Bears are known for early success under Halas, terrifying defense under Ditka
Bears are known for early success under Halas, terrifying defense under Ditka
The Chicago Bears are one of only two current NFL teams that played in the first season of the American Professional Football Association (APFA) in 1920. However, one of the league’s most storied franchises actually had its origins 180 miles to the southwest.
Around this time, company and traveling teams were the norm. The club that eventually became the Bears began as a team representing the A. E. Staley Manufacturing Company, which was one of the largest processors of corn in the country. Augustus Eugene Staley started in Baltimore before purchasing and upgrading a factory in Decatur, Illinois.
The team, called the Decatur Staleys, went 6-1 as an independent semi-pro team in 1919. The following year, Staley brought in George Halas to run the team. Halas played minor league baseball and even earned a 12-game call-up to the Yankees in 1919. Later that year, he played for the Hammond Pros football team.
Halas was among the representatives from 11 teams in four states who met on September 17, 1920, to solidify the league and name Jim Thorpe as its first president. The APFA had no set schedule, and teams could play non-league games during the season, which made picking a champion difficult. The Staleys went 10-1-2, with all of their wins coming by shutout. However, the Akron Pros were declared champions by virtue of an 8-0-3 record.
The APFA added three teams during the 1920 season and expanded to 24 the next year. After losing more than $14,000 the first season, Staley moved the team to Chicago and gave control to Halas, along with $5,000 to keep the Staleys name. The club was strong again in its second year, but the league title involved quite a bit of controversy.
The Buffalo All-Americans had an 8-0-2 record and were in first place in early December, with the Staleys a close second at 7-1 (their only blemish was a 7-6 loss to Buffalo on Thanksgiving Day). Halas and All-Americans owner Frank McNeil agreed to a rematch, although McNeil thought it would only be considered an exhibition game.
Buffalo defeated Akron on December 3, then took a train to Chicago to face the Staleys the next day. Chicago won, 10-7, to pull within half a game. Halas quickly scheduled two more games, which resulted in a win over the Canton Bulldogs and a scoreless tie with the crosstown rival Cardinals. Since ties did not count in the standings, both the Staleys and All-Americans now had identical 9-1 records. The league created a rule that, if teams play twice, the result of the second game would be used as the tiebreaker, giving the championship to Chicago in what is now known as the “Staley Swindle.”
The following season, Halas withstood a challenge to his ownership. Agent Bill Harley laid claim to a portion of the team, which was now controlled by Halas and his partner and teammate Edward “Dutch” Sternaman. The league, now called the National Football League, contacted Staley, who said that when the team moved to Chicago, he gave control to Halas and Sternaman.
On the field, the newly christened Bears finished in second place four times, including a 12-1-3 mark in 1926, but did not win a championship for 10 years. Sternaman lost money in the Great Depression and Halas bought him out to become sole owner. Halas retired as both coach and player after the 1929 season, turning the reigns over to Ralph Jones, a successful college basketball, football, and baseball coach.
In 1932, a team led by backs Harold “Red” Grange and Bronislau “Bronco” Nagurski went 7-1-6, with eight shutouts overall and three scoreless ties. The Packers had a 10-3-1 record, but the Bears had a better winning percentage and took home their second title.
The next year, Halas returned to coach the team. The NFL fixed the title controversy by changing to a Division format and instituting a championship game between the winners. Chicago played in the contest eight times and won five over the next 14 seasons. The Bears faced the New York Giants in the first NFL Championship Game in 1933. The back-and-forth contest was decided when Nagurski threw a jump pass to Bill Hewitt. The Giants read the play correctly, but Hewitt fooled them and Bill Karr took the lateral and ran 31 yards for the winning score with less than two minutes remaining.
The teams met again for the title the following season, this time on a cold and snowy day at the Polo Grounds. Neither team was able to get traction on the slippery field until the Giants borrowed footwear from the Manhattan College basketball team. New York scored 27 points in the fourth quarter to defeat the 13-0 Bears in the “Sneakers Game.”
After a two-year hiatus, the Bears returned to the NFL Championship Game in 1937, but fell to the Redskins. “Slinging Sammy” Baugh threw for 335 yards and three touchdowns in the 28-21 victory. The teams met again in 1940. Chicago totaled 519 yards, including 381 on the ground while holding the Redskins to just five rushing yards. The 73-0 final was the most lopsided score in NFL Championship Game history.
In 1941, the Bears and Packers each went 10-1. Chicago won Division game, 33-14, then defeated the Giants for the title by a 37-9 score. The next year, the Bears went 11-0 and were the highest scoring team by a considerable margin. However, Washington kept Chicago from winning three straight titles with a 14-6 decision.
Halas left during the 1942 season to return to the U. S. Navy during World War II and rose to the rank of Captain. In his stead, assistants and former Bears players, Heartly “Hunk” Anderson and Luke Johnson, were named co-coaches.
The Redskins and Bears battled four a fourth time for the title in 1943. Sid Luckman threw five touchdown passes and Chicago won its sixth championship by a 41-21 score. After two mediocre seasons, Halas returned in 1946 to lead the Bears to an 8-1-1 record and a 24-14 victory over the Giants in the NFL Championship Game. Chicago’s defense earned its “Monsters of the Midway” nickname, forcing New York quarterback Frank Filchock into six interceptions.
The team experienced a prolonged dry spell beginning in the late 1940s. In the 37 years after the title in 1946, the Bears had 17 winning seasons but only reached the postseason five times. Chicago had a winning record in three straight years in the mid-1950s, but only went to the playoffs once. Halas retired for a third time before the 1956 season, leaving the team in the hands of former Cardinals and Bears quarterback John “Paddy” Driscoll. That year, Chicago went 9-2-1 to reach its first title game in a decade. However, a Giants team led by Charlie Conerly and Frank Gifford beat the Bears, 47-7.
Halas returned in 1958 and the Bears had four winning seasons and two second-place finishes before returning to the top. Chicago went 11-1-2 in 1963 and edged out the Packers by a game for the Western Division crown. Quarterback Billy Wade ran for the only two touchdowns in a 14-10 win over the Giants for the team’s eighth championship.
The title would be Halas’ last. He retired for good after the 1967 season. At 72, he was the oldest coach in NFL history and the only person involved in each of the league’s first 60 seasons. The man called “Papa Bear” was the coach for six titles, amassed a 318-141-31 record, and his win total was the most in NFL history until Don Shula broke it in 1994. The Bears had a losing record just six times in his 40 years as coach.
Former Chicago tight end Jim Dooley took over for Halas. Despite a roster that included running back Gayle Sayers, receiver Dick Gordon, and Dick Butkus, one of the game’s most intimidating players, the Bears did not return to the playoffs for another 14 years.
Former Rams standout linebacker Jack Pardee was brought in as coach in 1975, and the team reached the postseason in his third year. The Bears were a Wild Card team and fell to the Cowboys, 37-7. Pardee left to coach the Redskins and the club turned to Neill Armstrong, a Vikings assistant who helped create the “Purple People Eater” defense.
Chicago made the playoffs in Armstrong’s second year and lost to the Eagles in the Wild Card round. The Bears faded in the early 1980s and Armstrong was replaced by Mike Ditka, a former All-Pro tight end who was an assistant coach with the Cowboys. Ditka continued Armstrong’s mission to stress defense, and he built the Bears into one of the most feared units in the NFL.
Halas died of pancreatic cancer in 1983 at age 88. He was the last survivor from the meeting that originated the league in 1920. His oldest daughter, Virginia Halas McCaskey, took over control of the team after his death, and her son (Halas’ grandson), Michael McCaskey, was named team president.
Chicago won the Central Division in 1984 and defeated old nemesis Washington before falling to the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game.
The following year, the Bears tied the 1978 Denver Broncos by allowing only 198 points, the fewest since the league went to a 16-game schedule. The defense featured middle linebacker Mike Singletary, strong safety Gary Fencik and linemen Dan Hampton, Richard Dent, Steve “Mongo” McMichael and William “The Refrigerator” Perry. After a 15-1 regular season that included two shutouts, the Bears stifled the Giants in the Division round and the Rams in the NFC title game to reach their first Super Bowl.
“Da Bears” produced a “Super Bowl Shuffle” music video late in the season, then proceeded to shuffle all over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX. Quarterback Jim McMahon ran for two touchdowns and Chicago held their overmatched opponents to 123 total yards including just seven on the ground, which is still a game record. Richard Dent was named MVP of the 46-10 affair after registering 1½ of the team’s seven sacks.
The Bears had double-digit win totals in five of the next six seasons. They went 14-2 in 1986 but were upset by the Redskins in the Division round. Two years later, Chicago got by Philadelphia before falling 28-3 at home to the 49ers. Since the double-digit run ended in 1991, Chicago has made the playoffs just six times in 27 years.
Michael McCaskey became chairman of the board in 1999, and he was replaced as president by, longtime team employee, Ted Phillips, who is the only non-Halas or McCaskey to hold the position. Michael retired in 2011, and his younger brother, George, became chairman.
The team reached the postseason once each under Dave Wannstedt and Dick Jauron before having more success under former Rams defensive coordinator Lovie Smith. Chicago reached the Division round in 2005, and the Bears had the best record in the NFC the following year. Robbie Gould kicked two clutch field goals in an overtime win against the Seahawks, then the Bears beat the Saints in the NFC Championship Game.
In Super Bowl XLI, the Bears faced Peyton Manning and the Colts, who had finally gotten past the Patriots. Manning threw for 247 yards and a touchdown to earn MVP honors. A combined 190 rushing yards from Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai helped seal the 29-17 Indianapolis victory.
The Bears won the Central again in 2010. They dismissed Seattle in the Division game, but fell to the Packers, 21-14, in the NFC title game. Smith was fired two years later, and the Bears failed to make the playoffs under Marc Trestman and John Fox. They did get back to the postseason last year under Matt Nagy, a former offensive coordinator with the Chiefs. Chicago lost to Philadelphia, 15-14, in the Wild Card round, when Cody Parkey’s field goal attempt hit both the left upright and the crossbar and bounced out.
Nagy has a young core of skill players, including quarterback Mitchell Trubisky, running back Tarik Cohen, wide receivers Allen Robinson and Taylor Gabriel and tight end Trey Burton. The Bears had the third-ranked scoring defense last season, thanks to linemen Akiem Hicks and Eddie Goldman, linebackers Khalil Mack, Roquan Smith and Danny Trevathan, cornerbacks Kyle Fuller and Prince Amukamara and safety Eddie Jackson.
-By: Kevin Rakas