PRO FOOTBALL / BILL PLASCHKE : For Chicago’s Conway, It Has Been a Bear of a Season

The message is delivered with far more impact than any banquet speech or television commercial.

The message comes from a quiet corner of the Chicago Bears’ locker room, from a young man with an unmarked face and boyish smile surrounded by older men with scars.

The message comes in the form of frustrated looks, long sighs and acknowledged second thoughts.

Curtis Conway says he is growing happier each day, but the message remains the same.

Stay in school.

Conway, in the middle of a troubled rookie season with the Chicago Bears, admitted earlier this week that there have been times his mind has wandered back to USC.

“Early this season, many times I have thought what would have happened if I had stayed in school,” Conway said. “I didn’t understand the pressure that a first-round draft choice feels. I didn’t understand the expectations.”

Taken as the seventh pick in the draft even though he was only a junior and had only one full season as a wide receiver, Conway has undergone many rude awakenings.

--He has missed a team plane because he didn’t know how to drive to the busiest airport in the country, Chicago’s O’Hare.

--He has missed passes while running incomplete routes.

--He has missed holes while returning kicks.

In training camp he would phone home during breaks. During each of the Bears’ two bye weekends, he flew back to Los Angeles.

He wasn’t used to the cold, to the criticism from radio talk shows, to the businesslike atmosphere in the locker room.

Because he is making an average of $1.1 million per year for three years, some veteran observers felt he should keep his mouth shut and deal with it.

Other have tried to understand.

“He has had to adjust like any 22-year-old kid living 1,000 miles away from home for the first time,” said Tom Waddle, a veteran Chicago receiver. “A certain amount of maturation and adjustment has had to take place. He’s such a good kid, he’s doing that.”

Conway said he is trying.

“This has been a real learning experience for me,” Conway said. “I’m under the microscope every day out there, so much is different, I’ve tried to handle it the best I can. And it’s getting better.”

His measuring stick? “I only call home a couple of times a week,” he said, smiling. “And I could have gone home Thanksgiving weekend, but I didn’t.”

Some hoped that Conway would have a rookie season like another NFC Central wide receiver who was the seventh pick in the draft, Sterling Sharpe of the Green Bay Packers.

Except Sharpe caught 55 balls in his rookie season. Conway is on a pace to catch 17.

The two receivers will meet Sunday when the NFL’s oldest rivalry continues for the 146th time.

Because of the season-ending leg injuries to Wendell Davis, the Bears will need Conway if they hope to continue their surprising play and make the playoffs.

Conway is not ready to start--”Wendell’s injury is the worst thing that could have happened to Curtis,” Coach Dave Wannstedt said--but the Bears look at his flashes of speed and cross their fingers.

“People have no idea how young and inexperienced he is,” Wannstedt said. “I remember in Dallas, when Alvin Harper was a rookie, halfway through the season we still couldn’t get him in the lineup. By no means are we discouraged with Curtis.”

Conway said he is working hard on not being discouraged with himself.

“In L.A., I was a needle in a haystack, then I get here and people act like I’m supposed to Superman,” Conway said. “But I could be home doing a lot worse things, like selling drugs. I’m staying here, and I’ll be fine.”

EXPANSION FALLOUT

There was a fistfight over T-shirts at the local J.C. Penney store. There were 100 phone calls per minute from people asking about jobs and tickets.

But what has stunned members of the new Jacksonville Jaguar franchise most has been the two men who called and asked if they could run naked across the Gator Bowl field before renovations begin.

“Told them to send their resumes,” said Richard Smart, a Jaguar supervisor. “I wonder what we’ll get.”

The expansion losers weren’t having quite so much fun as they circled their wagons and plotted their next move.

--Baltimore is waiting for the Rams, or Tampa Bay Buccaneers, or even the Raiders, who are making noises again about moving.

They all but admitted that when the Maryland Stadium Authority mailed out letters to the 2,500 parties that purchased club seats and luxury boxes in the proposed stadium.

Instead of simply offering immediate refunds, they also gave ticket-holders the option of leaving the money in escrow until March 31.

“If negotiations with another team are happening, the earliest it could be presented to the owners would be at their spring meeting in March,” said Herb Belgrad, chairman of the Maryland Stadium Authority. “That is the reason for that date.”

Belgrad said he has not spoken to John Shaw, Ram vice president. But Belgrad said that such discussions could take place well before Shaw gives the city of Anaheim his 15-month notice to vacate.

“A person would be a damn fool to give notice before making arrangements elsewhere,” Belgrad said. “But any owner better be certain he’s leaving before calling us, because we’re tired of being used and abused.”

--The St. Louis group is waiting for local businessman James Orthwein to sell them his New England Patriots. Orthwein, a member of the Busch family, only bought the team as a favor to the NFL, which burned him by bypassing St. Louis.

“I can’t sell this team fast enough,” he said.

--The Memphis group is interested in any available . . . but who would be interested in them?

GO FIGURE

--Sunday marks the first time in 30 years the Packers and Bears have met in the second half of the season with both teams owning winning records.

--Joe Montana’s first seven completions against the Buffalo Bills last week were to seven different players.

--In case the San Diego Chargers did not fully realize the obstacles facing them in their AFC West comeback bid, their charter jet from Indianapolis early Tuesday morning was forced to make an emergency landing in . . . Denver.

--Agent Leigh Steinberg can vouch for expansion Jacksonville as a football hotbed. When he arrived there with quarterback Ed Luther to sign a contract with the Jacksonville Bulls of the USFL in 1984, the mayor met them at the airport and gave them the keys to the city.

“I haven’t had much occasion to use that key, but I guess that will change,” Steinberg said.

--”Touchdown Tommy” Vardell of the Cleveland Browns now has more fumbles (two) than touchdowns (1) in his NFL career.

--Because a magnetic resonance imaging test showed no damage to his sprained ankle, some in Pittsburgh are wondering if running back Barry Foster is refusing to play hurt. He has already said he will not take a painkilling shot.

--In their franchise history, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 0-14 when the game-time temperature is below 40 degrees.