easier to handle," Payton told reporters.

Along with last Saturday's memorial ceremony in Soldier Field, "I don't know how he would feel with all this attention," she said.

"I think he might even have been a little overwhelmed by it. He didn't (play) for the attention. He didn't do it for the money. He just did it because he loved it."

Payton said she believes her husband played a role in the Bears' upset of the Green Bay Packers last Sunday.

"My son (Jarrett) thought that was the most awesome thing," she said.

"He just sat and watched that Bears game and cheered and yelled because they dedicated that win to Walter. He said, `They have got to win. They have got to win.' He was the first to say, `That was Dad. Dad did that.' "

Payton said she plans to continue living in the Chicago area.

"This is our home," she said.

Chicago Bears
  1975-1987