Like many professional football players, Michael Turner grew up as a Bears fan. The North Chicago native spent Sunday afternoons glued to his television screen, hoping that one day he would be able to play for his favorite team. Alas, the Bears didn't select the Northern Illinois alum, but he will get to face off against them Sunday night. When you talk to Turner, as I did recently over the phone, you realize that this game seems to mean more to him than most.

He also talks about facing fellow NIU alum Garrett Wolfe, the Cutler/Orton debate and Thursday's balloon-boy saga:

As a kid who grew up in Chicago, how different is it for you to play the Bears compared to playing against any other team?

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David Butler II/US Presswire

Falcons running back Michael Turner, a North Chicago native, grew up a Bears fan.

Michael Turner:It's a totally different feeling when you play against your hometown team. You've been growing up watching them on TV and dreaming one day you'll play for them. [Things don't always] go like that. Ending up playing against them is just a totally different feeling. To actually see them across from you, [it's] like "Wow!" And seeing that "C" on the helmets -- I don't know, it just does something to me.

So I take it you were a pretty big Bears fan growing up?

MT: Yeah, I was a big Bears fan. My whole family was. We watched them every Sunday right after church, hoping for a win because that set the mood for the rest of the week for us.

Are all your family and friends still Bears fans, or have you gotten them to switch over to the Falcons?

MT:Oh no, they're still Bears fans. That's never gonna change. But they make sure they watch me (laughs), they make sure they watch me every week, and they root for me.

Who was your favorite Bears player growing up?

MT: Favorite Bears player … (Pauses) I caught Walter [Payton] in his later years. My favorite player … One guy that I was sad that they didn't keep on the team was Jim Harbaugh.

Harbaugh -- there's a blast from the past.

MT: (Laughs)

Your buddy Garrett Wolfe was telling everybody the other day that you guys talk all the time but you haven't spoken this week. Has there been any trash talk before this week leading up to this game?

MT: No, no, no. We don't talk trash about that because we don't want to give each other bulletin-board material. (Laughs) So we don't even want to put each other in that position.

What do you remember most about last year's game?

MT: That [game-winning] field goal going through in the final seconds. That's what I remember the most.

A lot of people have said that game served as Matt [Ryan]'s coming-out party. Do you feel the same way?

MT: Yeah, because previously I don't think the teams really focused on the run like that, where [they] really put the game in Matt's hands [and said], "You're gonna have to beat us." Matt handled it and went out there and won the game for us.

Eleven seconds. Is that all any quarterback really needs to get a drive like that in motion?

MT: Hey, he'll take 11 seconds. As long as he's got the ball in his hands, Matt will believe he has a chance to win.

From what you've seen on tape, do the Bears and Falcons look that much different from last year?

MT: I know we look different, because of the addition of [tight end] Tony [Gonzalez]. We have more experience together. I think last year it was only like six games we played as a whole unit, so we look much different. The Bears, they don't look that much different as far as the scheme and what Lovie's trying to do with that program. Other than that, they blitz a lot more than normal.

A lot of people have been asking the Orton/Cutler question around here lately. From a player's perspective which guy do you think is more dangerous?

MT: Orton or Cutler? Dangerous. (Pauses) I think [with] Orton you know what you're gonna get week in and week out. He's a consistent guy. Cutler -- I would say he's more dangerous because he can have those 400-yard passing games and things like that when he starts throwing the ball all over the field. So I would consider him more dangerous.

People have made a big deal about the fact that Cutler beat you guys, and he was the only one to do it at the Georgia Dome last season. Do you remember that?

MT: Oh, I remember Denver coming in and beating us here. I remember that. [It was] a good game. But he's on a different team now. I know the Bears fans are probably hoping that he'll bring … some of the same stuff this week.

On a different topic: What is the flight home like after you score three touchdowns in a game, like you did last week in San Francisco?

MT: It was probably one of the most relaxing flights I ever had. A good performance by the whole team; everybody was happy. Coming to the West Coast [and winning], we had a long time to celebrate together as a team on the way back home.

What do you do during that long of a flight? Is everybody excited, or is everyone sleeping because it takes so long?

MT: Everybody's happy. I don't remember that many people falling asleep. We all play cards together, watch movies. Guys try to walk around and joke with some of your buddies and things like that. … [We] just sit there and talk to each other because nobody really wants to go to sleep after a win like that.

For all the people who might be flying from Chicago to Atlanta this weekend, how would you compare the two cities?

MT: Atlanta's the South. They've got the Southern food, all the barbecues and things like that. They've got that Southern hospitality. Everybody is just nice to you and welcomes you with open arms. Chicago is the Windy City. In the wintertime, it's cold. They also have great food. Of course, Chicago is much bigger. They got the diehard Bears fans that are with you through thick and thin. Chicago has that great tradition, and we're trying to build that same thing here in Atlanta.

If you had one day to look around in Atlanta, where would you tell all those Chicagoans to go? Which places would they have to hit, restaurants, museums, etc.?

MT: You gotta check out Martin Luther King [Jr.]'s memorial. You gotta check out the aquarium. They've got sharks and all types of stuff in there.

The Coke factory, is that on the list?

MT: Oh yeah, the Coke factory. I haven't been to the Coke factory, but I heard that's something you won't get a chance to [see] anywhere else.

I'll get you out of here on this one: With all the balloon-boy stuff that was going on Thursday, how did you guys follow the story, if you did?

MT: Which balloon boy?

The little 6-year-old that was flying away in that balloon -- and then wasn't.

MT: And then he wasn't?

Yeah, you didn't see that story? It was on every station yesterday. The 6-year-old kid who was supposedly flying in the balloon and then they found him hiding up in his attic.

MT: (Laughs) I heard people talking about a balloon boy missing. OK, so they found him in the attic?

You heard what his name was, right?

MT: No.

His name was Falcon.

MT: (Laughs)

That's why I figured you guys may have paid a little more attention to the story, since he had the team's name in there.

MT: We probably need to get him down to a game, bring him down to the field at halftime or something.

Yeah, you could fly him around the Dome or something.

MT: You're right.

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