History of the Chicago Bears


The Chicago Bears American football franchise is a charter member of the National Football League, and has played in all of the league's 100 seasons. The team has captured nine NFL championships – eight NFL championships and one Super Bowl – second most all time behind the Green Bay Packers. The franchise has also recorded more victories than any other franchise, retired the most uniform numbers, and have the most members in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Bears have played in over a thousand games since becoming a charter member of the NFL in 1920.

Early years: Formation of the league and Bear domination (1919–1946)

The Decatur Staleys, the organization that eventually became the Chicago Bears, were originally founded as a works team of the A. E. Staley food starch company of Decatur, Illinois, in 1919; this was the typical start for several early professional football franchises. The team played independently in 1919, winning the Central Illinois Championship. In 1920, the company hired former University of Illinois teammates George Halas and Edward "Dutch" Sternaman to run the team.
On September 17, 1920, 13 team representatives, including those representing Halas' team, met in Canton, Ohio, to create a new football league. In the interest of ticket sales and crowning a yearly champion, they decided to form the American Professional Football Association, which changed its name to National Football League in 1922. On October 3, 1920, the Staleys played their first NFL game. Official team and league records cite Halas as the team's founder as he took over the team in 1920, when it became a charter member of the NFL.

1920–1921: The Decatur Staleys

Halas was among the driving forces of this meeting, which gave birth to what is now the NFL. In their first season as part of the APFA, the Staleys won 10 games, all by shutouts, but lost the first league championship to the Akron Pros, who finished the season unbeaten at 8–0–3. There was no official scheduling in the 1920 season, which accounted for the difference in the number of games played that season.
The Staleys and the Racine Cardinals split the 1920 series with the home team winning in each. In the Cardinals' 7–6 victory over the Staleys in their first meeting of the season, each team scored a touchdown on a fumble recovery, but the Staleys missed their extra point. The Staleys went on to a 10–1–2 record overall, 5–1–2 in league play. The 1920 Akron Pros were the first-ever league champions, finishing with an 8–0–3 record, 6–0–3 in league play, and ending their season in a scoreless tie against the Staleys. Because the Staleys had lost to the Cardinals earlier that year, the Pros could simply play the final game not to lose; they wisely did and became champions. The Staleys' loss to the Cardinals began a long-standing rivalry between the franchises. Had the Staleys won, there would have been a three-way tie among the Staleys, the Buffalo All-Americans and the Pros, each team having one loss. Each team likely would have played more games to allow teams to settle parity at the top of the standings.

1921–1929: First years in Chicago and the rise of the Bears

Although the Staleys made a good account of themselves on the field, they struggled off of it. The team played their home games at Staley Field, which only seated 1,500 people, incredibly small even by early professional football standards. Additionally, Staley employees received a 50 percent discount on tickets, further hobbling the company's bottom line.
The financial troubles did not dissuade Halas from improving the team. By the time the team took the field for the 1921 season, Halas had almost completely jettisoned the Staleys' works team roots. All but two local men and one Staley employee were gone from the roster and replaced with former college players. After the team opened the season with a home victory over the Rock Island Independents, company founder and namesake Gene Staley made Halas a lucrative offer. He was going to have to lay off the players he had just hired due to a recession, but was willing to turn the team over to Halas. Remembering that the team had attracted its biggest home game crowds of the 1920 season by moving two games to the city, Staley advanced Halas $5,000 to move the team to Chicago, provided that he keep the Staleys name for the remainder of the 1921 season. Halas then took Sternaman on as a full partner. Taking advantage of his good relationship with Chicago Cubs owner William Wrigley Jr. and president Bill Veeck Sr., Halas quickly secured a lease at Cubs Park, soon to be known as Wrigley Field. The Chicago Staleys stormed through the rest of the season, finishing 10–1–1 with their first league championship.
In 1922, when the agreement to keep the Staleys name lapsed, Halas decided to choose a new name for his team. He considered calling it the Cubs as a nod to how the baseball Cubs had helped him get settled in Chicago, but ultimately decided on the Chicago Bears. In his biography, Halas recalled that he wanted a tie-in to the Cubs, but reasoned that since football players were far bigger than baseball players, "if baseball players are cubs, then football players must be bears!" Over the next few years, the Bears were ranked among the elite teams in the NFL, but could never capture a championship title since the league did not have a playoff system; instead, it had a somewhat controversial scheduling formula that led to uneven standings and contentious champions.
The highlight of the decade was Halas' unprecedented move to sign Red Grange for $100,000 in 1925. At that time, professional football was viewed negatively by many Americans, who saw college football as a pure sport. Halas, however, took the Bears on a 17-game road trip across the United States to highlight Grange. The tour began on Thanksgiving at Wrigley Field as the Chicago Cardinals held Grange to just 36 yards in his professional debut, with the city rivals battling to a 0–0 tie. However, during the tour that continued through January 31, the Bears posted an impressive 11–4–2 record. This road trip impressed many and boosted the prospects of many debt-ridden teams such as the New York Giants.
Grange left the Bears after a contract dispute in 1926, and established the first incarnation of the American Football League, which folded after one season, although Grange's New York Yankees would later be admitted into the NFL. Grange injured his knee in his first game against the Bears in 1927, and was forced to sit out the 1928 season. He returned to Chicago in 1929, but the Bears ended the decade with a losing season as Halas retired as player-coach and appointed Ralph Jones as his successor.

1930–1939: NFL championships and George Halas' return

The Chicago Bears of the 1930s are remembered for being led by a ferocious tandem of Bronko Nagurski and Red Grange, playing in the newly inaugurated NFL Championship Game four times and claiming the league title twice.
After completing the 1930 season with a record of 9–4–1, the Bears and the Chicago Cardinals played the first indoor football game on December 15 at Chicago Stadium in a charity game for those affected by the Great Depression, a game the Bears won 9–7. Due to the size limitations of the arena, the length of the football field was only 80 yards. In the 1932 season, the Bears and the Portsmouth Spartans tied for first place in the league, and played an "unofficial" championship playoff game at Chicago Stadium on December 18. The Bears won 9–0 and captured the championship before 11,198 fans. The popularity of the game prompted the NFL to institute various rule changes for the 1933 season, splitting the league into two geographical divisions and establishing an officially scheduled Championship Game to determine the NFL champion.
In 1933, George Halas made his return to coaching the Bears, leading them to the first-ever Western Division title and the first-ever NFL Championship Game. The Bears again captured the Championship 23–21 in a nail-biter against the New York Giants as Red Grange made a game-winning tackle. In 1934, the Bears dominated the league and finished 13–0, but were denied perfection as they lost 30–13 to the Giants in the Championship Game, which became known as the "Sneakers Game".
The Bears would play in the NFL Championship Game two more times that decade, losing both of them. In 1935 and 1936, the Bears remained somewhat competitive, but failed to qualify for the Championship. In 1937, they made a return to the Championship Game, but fell short as Sammy Baugh and the Washington Redskins won 28–21. In 1938, the Bears fell off the NFL map, with a record of 6–5. The Bears finished off the decade on a down note, losing twice to the Green Bay Packers in 1939.
During the late 1930s, George Halas and University of Chicago football coach Clark Shaughnessy collaborated on a revolutionary approach to the offense and the quarterback position. The result was the T-formation offense and the first evolution of the modern quarterback. A complex scheme that required an athletic player with quick decision skills led Halas to recruit Columbia University quarterback Sid Luckman, who turned the position into an engine for a high powered, time-consuming scoring machine.

1940–1946: The "Monsters of the Midway"

The Chicago Bears from 1940 to 1946 were considered a dynasty, earning the nickname of "Monsters of the Midway". In this span, the Bears went to five NFL Championships and won four of them, even as head coach George Halas temporarily left the organization to serve in World War II from 1943 to 1945.
In the 1940 NFL Championship, Halas introduced the T-formation offense, with Sid Luckman as quarterback. This formation shocked and confused the Washington Redskins all day as the Bears won 73–0, an NFL record that stands to this day. The T-formation was soon widely copied at college and pro levels. In 1941, the Bears and the Green Bay Packers battled to a 10–1–0 tie for first place in the Western Division. Since the teams split their two regular season match-ups, which turned out to be each team's only loss of the season, a one-game playoff was set up. The Bears won 33–14, moving on to rout the New York Giants 37–9 in the 1941 NFL Championship.
The Bears started the 1942 season well before Halas departed for World War II. 45 players on the team also joined the war effort, which led to a roster shortage that nearly led to the Bears merging with the Cardinals in 1943. Halas' handpicked successors Hunk Anderson and Luke Johnsos ran the Bears for the next three years until his return. The Bears finished the 1942 season 11–0 and played against the Washington Redskins in the 1942 Championship Game. The Redskins spoiled the Bears' attempt at a perfect season, with a 14–6 upset preventing the Bears from three-peating. In the 1943 season, the Bears dominated the Western Division behind the quarterbacking of Luckman, who threw for 433 yards and seven touchdowns that season in a single game against the New York Giants. In the 1943 Championship Game, the Redskins were no challenge to the Bears, who won 41–21 before a crowd of 34,320 at Wrigley Field behind Luckman's five touchdowns and Nagurski's final touchdown run.
The Bears' domination took a slight fall in as they posted a mediocre result in 1944 and a losing season in 1945. After Halas returned to the team in 1946 and many players returned from service in the war, the team was able to find their old magic again, finishing the regular season 8–2–1 to claim another Western Division title and a return trip to the Championship Game. The Bears won their last NFL Championship of the decade over the New York Giants 24–14 before a record crowd of 58,346 at the Polo Grounds in New York; this would be the Bears' last Championship for the next 16 years.