This Chicago Bears trivia quiz has 50 free questions with answers and runs from the team's 1919 birth as a starch company's works team in Decatur to the modern era: George 'Papa Bear' Halas, Red Grange's barnstorming tour, the 73-0 championship game, the Monsters of the Midway, Sid Luckman's T-formation, Gale Sayers, Dick Butkus and Brian Piccolo, Walter Payton, the 1985 team with its 46 defense, the Refrigerator and the Super Bowl Shuffle, Devin Hester's Super Bowl kickoff and the rivalry with Green Bay. It is built for lifelong Bears fans, for anyone hosting a Chicago sports round, and for casual fans who want to see how much they have absorbed. Easy questions cover the colours, the stadium and the big names; the hard ones dig into ring sizes, indoor playoff games and who wrote the fight song. Every answer has been checked against a reliable source and each question shows its explanation and citation once you have answered.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Bears franchise was founded in 1919 in which city, as a company team for a starch manufacturer?
Decatur
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.
Q 02When George Halas renamed the Staleys in 1922, 'Bears' was a nod to which other Chicago team?
The Cubs
Several early NFL clubs borrowed from their city's baseball team, and the logic was that a bear's young are called cubs.
Q 03How many NFL championships have the Bears won in total, counting their one Super Bowl?
Nine
Eight came before the AFL-NFL merger, and the ninth was Super Bowl XX after the 1985 season.
Q 04The Bears' famous helmet logo is a wishbone-shaped version of which letter?
C
The team colours are navy blue, orange and white.
Q 05The Bears' nickname 'Monsters of the Midway' was originally discarded by which institution?
U of Chicago
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.
Q 06By what score did the Bears beat Washington in the 1940 NFL Championship Game, still the most lopsided ever?
73-0
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.
Q 07Which offensive scheme did George Halas revive with the Bears, one that helped produce that 73-0 win?
The T-formation
As Halas named it, the set used two running backs in the backfield instead of one, and Sid Luckman became its first great quarterback.
Q 08How long was the field when the 1932 Bears-Spartans playoff moved indoors to Chicago Stadium?
80 yards
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.
Q 09Before founding the Bears, George Halas played 12 games in 1919 as an outfielder for which baseball team?
The New York Yankees
A hip injury ended his baseball career; he went on to coach the Bears for 40 seasons and win 324 games.
Q 10In which Ohio city was the 1920 meeting that created the league held?
Canton
The meeting founded the American Professional Football Association, renamed the NFL two years later; the NFC championship trophy now bears his name.
Q 11The 1925 signing of which college halfback, followed by a 75,000-fan barnstorming tour, legitimised the NFL?
Red Grange
'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.
Q 12Bronko Nagurski, the Bears' fullback and tackle of the 1930s, was born in which country?
Canada
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.
Q 13Bears quarterback Sid Luckman played college football at which Ivy League school?
Columbia
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.
Q 21Walter Payton played his college ball at which historically Black university?
Jackson State
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.
Q 22How many career rushing yards did Walter Payton have when he retired, then an NFL record?
16,726
'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.
Q 23Which team handed the 15-1 1985 Bears their only loss, on a Monday night in December?
The Miami Dolphins
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.
Q 14In which year did the Bears move from Wrigley Field to Soldier Field full-time?
1971
At Wrigley one corner of the north end line ran just inches short of the left-field wall, which had to be padded.
Q 15Soldier Field, opened in 1924, was dedicated to American soldiers who died in which conflict?
World War I
It is the oldest stadium in the NFL, yet it lost its National Historic Landmark status in 2006 after the $632 million renovation.
Q 16Soldier Field hosted the opening match of which international tournament in 1994?
The FIFA World Cup
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.
Q 17Gale Sayers tied an NFL record as a rookie in 1965 by scoring how many touchdowns in one game against the 49ers?
Six
His 22 touchdowns that season remain a rookie record, and in 1977 he became the youngest Hall of Fame inductee at 34.
Q 18A 1971 TV film with James Caan dramatised Gale Sayers's friendship with which Bears teammate?
Brian Piccolo
The pair were the only black-and-white roommates on the 1969 Bears; the team retired his number 41.
Q 19The Bears linebacker who wore 51 and was drafted third overall in 1965 played college ball where?
Illinois
The Chicago native was named 'the most feared tackler of all time' by NFL Network and later acted in Blue Thunder and Hang Time.
Q 20The annual award for the best college linebacker is named after which Bears great?
Dick Butkus
Established in 1985, it now honours linebackers at high school, college and pro levels; his 51 was retired in 1994.
Q 24The 1985 Bears' defence, run by coordinator Buddy Ryan, was known by what number?
The 46
It became the first unit to record back-to-back playoff shutouts, blanking the Giants 21-0 and the Rams 24-0.
Q 25The Bears won Super Bowl XX 46-10 over the New England Patriots in which city?
New Orleans, LA
Defensive end Richard Dent was named MVP, and Walter Payton, held to 61 yards, never got a touchdown.
Q 26Which Bears defensive lineman scored a rushing touchdown in Super Bowl XX and owns the largest Super Bowl ring ever?
William Perry
'The Refrigerator' got the nickname squeezing into a Clemson elevator, and his ring runs to size 23-25.
Q 27After a $5,000 fine for an Adidas headband, Jim McMahon wore one in the 1985 playoffs bearing whose name?
Rozelle
The commissioner reportedly found it 'funny as hell'; McMahon's sunglasses date to severing a cornea with a fork at age six.
Q 28The Super Bowl Shuffle peaked at what position on the Billboard Hot 100?
41st
It went gold, earned a Grammy nomination that lost to Prince's 'Kiss', and sent more than $300,000 to the Chicago Community Trust.
Q 29Which Bears defensive star declined to take part in the Super Bowl Shuffle at all?
Dan Hampton
Jim McMahon initially refused too, and filmed his part separately.
Q 30Bears linebacker Mike Singletary won Defensive Player of the Year in 1985 and which other year?
1988
The Baylor product wore 50, made 10 Pro Bowls and later coached the 49ers from 2008 to 2010.