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Chicago Bears Franchise History
The Chicago Bears have been in the league since the NFL was formed in 1920. The Bears and the Arizona Cardinals are the only original teams that remain in the NFL today. The Bears started out as the Decatur Staleys and were owned by the A.E. Staley Food Starch Company in Decatur, Illinois. George Halas and Edward Sternaman were hired to run the team in 1920 and they took over completely in 1921. The Staleys moved to Chicago the same year and were known as the Chicago Staleys during the 1921 season. Halas changed the name to the Bears in 1922 to compliment the Chicago Cubs. Halas worked out a deal to play at Wrigley Field and the two teams shared stadium for the next 50 years. Halas retired as player and coach of the Bears in 1929 only to return as head coach in 1933. During the 1940’s the Bears became known as the “Monsters of the Midway” because of their domination in the NFL. Halas left the team to serve in the military during the war in 1942 and returned in 1946. He retired again in 1955 only to return in 1958. In 1968 he retired for the last time and Jim Dooley took over the head coach position. Halas remained the owner of the Bears until he died in 1983 when he left the team to his oldest daughter, Virginia Halas McCaskey.
When the NFL merged with the AFL in 1970 the Bears needed a new stadium because the NFL required all stadiums to have a seating capacity of at least 50,000. The team moved to Soldier Field which was built in the 1920’s. The Bears would go through four coaches after Halas retired before Mike Ditka was hired in 1982. Ditka coached from 1982 to 1992 and led the team to six division titles and three trips to the NFC Conference Championship. He also led them to Super Bowl XX in 1986 where they defeated the New England Patriots 46 – 10. After Ditka left the Bears have struggled. They appeared in the playoffs ten more times through 2010 and made it to the Super Bowl in 2007 only to lose to the Indianapolis Colts 29 – 17.
The Chicago Bears make up one of four teams in the NFC North. The other teams are the Detroit Lions, the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings. Over the years the Bears have only had two home stadiums. They played in Wrigley Field for fifty years and moved to Soldier Field in 1971 where they still call home today.
