50 Fun Facts About Chicago Bears

The Bears franchise was founded in 1919 in which city, as a company team for a starch manufacturer?

They turned professional in 1920 as the Staleys and moved to Chicago in 1921; the mascot Staley Da Bear is still named after the company's founder A. E. Staley.

When George Halas renamed the Staleys in 1922, 'Bears' was a nod to which other Chicago team?

Several early NFL clubs borrowed from their city's baseball team, and the logic was that a bear's young are called cubs.

How many NFL championships have the Bears won in total, counting their one Super Bowl?

Eight came before the AFL-NFL merger, and the ninth was Super Bowl XX after the 1985 season.

The Bears' famous helmet logo is a wishbone-shaped version of which letter?

The team colours are navy blue, orange and white.

The Bears' nickname 'Monsters of the Midway' was originally discarded by which institution?

The University of Chicago had dropped big-time football; the Bears picked the name up in the 1940s, when Sid Luckman led them to four titles in seven seasons.

By what score did the Bears beat Washington in the 1940 NFL Championship Game, still the most lopsided ever?

So many extra-point kicks sailed into the crowd that officials asked Halas to run or pass for the last two conversions to save footballs.

Which offensive scheme did George Halas revive with the Bears, one that helped produce that 73-0 win?

As Halas named it, the set used two running backs in the backfield instead of one, and Sid Luckman became its first great quarterback.

How long was the field when the 1932 Bears-Spartans playoff moved indoors to Chicago Stadium?

The Bears won 9-0 on a disputed Nagurski-to-Grange jump pass, and the game's popularity led to hash marks and a proper championship game from 1933.

Before founding the Bears, George Halas played 12 games in 1919 as an outfielder for which baseball team?

A hip injury ended his baseball career; he went on to coach the Bears for 40 seasons and win 324 games.

In which Ohio city was the 1920 meeting that created the league held?

The meeting founded the American Professional Football Association, renamed the NFL two years later; the NFC championship trophy now bears his name.

The 1925 signing of which college halfback, followed by a 75,000-fan barnstorming tour, legitimised the NFL?

'The Galloping Ghost' wore 77 and, when talks with the Bears stalled, he and agent C.C. Pyle started a rival league that lasted one season.

Bronko Nagurski, the Bears' fullback and tackle of the 1930s, was born in which country?

He came from Rainy River, Ontario, returned to the Bears in 1943 to help win a wartime title, and became a multiple-time world heavyweight wrestling champion.

Bears quarterback Sid Luckman played college football at which Ivy League school?

He was the 1943 MVP, tied the record with seven touchdown passes in a game, and his 7.9 percent career touchdown rate is still an all-time NFL record.

In which year did the Bears move from Wrigley Field to Soldier Field full-time?

At Wrigley one corner of the north end line ran just inches short of the left-field wall, which had to be padded.

Soldier Field, opened in 1924, was dedicated to American soldiers who died in which conflict?

It is the oldest stadium in the NFL, yet it lost its National Historic Landmark status in 2006 after the $632 million renovation.

Soldier Field hosted the opening match of which international tournament in 1994?

Germany beat Bolivia 1-0 in front of 63,117, more than the stadium now holds for football since it is the NFL's second-smallest.

Gale Sayers tied an NFL record as a rookie in 1965 by scoring how many touchdowns in one game against the 49ers?

His 22 touchdowns that season remain a rookie record, and in 1977 he became the youngest Hall of Fame inductee at 34.

A 1971 TV film with James Caan dramatised Gale Sayers's friendship with which Bears teammate?

The pair were the only black-and-white roommates on the 1969 Bears; the team retired his number 41.

The Bears linebacker who wore 51 and was drafted third overall in 1965 played college ball where?

The Chicago native was named 'the most feared tackler of all time' by NFL Network and later acted in Blue Thunder and Hang Time.

The annual award for the best college linebacker is named after which Bears great?

Established in 1985, it now honours linebackers at high school, college and pro levels; his 51 was retired in 1994.

Walter Payton played his college ball at which historically Black university?

He rushed for 3,600 yards there before the Bears drafted him, and his 275-yard game against the Vikings in 1977 came while he had a high fever.

How many career rushing yards did Walter Payton have when he retired, then an NFL record?

'Sweetness' won the 1977 MVP award and died in 1999 of bile duct cancer; the league's Man of the Year award now carries his name.

Which team handed the 15-1 1985 Bears their only loss, on a Monday night in December?

The next morning the players filmed the Super Bowl Shuffle video at a Chicago nightclub, and the defence still allowed only 198 points all year.

The 1985 Bears' defence, run by coordinator Buddy Ryan, was known by what number?

It became the first unit to record back-to-back playoff shutouts, blanking the Giants 21-0 and the Rams 24-0.

The Bears won Super Bowl XX 46-10 over the New England Patriots in which city?

Defensive end Richard Dent was named MVP, and Walter Payton, held to 61 yards, never got a touchdown.

Which Bears defensive lineman scored a rushing touchdown in Super Bowl XX and owns the largest Super Bowl ring ever?

'The Refrigerator' got the nickname squeezing into a Clemson elevator, and his ring runs to size 23-25.

After a $5,000 fine for an Adidas headband, Jim McMahon wore one in the 1985 playoffs bearing whose name?

The commissioner reportedly found it 'funny as hell'; McMahon's sunglasses date to severing a cornea with a fork at age six.

The Super Bowl Shuffle peaked at what position on the Billboard Hot 100?

It went gold, earned a Grammy nomination that lost to Prince's 'Kiss', and sent more than $300,000 to the Chicago Community Trust.

Which Bears defensive star declined to take part in the Super Bowl Shuffle at all?

Jim McMahon initially refused too, and filmed his part separately.

Bears linebacker Mike Singletary won Defensive Player of the Year in 1985 and which other year?

The Baylor product wore 50, made 10 Pro Bowls and later coached the 49ers from 2008 to 2010.

Mike Ditka was the first player at which position to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame?

'Iron Mike' was 1961 Rookie of the Year and shares with Tom Flores the distinction of winning Super Bowls as a player, assistant and head coach.

After leaving the Bears in 1992, Mike Ditka returned to coach which team from 1997 to 1999?

The Bears retired his 89 on a Monday night in December 2013.

The Bears' second Super Bowl appearance came in the 2006 season, when they lost 29-17 to which team?

It was the first Super Bowl played in steady rain, and Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy were the first African American head coaches to face each other in the game.

Which Bear remains the only player to return the opening kickoff of a Super Bowl for a touchdown?

His 92-yard return came 14 seconds into Super Bowl XLI, and in 2024 he became the first return specialist elected to the Hall of Fame.

How many return touchdowns did the Bears' Hall of Fame return man score, an NFL record?

Fourteen were punt returns and six kickoffs; Bears fans called him the 'Windy City Flyer' in his rookie year.

Brian Urlacher, drafted ninth overall by the Bears in 2000, played his college football for which school?

He was Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2000, Defensive Player of the Year in 2005 and spent all 13 seasons in Chicago wearing 54.

In which season did the Bears and Packers first meet, a 20-0 Chicago shutout?

The Bears were still called the Staleys, and the two clubs have played every season since except 1922 and 1982.

Which Packers lineman returned an interception for the clinching touchdown in the 2010 NFC Championship Game?

Jay Cutler left with a knee injury and third-stringer Caleb Hanie nearly rallied the Bears in a 21-14 loss, their first playoff meeting with Green Bay since 1941.

The Bears fight song 'Bear Down, Chicago Bears' was written in 1941 by Al Hoffman under what pseudonym?

A 1993 recording by Bill Archer and the Big Bear Band plays after every home touchdown, and the Chicago Symphony recorded a version after Super Bowl XX.

What was the team's cheerleading squad, disbanded by Virginia McCaskey after 1985, called?

They had performed since 1976; McCaskey, Halas's daughter, ran the club from 1983 until her death at 102 in 2025.

The team's mascot Staley Da Bear made his debut at Soldier Field in which year?

He is named for A. E. Staley, whose starch company sponsored the original team in Decatur.

The Bears hold the NFL record for most Pro Football Hall of Famers and the most what?

Halas himself was in the Hall's charter class of 1963 alongside Grange and Nagurski.

A 2025 sale of a minority stake valued the Bears at roughly how much?

The team went 11-6 that season and won the NFC North, then beat Green Bay 31-27 in the wild-card round for a rare playoff win over the Packers.

Bronko Nagurski's NFL championship ring, the largest recorded in Hall of Fame history, was what size?

William Perry's Super Bowl ring, at 23-25, would later beat it as the largest ring ever made for a pro football player.

The Bears' team headquarters, Halas Hall, is in which Chicago suburb?

After major renovations the team began holding training camp there in 2020 instead of travelling out of town.

While Soldier Field was rebuilt in 2002, the Bears played home games at Memorial Stadium in which city?

They went 3–5 at the University of Illinois's stadium; the rebuilt lakefront venue reopened in September 2003.

The Bears took their orange and blue from George Halas's alma mater, which university?

The team adopted darker shades of both colours; the nickname itself came from the Cubs, since bears' young are called cubs.

The infamous Fog Bowl playoff game at Soldier Field pitted the Bears against which team?

The old stadium's rough surface and lease disputes had the Bears seeking a new home from 1986; it was finally rebuilt in 2002.

George Halas coached the Bears on and off for how many seasons, an NFL record?

He kept full control of the franchise until his death in 1983, after his partner Dutch Sternaman left following the 1932 title.

In 2012 Charles Tillman set an NFL record with four forced fumbles in one game against which team?

In the same game Chicago became the first team to score a passing TD, rushing TD, pick-six and a blocked-kick score all in one quarter.