   #copyright

Chicago Bears

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Sports teams

   CAPTION: Chicago Bears

                       Year founded: 1919

   Chicago Bears helmet
                       Chicago Bears logo
          Helmet              Logo
   City            Chicago, Illinois
   Other nicknames Da Bears, The Monsters of the Midway
   Team colors     Navy Blue, Orange and White
   Head Coach      Lovie Smith
   Owner           Virginia Halas McCaskey
   Chairman        Michael McCaskey
   General manager Jerry Angelo
   Fight song      Bear Down, Chicago Bears
   Mascot          Staley Da Bear
   League/Conference affiliations

   Independent (1919)
   National Football League (1920–present)
     * Western Division (1933–1949)
     * National Conference (1950–1952)
     * Western Conference (1953–1969)
          + Central Division (1967–1969)
     * National Football Conference (1970–present)
          + Central Division (1970–2001)
          + Northern Division (2002–present)

   Team history
     * Decatur Staleys (1919–1920)
     * Chicago Staleys (1921)
     * Chicago Bears (1922–present)

   Championships
   League Championships (9)
     * NFL Championships (8)
       1921, 1932, 1933, 1940, 1941, 1943, 1946, 1963

     * Super Bowl Championships (1)
       1985 ( XX)

   Conference Championships (3)
     * NFL Western: 1956, 1963
     * NFC: 1985

   Division Championships (16)
     * NFL West: 1933, 1934, 1937, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1946
     * NFC Central: 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, 2001
     * NFC North: 2005

   Home fields
     * Staley Field (1919–1920)
     * Wrigley Field (1921–1970)
     * Soldier Field (I) (1971–2001)
     * Memorial Stadium (Champaign) (2002)
     * Soldier Field (II) (2003–present)

   Club Owner(s)
     * A.E. Staley Company (1919–1921)

     * George Halas and Dutch Sternaman (1921–1932)
     * George Halas (1932–1983)
     * Virginia Halas McCaskey (1983–present)

   Club President(s)
     * George Halas (1921–1953)

     * George Halas, Jr. (1953–1979)
     * Mike McCaskey (1979–1998)
     * Ted Phillips (1998–present)

   The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in
   Chicago, Illinois. They are currently members of the Northern Division
   of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football
   League (NFL). The Bears have won nine American Football championships
   (eight NFL Championships and Super Bowl XX) trailing only the Green Bay
   Packers, who have twelve. The Bears have the most enshrinees in the Pro
   Football Hall of Fame with twenty-six members.

   The club was founded in Decatur, Illinois in 1919 and moved to Chicago
   in 1921. From 1971 to the present, save for the 2002 season, the team
   has played its home games at Soldier Field in Chicago. The stadium is
   located next to Lake Michigan and was recently remodeled in a
   controversial modernization that has attempted to bring stadium
   amenities expected by today's fans to a historic Chicago building. The
   team also has a fierce, long-standing rivalry with the Packers, with
   whom they have played over one hundred seventy games.

History

   The following is an overall summary of the team's history. For more
   details, see History of the Chicago Bears. For season-by-season
   win-loss records, see Chicago Bears seasons. For details about the
   current season, see 2006 Chicago Bears season.

1920–1970

   Originally called the Decatur Staleys, the club was established by the
   A. E. Staley Company of Decatur, Illinois in 1919 as a company team,
   the typical start for several of the early professional football
   franchises. The company hired George Halas and Edward "Dutch" Sternaman
   in 1920 to run the team and turned full control of the team over 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. Along with the Cardinals, the Bears are one of only two charter
   members of the NFL still in existence. The team relocated to Chicago in
   1921, where the club was renamed the Chicago Staleys. Under an
   agreement that was reached by Halas and Sternaman with Staley, Halas
   purchased the rights to the club from Staley for $100.

   The Bears dominated the league in the early years. Their rivalry with
   the Cardinals, the oldest in the NFL, was key in four out of the first
   six league titles (see History of the Chicago Bears). 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. Over that span, the Bears posted an incredible 34
   shut-outs.

   The Bears' rivalry with the Green Bay Packers is one of the oldest,
   fiercest and most storied in American professional sports, dating back
   to 1921. In one infamous incident in 1921, Halas got the Packers
   expelled from the league in order to prevent them 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 baseball
   franchise, the Chicago Cubs. As with several early NFL franchises, the
   Bears derived their nickname from their city's baseball franchise.
   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 franchise was an early success under Halas capturing the NFL
   Championship in 1921 and remaining competitive throughout the decade.
   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 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
   on a cold, icy day at the Polo Grounds 30–13.

   From 1940–1947, quarterback Sid Luckman led the Bears to victories in
   four out of the five NFL Championship Games they appeared in. 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 lopsided result 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 since as he still holds club records for passing.

   After declining throughout the 1950s, the team rebounded in 1963 to
   capture their 8th 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 1969. 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. The movie
   was later released for theatre 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 in
   the first 60 years of its existence. He was also a part of the Pro
   Football Hall of Fame's first induction class in 1963. In his honour,
   the National Football League named the National Football Conference
   Championship trophy as the George Halas Memorial Trophy after the
   AFL-NFL merger in 1970.

1970–Present

   After the merger, the Bears finished the 1970 season with a last place
   finish in the 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, who made an immediate impact on the football
   landscape. 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. Payton would hold the NFL rushing total until 2002,
   when Emmitt Smith of the Dallas Cowboys broke his record. Payton's
   career and great personality would capture the hearts of Bear fans, who
   called him "Sweetness". Payton died from a rare liver cancer in 1999 at
   the age of 45.

   From 1977 through 1985 the club's official cheerleaders were the Honey
   Bears. The Honey Bears were hired by then General Manager Jim Finks.
   They cheered at Soldier Field during all Bears home games and performed
   at halftime to the viewing public. The group founder and choreographer,
   Cathy Core was contacted by Finks on the topic of organizing the
   cheerleading squad, but as she didn't believe that Finks was actually
   calling she hung up. When she later found out it was Finks, she
   apologized.

   The idea of a cheerleading squad was thought up by Halas himself who
   called them "dancing girls". Halas was quoted as saying that the Honey
   Bears would be around as long as he was alive. After Halas's death in
   1983, the McCaskey family decided to end their relationship with the
   Honey Bears, declining to renew their contract following the Bears'
   championship season of 1985. Word has it that as long as the McCaskey
   family owns the team, the Honey Bears will remain a memory.

   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, but the team is run on a daily basis by her sons, Mike and
   Edward. 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, Halas, Jr. died of a
   massive heart attack in 1979 and after Halas's death in 1983, Mrs.
   McCaskey became the majority owner. 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 listed her as one of Chicago's most powerful
   women.

   In the 1985 season the fire in the Bears–Packers rivalry was relit when
   Coach Mike 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 Packers have also one-upped the Bears from
   time to time over the years, such as the " Instant Replay Loss" game of
   1989, and since quarterback Brett Favre has led the Packers the club
   has won the last 21 out of 28 meetings with the Bears.

   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 Dolphins are the only franchise in history (through
   the 2006 season) to have 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 next day after that Monday night loss.

   After the 1985 Championship season, the Bears remained competitive
   throughout the 1980s but failed to return to the Super Bowl. Since the
   firing of Mike Ditka at the end of the 1992 season, the Bears have only
   made the playoffs three times–winning only one game. The club has also
   gone through three coaching changes in the last decade. Lovie Smith
   hired by the franchise on January 15, 2004 is the third and current (as
   of 2006) post-Ditka head coach. Joining the Bears as a rookie head
   coach, Lovie Smith brought the highly successful Tampa 2 defensive
   scheme with him to Chicago, and in his second year rehired former Bears
   offensive coordinator and Illinois head coach Ron Turner to improve the
   Bears struggling offense. The Bears have not played in the NFC
   Championship Game since 1988, when the San Francisco 49ers beat the
   Bears 28-3 at Soldier Field.

   In 1998, Mrs. McCaskey fired her son Michael as president, replacing
   him with Ted Phillips and promoting her son Edward to chairman of the
   board. McCaskey's reign as president has been viewed as a disaster with
   mishap after mishap. Phillips, the current Bears president, became the
   first man outside of the Halas-McCaskey family to run the team. In 2005
   the Bears won their division and reached the playoffs for the first
   time in four years.

   The club has played in over a thousand games since becoming a charter
   member of the NFL in 1920. Through the 2005 season, they lead the NFL
   in overall franchise wins with 671 and have an overall record of
   671–495–42 (going 657–479–42 during the regular season and 14–16 in the
   playoffs).

Ownership

   Virginia McCaskey and her eleven children 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 19.7% of the club. Many Bears fans have expressed their displeasure
   with the McCaskey family. In a Crain's Chicago Business article, one
   businessman described his wishes for the team to maximize its
   potential. There have been rumors that the McCaskey family might split
   up over the team.

   As of 2006, the Forbes Magazine has reported that the Chicago Bears
   franchise is worth $945 million making it the tenth richest franchise
   in the NFL. The team has major sponsorship deals with Chase, Miller
   Brewing Company, Cadillac, Motorola, 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 NBC 5 Chicago (the NBC
   affiliate in Chicago) to broadcast pre-season football games.

Team colors and mascots

Logo

   The club has had few official logos throughout their history. The first
   was introduced in the early 1950s as a black bear on top of a football.
   The team kept this until 1962, when the Bears trademark 'C' logo was
   first introduced by the team.

   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 colour of it from white to orange with a white trim. This is the
   current logo to this date however the club has experimented with some
   alternative logos throughout the past decade 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 the official team uniforms containing brown
   and blue stripes. In the 1930s, the franchise's team uniform underwent
   some substantial alterations. After many subtle and not-so-subtle
   changes, 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 colour 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. Due to poor
   response from the fans and the media, this design lasted only one
   season.

   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 eleven years later,
   and has remained unchanged ever since. The Bears added the initials GSH
   to the left sleeve of their jerseys in 1984 in honour of the late
   founder/owner/player/head coach 'Papa Bear' George S. Halas who died on
   October 31, 1983.

   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 honour of the NFL's
   75th Anniversary. These uniforms with brown and blue stripes resemble
   the original uniforms worn by the team 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 team have not worn the all-blue
   combination since. On November 13, 2005, 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 colour while the navy
   complements. The classic look of the club's uniforms has given it the
   title of one of the best uniform kits in the league.

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 assist the team anyway 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

   Soldier Field II
   Enlarge
   Soldier Field II

   Soldier Field, located on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, is the current
   home to the Bears. 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.

   The Bears moved into Soldier Field in 1971 after Wrigley Field, the
   Bears' home for 50 years, became too small to hold an NFL event. The
   stadium'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.
   Many critics have negative views of the new stadium. They believe that
   the current structure of the stadium has made the stadium more of an
   eyesore than a landmark. Some have dubbed it the "Mistake on the Lake".
   Soldier Field was stripped of its 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 "Bears".

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 'Super Bowl
   Shuffle' which reached number forty-one on the Billboard charts Top 50
   and was nominated for a Grammy Award. The video for the song sees the
   team gyrating awkwardly and 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 record margin.

   In addition to the Super Bowl Shuffle rap song, the Bears' success in
   the 1980s, especially 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 ( Robert
   Smigel), Pat ( Mike Myers) and Todd ( 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 Farley as 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 scores for Bears games. 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.

   Super Bowl XX 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.

   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 provides Friday night analysis on the
   Bears on CBS 2 Chicago, the CBS Chicago affiliate, called "2 on
   Football" with CBS 2 Sports Director Mark Malone. He is also the colour
   analyst for all local broadcasts of Bears preseason games.

   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 the
   league's best-selling in 2002, is currently featured on Nike
   commercials with Atlanta Falcons' quarterback Michael Vick.

Statistics and records

   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 and 1979 seasons. On the other hand, Steve
   McMichael holds the record for most consecutive games played by a Bear
   with 191. He completed the task from 1981 to 1993. In second place is
   Walter Payton, who played 186 games from 1975 to 1987 at running back,
   a position considered to be conducive to injury, in a span of 13
   seasons while only missing one game.

   Kicker 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 Hall of
   Famer Walter Payton with 750 points.

   Walter Payton holds the team record for career rushing yards with
   16,726. That record 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. It is likely that
   Payton's record will not be broken in the foreseeable future.

   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 played in 12 playoff games.

   The 1940 Chicago Bears team holds the record for the biggest defeat 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 comes off a 61–7 result against the Green Bay
   Packers in 1980. The largest defeat in club history was the 52–0 result
   the Baltimore Colts handed the Bears.

   The club has recorded undefeated regular seasons twice, but unlike the
   1972 Miami Dolphins the Bears could not win their championship game. In
   1934, the club completed a 13–0 record but were defeated by the New
   York Giants, and in 1942 the club completed a 11–0 record but were
   defeated by the Washington Redskins. Had the Bears won one or both
   games, the club would have not only completed an undefeated season but
   also completed a championship three-peat. A feat completed only by the
   Packers twice, but no team has done it since the AFL-NFL merger.

   Also Halas holds the team record for coaching the most seasons with 40,
   and with the most career wins of 324. Halas's record was a standing NFL
   record through 1993. Mike Ditka is the closest to Halas with 112 career
   victories, and these two men are the only ones to have recorded over
   100 victories with the Bears.

Current roster

   (as of 11/9/2006)

   DEPTH CHART

   Quaterbacks
     * 8   Rex Grossman
     * 14 Brian Griese
     * 18 Kyle Orton

   Offensive backs
     * 32 Cedric Benson RB
     * 20 Thomas Jones RB
     * 37 Jason McKie FB
     * 29 Adrian Peterson RB
     * 48 J.D. Runnels FB

   Receivers
     * 80 Bernard Berrian
     * 16 Mark Bradley
     * 81 Rashied Davis
     * 12 Justin Gage
     * 87 Muhsin Muhammad

   Tight Ends
     * 88 Desmond Clark
     * 85 John Gilmore
     * 82 Gabe Reid

   Kickers
     * 9   Robbie Gould K
     * 4   Brad Maynard P



   Offensive line
     * 74 Ruben Brown G
     * 63 Roberto Garza C/G
     * 57 Olin Kreutz C
     * 65 Patrick Mannelly LS
     * 60 Terrence Metcalf G
     * 69 Fred Miller T
     * 68 Anthony Oakley OL
     * 78 John St. Clair T
     * 76 John Tait T

   Defensive line
     * 97 Mark Anderson DE
     * 70 Alfonso Boone DT
     * 96 Alex Brown DE
     * 90 Antonio Garay DT
     * 91 Tommie Harris DT
     * 71 Israel Idonije DT
     * 99 Tank Johnson DT
     * 93 Adewale Ogunleye DE
     * 95 Ian Scott DT



   Linebackers
     * 94 Brendon Ayanbadejo OLB
     * 55 Lance Briggs OLB
     * 92 Hunter Hillenmeyer LB
     * 53 Leon Joe OLB
     * 58 Darrell McClover OLB
     * 54 Brian Urlacher MLB
     * 59 Rod Wilson MLB

   Cornerbacks
     * 23 Devin Hester
     * 24 Ricky Manning, Jr.
     * 25 Derrick Strait
     * 33 Charles Tillman
     * 31 Nathan Vasher
     * 21 Dante Wesley

   Safeties
     * 46 Chris Harris FS
     * 35 Todd Johnson SS
     * 38 Danieal Manning FS
     * 44 Cameron Worrell SS



   Injured reserve
     * 30 Mike Brown SS
     * 17 Airese Currie WR
     * 98 Dusty Dvoracek DT
     * 47 Bryan Johnson FB
     * 36 Brandon McGowan S
     * 52 Jamar Williams LB

   Practice squad
     * 72 Copeland Bryan DE
     * 22 Tyler Everett SS
     * 83 Mike Hass WR
     * 89 Bennie Joppru TE
     * 75 Mark LeVoir T
     * 64 Tyler Reed G
     * 84 Brandon Rideau WR
     * 45 Dwayne Slay LB

Famous players

Pro Football Hall of Famers

   In the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the Bears boast the most enshrined
   Hall-of-Famers with twenty-six. George Halas, Bronko Nagurski, and Red
   Grange were a part of the original class of inductees in 1963, while
   defensive end Dan Hampton, the most recent Bear inducted, was a part of
   the Class of 2002.
   Chicago Bears Hall of Famers
   No. Player Nat Positions No. Player Nat Positions
   1 Paddy Driscoll United States QB- S- K, Head Coach 42 Sid Luckman
   United States QB- CB
   3 Bronko Nagurski Canada RB- OT- LB 50 Mike Singletary United States LB
   5 George McAfee United States RB- S 51 Dick Butkus United States LB
   7 George Halas United States founder, owner
   Head Coach, TE- DE 56 Bill Hewitt United States TE- DE
   11 Link Lyman United States OT- DT 61 Bill George United States LB
   13 George Trafton United States C-DT 66 Clyde (Bulldog) Turner United
   States C-DT
   13 Joe Stydahar United States OT-DT 71 George Connor United States
   OT-LB
   16 Ed Healey United States OT-DT 77 Harold (Red) Grange United States
   RB-CB
   16 George Musso United States C-DT 78 Stan Jones United States OT
   16 George Blanda United States QB 81 Doug Atkins United States DE
   21 Danny Fortmann United States G-DT 89 Mike Ditka United States TE,
   Head Coach
   34 Walter Payton United States RB 99 Dan Hampton United States DE
   40 Gale Sayers United States RB -- Jim Finks United States General
   Manager

Retired numbers

   The Bears have retired 13 numbers, which is the most in the NFL. The
   Bears rank third behind the Boston Celtics and New York Yankees for the
   most in American professional sports.
           Chicago Bears Retired Numbers
   No.     Player      No.         Player
   3   Bronko Nagurski 42  Sid Luckman
   5   George McAfee   51  Dick Butkus
   7   George Halas    56  Bill Hewitt
   28  Willie Galimore 61  Bill George
   34  Walter Payton   66  Clyde (Bulldog) Turner
   40  Gale Sayers     77  Harold (Red) Grange
   41  Brian Piccolo

Head coaches

   As of November 19, 2006. Only regular season and postseason games are
   counted.
   Name Nat From To Record Titles
   W L T
   Fritz Wasem United States 1919 1919 Not Available
   Red Brannon United States
   James Cook United States
   George Halas United States January 1920 December 1929 324 151 31 1
   Ralph Jones United States January 1930 December 1932 24 10 7 1
   George Halas United States December 1932 November 1942 324 151 31 3
   Hunk Anderson United States November 1942 December 1945 24 12 2 1
   Luke Johnsos United States
   George Halas United States January 1946 December 1955 324 151 31 1
   Paddy Driscoll United States December 1955 December 1957 14 10 1
   George Halas United States December 1957 May 27, 1968 324 151 31 1
   Jim Dooley United States May 27, 1968 December 1971 20 36 0
   Abe Gibron United States December 1971 December 17, 1974 11 30 1
   Jack Pardee United States December 31, 1974 January 19, 1978 20 23 0
   Neill Armstrong United States February 16, 1978 January 4, 1982 30 35 0
   Mike Ditka United States January 20, 1982 January 1993 112 68 0 1
   Dave Wannstedt United States January 19, 1993 December 28, 1998 41 57 0
   Dick Jauron United States January 24, 1999 December 29, 2003 35 46 0
   Lovie Smith United States January 15, 2004 Present 25 18 0

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