Chicago
Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago,
Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National
Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The
team is legally and corporately registered as Chicago Bears Football
Club, Incorporated.
The
Bears have won nine (9) NFL Championships (eight pre-merger, and one
Super Bowl). The Bears hold the NFL records for the most enshrinees in
the Pro Football Hall of Fame, with 26 members, and the most retired
jersey numbers (13). The Bears have also recorded more regular season
and overall victories than any other NFL franchise. The franchise
recorded its 700th win on November 18, 2010.
The
club was founded in Decatur, Illinois, in 1919, and moved to Chicago in
1921. Along with the Arizona Cardinals (originally from Chicago), it is
one of only two remaining franchises from the NFL's founding. The team
played home games at Wrigley Field on Chicago's North Side through the
1970 season. With the exception of the 2002 season, they have played
their home games at Chicago's Soldier Field every year since 1971. The
stadium is located next to Lake Michigan, and was recently remodeled in a
modernization intended to update stadium amenities while preserving a
historic Chicago structure. The team has a storied, long-standing
rivalry with the Green Bay Packers, whom they have played 182 times. The
Bears currently hold the edge in head-to-head matchups with a record of
92–82–6. The two teams have met each other twice in the postseason. The
Bears won in 1941 and the Packers won in 2011.
The
team headquarters, Halas Hall, is in the Chicago suburb of Lake Forest,
Illinois. The Bears practice at adjoining facilities there during the
season. They hold their annual training camp from late July to
mid-August at Ward Field on the campus of Olivet Nazarene University in
Bourbonnais, Illinois.
Franchise history
Further information: History of the Chicago Bears and List of Chicago Bears seasons
1920–1970
Originally
named the Decatur Staleys, the club was established by the A. E. Staley
food starch company of Decatur, Illinois in 1919 as a company team.
This was the typical start for several early professional football
franchises. The company hired George Halas and Edward "Dutch" Sternaman
in 1920 to run the team, and turned over full control of the team to
them in 1921. However, official team and league records cite Halas as
the founder as he took over the team in 1920 when it became a charter
member of the NFL.
The
team relocated to Chicago in 1921, where the club was renamed the
Chicago Staleys. Under an agreement reached by Halas and Sternaman with
Staley, Halas purchased the rights to the club from Staley for $100,
whereupon they were renamed the Chicago Bears.
The
Bears dominated the league in the early years. Their rivalry with the
Chicago Cardinals, the oldest in the NFL (and a crosstown rivalry from
1920 to 1959), was key in four out of the first six league titles.
During the league's first six years, the Bears lost twice to the Canton
Bulldogs (who took two league titles over that span), and split with
their crosstown rival Cardinals (going 4–4–2 against each other over
that span), but no other team in the league defeated the Bears more than
a single time. During that span, the Bears posted 34 shutouts.
The
Bears' rivalry with the Green Bay Packers is one of the oldest and most
storied in American professional sports, dating back to 1921. In one
infamous incident that year, Halas got the Packers expelled from the
league in order to prevent their signing a particular player, and then
graciously got them re-admitted after the Bears had closed the deal with
that player.
In
1922, Halas changed the team name from the Staleys to the Bears. The
team moved into Wrigley Field, which was home to the Chicago Cubs
baseball franchise. As with several early NFL franchises, the Bears
derived their nickname from their city's baseball team (some directly,
some indirectly – like the Bears, whose young are called "cubs"). Halas
liked the bright orange-and-blue colors of his alma mater, the
University of Illinois, and the Bears adopted those colors as their own,
albeit in a darker shade of each (the blue is a navy blue, and the
orange is Pantone 1665, similar to burnt orange).
 |
| The 1924 team photo |
The
franchise was an early success under Halas, capturing the NFL
Championship in 1921 and remaining competitive throughout the decade. In
1924 the Bears claimed the Championship after defeating the Cleveland
Bulldogs on December 7, even putting the title "World's Champions" on
their 1924 team photo. But the NFL had ruled that games after November
30 did not count towards league standings, and the Bears had to settle
for second place behind Cleveland. Their only losing season came in
1929.
During
the 1920s the club was responsible for triggering the NFL's
long-standing rule that a player could not be signed until his college's
senior class had graduated. The NFL took that action as a consequence
of the Bears' aggressive signing of famous University of Illinois player
Red Grange within a day of his final game as a collegian.
After
the financial losses of the 1932 Championship season, Halas' partner
Dutch Sternaman left the organization. Halas maintained full control of
the Bears until his death in 1983. He also coached the team off-and-on
for forty seasons, an NFL record. In the 1932 "Unofficial" NFL
Championship, the Bears defeated the Portsmouth Spartans in the first
indoor American football game at Chicago Stadium.
The
success of the playoff game led the NFL to institute a championship
game. In the very first NFL Championship, the Bears played against the
New York Giants, defeating them 23–21. The teams met again in the 1934
NFL Championship where the Giants, wearing sneakers defeated the Bears
30–13 on a cold, icy day at the Polo Grounds.
 |
| The 1946 NFL Championship team photo |
From
1940–1947, quarterback Sid Luckman led the Bears to victories in four
out of the five NFL Championship Games in which they appeared. The team
acquired the University of Chicago's discarded nickname "Monsters of the
Midway" and their now-famous helmet "C", as well as a newly penned
theme song that declared them "The Pride and Joy of Illinois". One
famous victory during that period was their 73–0 victory over the
favored Washington Redskins at Griffith Stadium in the 1940 NFL
Championship Game; the score is still an NFL record for lopsided
results. The secret behind the one-sided outcome was the introduction of
a new offensive formation by Halas. The T-formation, as Halas named it,
involved two running backs instead of the traditional one in the
backfield. Luckman's success at the quarterback position for the Bears
has not been matched, as he still holds club records for passing.
After
declining throughout the 1950s, the team rebounded in 1963 to capture
their eighth NFL Championship, which would be their last until 1985. The
late 1960s and early 1970s produced notable players like Dick Butkus,
Gale Sayers, and Brian Piccolo, who died of embryonal carcinoma in 1970.
The American television network ABC aired a movie about Piccolo in 1971
entitled Brian's Song, starring James Caan and Billy Dee Williams in
the roles of Piccolo and Sayers respectively; Jack Warden won an Emmy
Award for his performance as Halas. The movie was later released for
theater screenings after first being shown on television.
Halas
retired as coach in 1967 and spent the rest of his days in the front
office. He became the only person to be involved with the NFL throughout
the first 60 years of its existence. He was also a member of the Pro
Football Hall of Fame's first induction class in 1963. As the only
living founder of the NFL at the February 1970 merger between the NFL
and the American Football League, the owners honored Halas by electing
him the first President of the National Football Conference, a position
that he held until his death in 1983. In his honor, the NFL named the
NFC Championship trophy as the George Halas Memorial Trophy.
1970–2003
After
the merger, the Bears finished the 1970 season last place in their
division, a repeat of their placing in the 1969 season. In 1975, the
Bears drafted Walter Payton from Jackson State University with their
first pick. He won the NFL Most Valuable Player Award in the 1977–78
season. Payton would go on to eclipse Jim Brown's NFL career rushing
record in 1984 before retiring in 1987, and would hold the mark until
2002, when Emmitt Smith of the Dallas Cowboys surpassed it. Payton's
career and personality would capture the hearts of Bear fans, who called
him "Sweetness". He died from a rare form of liver cancer in 1999 at
the age of 45.
On
November 1, 1983, a day after the death of George Halas, his oldest
daughter, Virginia McCaskey, took over as the majority owner of the
team. Her husband, Ed McCaskey, succeeded her father as the Chairman of
the Board. Their son Michael became the third president in team history.
Mrs. McCaskey holds the honorary title of "secretary of the board of
directors", but the 82-year–old matriarch has been called the glue that
holds the franchise together. Mrs. McCaskey's reign as the owner of the
Bears was not planned, as her father originally earmarked her brother,
George "Mugs" Halas, Jr. as the heir apparent to the franchise. However,
he died of a massive heart attack in 1979. Her impact on the team is
well-noted as her own family has dubbed her "The First Lady of Sports",
and the Chicago Sun-Times has listed her as one of Chicago's most
powerful women.
Mike
Ditka, a tight end for the Bears from 1961 to 1966, was hired to coach
the team by George Halas in 1982. In the 1985 season the fire in the
Bears–Packers rivalry was relit when Ditka used 350–plus pound lineman
"Refrigerator" Perry as a truly "wide" receiver in a touchdown play at
Lambeau Field, flagrantly taunting the Packers. The Bears won their
ninth NFL Championship, first since the AFL-NFL merger, in Super Bowl XX
after the 1985 season in which they dominated the NFL with their
then-revolutionary 46 defense and a cast of characters that recorded the
novelty rap song "The Super Bowl Shuffle". The season was notable in
that the Bears had only one loss, the "unlucky 13th" game of the season,
a Monday night affair in which they were defeated by the Miami
Dolphins. At the time, much was made of the fact that the 1972 Dolphins
were the only franchise in history to have had an undefeated season and
post-season. The Dolphins came close to setting up a rematch in the
Super Bowl, but lost to the New England Patriots in the AFC title game.
"The Super Bowl Shuffle" was videotaped the day after that Monday night
loss in Miami.
After
the 1985 Championship season, the Bears remained competitive throughout
the 1980s but failed to return to the Super Bowl under Mike Ditka.
Since the firing of Ditka at the end of the 1992 season, the Bears have
made the playoffs five times under three different head coaches: Dave
Wannstedt from 1993 through 1998, Dick Jauron from 1999 through 2003,
and current head coach, Lovie Smith. Before the Bears hired Jauron in
January 1999, Dave McGinnis (Arizona's defensive coordinator, and a
former Bears assistant under Ditka and Wannstedt) backed out of taking
the head coaching position. The Bears scheduled a press conference to
announce the hiring before McGinnis agreed to contract terms. Soon after
Jauron's hiring, Mrs. McCaskey fired her son Michael as president,
replacing him with Ted Phillips and promoting Michael to chairman of the
board. McCaskey's reign as president has been viewed as a "disaster".
Phillips, the current Bears president, became the first man outside of
the Halas-McCaskey family to run the team.
2004–present: Lovie Smith era
 |
| Lovie Smith accomplished his first objective as the team's head coach by sweeping the Green Bay Packers during the 2005 season. |
Lovie
Smith, hired on January 15, 2004, is the third and current (as of 2010)
post-Ditka head coach. Joining the Bears as a rookie head coach, Smith
brought the highly successful Tampa 2 defensive scheme with him to
Chicago. Before his second season with the Bears, the team rehired their
former offensive coordinator and then Illinois head coach Ron Turner to
improve the Bears' struggling offense. In 2005, the Bears won their
division and reached the playoffs for the first time in four years.
Their previous playoff berth was earned by winning the NFC Central in
2001. The Bears improved upon their success the following season, by
clinching their second consecutive NFC North title during Week 13 of the
2006 season, winning their first playoff game since 1995, and earning a
trip to Super Bowl XLI. However, they fell short of the championship,
losing 29–17 to the Indianapolis Colts. Following the 2006 season, the
club decided to give Lovie Smith a contract extension through 2011, at
roughly $5 million per year. This comes a season after being the lowest
paid head coach in the National Football League.
The
club has played in over a thousand games since becoming a charter
member of the NFL in 1920. Through the 2010 season, they led the NFL in
overall franchise wins with 704 and had an overall record of 704-512-42
(going 687–494–42 during the regular season and 17-18 in the playoffs).
On November 18, 2010 the Bears recorded franchise win number 700 in a
win against the Miami Dolphins.
On
April 2, 2009, the Bears made one of the biggest trades in franchise
history, acquiring Pro Bowl quarterback Jay Cutler and a 5th round
selection in the 2009 NFL Draft from the Denver Broncos in exchange for
quarterback Kyle Orton, the Bears' 1st and 3rd round selections in the
2009 NFL Draft and the Bears' 1st round selection in the 2010 NFL Draft.
On February 1, 2010, offensive guru Mike Martz was hired by the Chicago
Bears as their offensive coordinator. On March 5, 2010, the Bears made a
big splash in free agency, signing defensive end Julius Peppers,
running back Chester Taylor, and tight end Brandon Manumaleuna spending
over $100 million on the first day of free agency. The Chicago Bears got
their 700th regular season win on November 18, 2010 by beating the
Miami Dolphins 16–0. This makes the Bears the first team in the NFL to
reach the regular season win mark of 700. On December 20, 2010, the
Bears defeated the Minnesota Vikings 40–14 at TCF Bank Stadium in
Minneapolis to clinch the NFC North Division title, their third in six
years but first since 2006, when they reached Super Bowl XLI. With a
38–34 win against the New York Jets, the Bears clinched the No. 2 seed
and a first-round bye for the 2010–11 NFL playoffs. They reached the NFC
Championship Game following the defeat of the Seattle Seahawks, where
they played Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field - only the second playoff
meeting between the two storied rivals, the only other game played in
1941. The Bears lost the game, 21-14.
Ownership
Virginia
McCaskey, her children, and grandchildren control 80% of the team, and
Mrs. McCaskey votes her children's stock as well as her own. Patrick
Ryan, executive chairman of Aon Corp., and Aon director Andrew McKenna
own 15% of the club, and Kevin owns 5% of the club. In a Crain's Chicago
Business article, one businessman described his wishes for the team to
maximize its potential. In 2009 Yahoo! Sports listed the McCaskey as the
third worst owner in the NFL, stating "[T]hey get less for what they’ve
got than any team in our league." There have been rumors that the
McCaskey family might split up over the team.
In
2008, Forbes magazine reported that the Chicago Bears franchise is
worth $1.1 billion, making it the ninth richest franchise in the NFL.
Chicago is the National Football League's second largest market. The
team has major sponsorship deals with Chase, Miller Brewing Company,
Cadillac, United Airlines, Motorola, U.S. Cellular and Coca-Cola.The
team was the first in the NFL to have a presenting sponsor, with the
2004 season advertised as "Bears Football presented by BankOne (now
Chase)". Additionally, the Bears have an agreement with WFLD-TV (the Fox
affiliate in Chicago) to broadcast pre-season football games.
Logos, uniforms, and mascots
Chicago Bears logos, uniforms, and mascots
Logo
 |
| One of the original logos (1962–1973) |
The
club's first logo was introduced in the early 1950s as a black bear on
top of a football. They kept this until 1962, when the Bears trademark
'C' logo was first introduced.
The
change in their logo from the black bear was due to the addition of
logos on helmets, which pro football teams started adding in the late
1950s and early 1960s. Unlike some NFL franchises that have had many
different looks over time, the Bears have kept the wishbone 'C' for over
40 years.
In
1974, the team decided to keep the same white 'C' logo but to change
the color of it from white to orange with a white trim. This is the
current logo; however, the club has since introduced alternative logos,
including a black bear inside of the orange wishbone 'C', introduced in
1995, and an orange bear head, introduced in 1999.
Uniforms
In
1920 the team introduced uniforms containing brown and blue stripes. In
the 1930s, the franchise's uniform underwent substantial alterations.
By 1933 the Bears donned all-orange jerseys with navy numbers and
matching black helmets. In 1936, they modified this design into "an
early version of psychedelia" by adding three orange stripes to their
helmets, changing the color of the jerseys from orange to white,
complementing the new white jerseys with fourteen navy and orange
alternating stripes on the sleeves, and introducing socks with a similar
striped pattern extending from ankle to knee. Because of poor response
from the fans and the media, this design lasted only one season.
 |
| Chicago Bears uniform combinations |
By
1949, the team was wearing the familiar navy blue shirts with white,
rounded numbers. In 1956, the team added "TV numbers" to the sleeves.
The Bears 'C' logo first appeared on the helmets in 1962. The logo
changed from white to a white-bordered orange logo 11 years later, and
has remained unchanged ever since. The Bears added the initials GSH to
the left sleeve of their jerseys in 1984 in memory of George Halas.
 |
| Chicago Bears uniform: 1962–1972 |
For
decades, the team was known as the only NFL team to wear jersey numbers
that were not the traditional block-style numbers (though during the
1971 season, the Bears road jerseys used the block-style numbers).
Although a handful of other NFL teams and the Houston Oilers during
their early AFL days experimented with rounder jersey numbers, by the
mid-1960s the Bears were the only team left to continue wearing rounded
jersey numbers. Since the mid-1990s, however, several teams have shifted
away from the block numbers in favor of numbers that match a specific
team font (e.g. Denver Broncos, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles,
etc.) or in the case of the Pittsburgh Steelers, match the jersey number
font with the helmet numbers while otherwise leaving the jersey design
alone.
Other
variations to the Bears uniforms over the years include the addition of
navy blue pants as a part of the road kit in 1984. During the 1994
season, the Bears – with most of the other NFL franchises – introduced
throwback uniforms to be worn in the honor of the NFL's 75th
anniversary. These uniforms with brown and blue stripes resemble the
original Bears uniforms worn in the 1920s. On October 7, 2002 the Bears
wore navy blue pants with their navy blue home jerseys for the first
time, and lost at home to Green Bay before a national Monday Night
Football audience. The Bears did not wear the all-blue combination again
until the 2006 regular season finale against the Packers, also a loss,
on December 31.
 |
| Chicago Bears Uniform History (1920–2005) |
On
November 13, 2005 and October 29, 2006 (both times in games against the
San Francisco 49ers), the Bears introduced an orange alternate home
jersey. The orange swaps roles with the navy blue on this alternate
jersey, as it becomes the dominant color while the navy complements. The
orange jerseys were worn again on October 19, 2008 at home against the
Minnesota Vikings in a 48–41 victory.
The
Bears also wore the orange jerseys against the Detroit Lions on October
28, 2007 and most recently in a November 1, 2009 game vs. the Cleveland
Browns (Bears won 30–6). The Bears previously wore orange jerseys as
part of a throwback uniform in a Thanksgiving Day game at the Dallas
Cowboys in 2004. Their uniforms, especially for their classic look, have
been cited as one of the best in the league.
Since
2005, the Bears have worn their alternate orange jerseys for one home
game a season that is near Halloween. For the 2005–07 and 2010 home
openers, the team wore the white jerseys with the navy blue pants. The
team is 4–0 in these games, beating the Lions in 2005, 2006, and 2010,
and beating the Chiefs in 2007.
The
Bears will honor the original Monsters of the Midway during the 2010
season by wearing throwback uniforms of the era for selected games. The
uniforms are a nod to the 1940s when the Bears won four NFL titles with
Hall of Famers Danny Fortman, Sid Luckman, George McAfee, George Musso,
Bronko Nagurski, Joe Stydahar and Clyde "Bulldog" Turner.
Mascots
Before
the introduction of Staley Da Bear, the club had two unofficial mascots
named "Rocky" and "Bearman". "Rocky" was a man who donned a "1" Bears
jersey, carried a megaphone, and started chants all over Soldier Field
during the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. There is no known source of who
"Rocky" was, except that he disappeared from Soldier Field in the early
1990s and presumably lived in Northwest Indiana. Don Wachter, also
known as "Bearman", is a season ticket holder who decided in 1995 that
he could also assist the team by cheerleading. The club allowed him to
run across the field with a large Bears flag during player introductions
and each team score. In 1996, he donned his "costume" of face paint,
bear head and arms, and a number 46 jersey. "Bearman" was forced to stop
wearing his costume with the introduction of Staley Da Bear in 2003;
however, in 2005 Wachter was allowed in costume again.
Stadium
Wrigley Field and Soldier Field
| Soldier Field | |
|---|---|
| Soldier Field II "Stadium in a Park" | |
 | |
| Location | South Museum Campus Drive, Chicago, Illinois |
| Broke ground | 1922 |
| Opened | 9 October 1924 29 September 2003 |
| Owner | City of Chicago |
| Operator | Soldier Field Joint Venture |
| Architect | Holabird & Roche |
| Capacity | 61,500 seated |
| Tenants | |
| Chicago Bears (1971-2001, 2003–present) | |
Soldier
Field, located on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, is the current home to
the Bears. The Bears moved into Soldier Field in 1971 after outgrowing
Wrigley Field, the team's home for 50 years, and Northwestern
University's residential neighbors objected to their playing at Dyche
Stadium, now called Ryan Field. After the AFL-NFL Merger, the newly
merged league wanted their teams to play in stadiums that could hold at
least 50,000 fans. Even with the portable bleachers that the team
brought into Wrigley, the stadium could still only hold 46,000. Soldier
Field's playing turf was changed from astroturf to natural grass in time
for the start of the 1988 season. The stadium was the site of the
infamous Fog Bowl playoff game between the Bears and Philadelphia
Eagles.
In
2002, the stadium was closed and rebuilt with only the exterior wall of
the stadium being preserved. It was closed on Sunday, January 20, 2002,
a day after the Bears lost in the playoffs. It reopened on September
27, 2003 after a complete rebuild (the second in the stadium's history).
Many fans refer to the rebuilt stadium as "New Soldier Field". During
the 2002 season, the Bears played their home games at the University of
Illinois' Memorial Stadium in Champaign, where they went 3–5.
Many
critics have negative views of the new stadium. They believe that its
current structure has made it more of an eyesore than a landmark; some
have dubbed it the "Mistake on the Lake". Soldier Field was stripped of
its National Historic Landmark designation on February 17, 2006.
In
the 2005 season, the Bears won the NFC North Division and the No. 2
Seed in the NFC Playoffs, entitling them to play at least one home game
in the postseason. The team hosted (and lost) their divisional round
match on January 15, 2006 against the Carolina Panthers. This was the
first playoff game at Soldier Field since the stadium reopened.
The
stadium's end zones and midfield were not painted until the 1982
season. The design sported on the field included the bolded word
"Chicago" in both end zones. In 1983, the end zone design returned, with
the addition of a large wishbone "C" Bears logo painted at midfield.
These field markings remained unchanged until the 1996 season. In 1996
the midfield wishbone "C" was changed to a large blue Bears head, and
the end zone design were painted with "Bears" in cursive. This new
design remained until the 1999 season, at which point the artwork was
returned to the classic "Chicago" and the "C". In the new Soldier Field,
the artwork was tweaked to where one end zone had the word "Chicago"
bolded and the other had "Bears".
The Bears in popular culture
While
the Super Bowl XX Champion Bears were a fixture of mainstream American
pop culture in the 1980s, the Bears made a prior mark with the 1971
American TV movie Brian's Song starring Billy Dee Williams as Gale
Sayers and James Caan as Brian Piccolo. The film told of how Piccolo
helped Sayers recover from a devastating knee injury to return to his
status as one of the league's best players, and how Sayers in turn
helped the Piccolo family through Brian's fatal illness. A 2001 remake
of the movie for ABC starred Sean Maher as Piccolo and Mekhi Phifer as
Sayers.
The
1985 team is also remembered for recording the song "The Super Bowl
Shuffle", which reached number forty-one on the Billboard Hot 100 and
was nominated for a Grammy Award. The music video for the song depicts
the team rapping that they are "not here to start no trouble" but
instead "just here to do the Super Bowl Shuffle". The team took a risk
by recording and releasing the song before the playoffs had even begun,
but were able to avoid embarrassment by going on to win Super Bowl XX by
a then-record margin of 46–10. That game was one of the most watched
television events in history according to the Nielsen ratings system;
the game had a rating of 48.3, ranking it seventh in all-time television
history.
In
addition to the "Super Bowl Shuffle" rap song, the Bears' success in
the 1980s – and especially the personality of head coach Mike Ditka –
inspired a recurring sketch on the American sketch comedy program
Saturday Night Live, called "Bill Swerski's Superfans". The sketch
featured Cheers co-star George Wendt, a Chicago native, as host of a
radio talk-show (similar in tone to WGN radio's "The Sportswriters"),
with co-panelists Carl Wollarski (Robert Smigel), Pat Arnold (Mike
Myers) and Todd O'Connor (Chris Farley). To hear them tell it, "Da
Bears" and Coach Ditka could do no wrong. The sketch stopped after Ditka
was fired in 1993. The sketch usually showed the panelists drinking
lots of beer and eating lots of Polish sausage, and often featured Todd
getting so agitated about what was happening with the Bears that he
suffered a heart attack, but quickly recovered (through
self-administered CPR). The sketch also features the cast predicting
unrealistic blowout victories for Bears games.[64] A significantly
overweight Farley died in 1997 from a drug overdose exacerbated by
arteriosclerosis, and Da Super Fan sketch has not been brought back by
SNL, with the exception of a single appearance by Horatio Sanz as a
Super Fan for the Cubs on Weekend Update in 2003. Outside of SNL, George
Wendt reprised his role of Swerski in the opening promo of Super Bowl
XL on ABC.
On
TV shows based in Chicago such as Still Standing, According to Jim,
Early Edition and The Bernie Mac Show, the main characters are all Bears
fans, and have worn Bears' jerseys and t-shirts on some occasions. Some
episodes even show them watching Bears games. Rosanne is another TV
show based outside of Chicago to feature the Bears as the consensus
household favorite. That 70s Show featured several Bears references, as
it was based in Wisconsin, home of the Packers. On one episode while the
gang is at a Bears vs. Packers game, Eric comes to the seat in a Walter
Payton jersey and is booed by the surrounding Packers fans.
Ditka's
success and popularity in Chicago has led him to land analyst roles on
various American football pregame shows. Ditka worked for both the NFL
on NBC and CBS's The NFL Today, and he currently works on ESPN's Sunday
NFL Countdown and provided Friday night analysis on the Bears on CBS 2
Chicago, the CBS Chicago affiliate, called "2 on Football" with former
CBS 2 Sports Director Mark Malone. He is also the color analyst for all
local broadcasts of Bears preseason games. Ditka also co-starred himself
alongside actor Will Ferrell in the 2005 comedy film Kicking &
Screaming.
Also,
Ditka, Dick Butkus, Walter Payton, Jim McMahon, William "Refrigerator"
Perry and Brian Urlacher are among Bears figures known for their
appearances in TV commercials. Urlacher, whose jersey was among the
league's best-selling in 2002, was featured on Nike commercials with
former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick.
In
the 1985 cartoon Punky Brewster, the Bears are playing the Green Bay
Packers in the episode "The Quartersize Quarterback".In the 1961 cartoon
Yogi Bear, Yogi helps the Bears beat the New York Giants.
In the popular American sit-com Roseanne, Dan Conner (John Goodman) would often wear a Chicago Bears hoodie.
Chevy
Chase (Clark Griswold) appears in some scenes wearing a black Chicago
Bears ball cap. He wears the same Chicago Bears cap throughout all four
Vacation movies.
Brian Urlacher made a cameo in the seventh season of the HBO series Entourage in 2010.
Local radio and television
Currently,
WBBM NewsRadio 780 airs the Bears games with Jeff Joniak doing the
play-by-play, along with color commentator Tom Thayer, who played for
the Bears from 1985–1992, and sideline reporter Zach Zaidman. Over the
years, many Bears play-by-play broadcasters have included Jack
Brickhouse, Wayne Larrivee, and color commentator Hub Arkush. Their
current preseason TV announcers on Fox Chicago are Sam Rosen
(play-by-play), Erik Kramer (color commentary) and Lou Canellis
(sideline reporter).
Statistics and records
Chicago Bears statistics.
Bill
George and Doug Buffone hold the record for the most seasons in a Bears
uniform with 14. George did it between the 1952 and 1965 seasons and
Buffone during the 1966 through 1979 seasons. On the other hand, Steve
McMichael holds the record for most consecutive games played by a Bear
with 191; he accomplished the feat from 1981 to 1993. In second place is
Payton, who played 186 games from 1975 to 1987 at running back, a
position considered to be conducive to injury, only missing one game in a
span of 13 seasons.
Placekicker
Kevin Butler holds the club record for scoring the most points in his
ten-year Bear career. He scored 1,116 points as the Bears kicker from
1985 to 1995. He is followed in distant second place by Payton, with 750
points. Payton holds the team record for career rushing yards with
16,726. That was an NFL record until Emmitt Smith of the Dallas Cowboys
broke it in 2002. Neal Anderson, who played from 1986 to 1993, is the
closest to Payton's record with 6,166 yards. Mark Bortz holds the record
for most Bear playoff appearances, with 13 between 1983 and 1994, and
is followed by Kevin Butler, Dennis Gentry, Dan Hampton, Jay Hilgenberg,
Steve McMichael, Ron Rivera, Mike Singletary, and Keith Van Horne, who
have each played in 12 playoff games.
The
1940 Chicago Bears team holds the record for the biggest margin of
victory in an NFL game (playoff or regular season) with a 73–0 victory
over the Washington Redskins in the 1940 NFL Championship Game. The
largest home victory for the Bears came in a 61–7 result against the
Green Bay Packers in 1980. The largest defeat in club history was a 52–0
loss against the Baltimore Colts in 1964. The club recorded undefeated
regular seasons in 1934 and 1942, but (unlike the 1972 Dolphins) did not
win the championship game in either season. In 1934, the club completed
a 13–0 record but were defeated by the New York Giants, and in 1942 the
club completed an 11–0 record but were defeated by the Redskins. Had
the Bears won either championship, the club would have completed a
championship three-peat – a feat completed only by the Packers (twice),
although no team has done it since the AFL-NFL merger. Halas holds the
team record for coaching the most seasons with 40 and for having the
most career victories of 324. Halas' victories record stood until Don
Shula surpassed Halas in 1993. Ditka is the closest Bears coach to
Halas, with 112 career victories. No other Bears coach has recorded over
100 victories with the team.
During
the 2006 season, return specialist Devin Hester set several kick return
records. He currently holds the franchise record for most return yards
with 1,449. He had six touchdown returns, setting a record for most
returns in a single season. In 2007, he recorded another six touchdown
season from returns. One of the most notable of these returns came on
November 12, 2006, when he returned a missed field goal for a 108-yard
touchdown. The record tied former teammate Nathan Vasher's previous
record, which was set almost a year earlier. Additionally, Hester set a
Super Bowl record by becoming the first person to return an opening kick
of a Super Bowl for a touchdown. On December 20, 2010, Hester set an
NFL record for most touchdowns on a punt or kickoff return with his 14th
career return coming against the Minnesota Vikings.
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