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Those long, lonely summer days have drawn to a close. Bourbonnais has come and gone. The roster has been trimmed. The pre-game distractions are now nearly forgotten. Bears weather (see below) is just around the corner. The grills are prepped (until the Star Wars museum lands). For everyone looking to keep up with the conversation this fall, here is your Faker’s Guide to the Chicago Bears.
THE “C”
The team’s first logo, a black bear atop a football, was introduced in the early 1950s. The familiar wishbone “C” was introduced in 1962.
DECATUR
The Bears originally were named the Decatur Staleys for the semipro team fielded by the A.E. Staley food starch company in 1919. Halas took over the team in 1920 and founded it as an NFL franchise, moving it to Chicago in 1921. Halas bought the rights to the team for $100, which was a lot of money then but wouldn’t get you a regular-season ticket today. Faker’s gold: Halas adopted navy blue and orange team colors to mirror his alma mater, the University of Illinois.
GEORGE HALAS
“Papa Bear” founded the franchise and arguably became the most important figure in NFL history in its first 50 years. Halas won six championships in four decades. He died in 1983. No. 7 is retired in his honor, and the “GSH” letters on the left sleeve of the Bears uniform are his initials.
VIRGINIA MCCASKEY
George Halas’ oldest daughter took over as majority owner of the team a day after her father’s passing. Her husband, Ed McCaskey, took over as chairman.
WRIGLEY FIELD
Halas adopted the nickname Bears because they would play their home games in the Cubs’ park. They remained in Wrigley from 1921 through 1970, so at least someone won something there.
SOLDIER FIELD
The Bears’ home on the lakefront since the 1971 season, except for 2002, when they played at the University of Illinois in Champaign while Soldier Field was being made to look like a spaceship.
THE PACKERS
Hate them. It’s the law.
“MONSTERS OF THE MIDWAY”
The team picked up the former University of Chicago moniker in the 1940s when quarterback Sid Luckman set all kinds of team passing records that stood for decades while he led the Bears to four victories in five title games.
73-0
During the 1940 regular season, the Redskins defeated the Bears 7-3, after which Redskins owner George Preston Marshall called the Bears crybabies and quitters. Before the championship game in Washington, George Halas showed his team the comments. They scored 28 points in the first half and 45 in the second for the greatest margin of victory in NFL history.
1932 “PLAYOFFS”
The NFL used to name a champion based on regular-season winning percentage, but when the Bears and Portsmouth Spartans tied, the league arranged for an additional game to be played. Because of cold weather, the game was moved inside to Chicago Stadium. The Bears won 9-0 in the first of what would be annual playoff games.
“DA COACH”
The Bears have won two titles in the last 51 years. Mike Ditka played tight end on the 1963 championship team and coached the 1985 Super Bowl winner. What else do you need? And what else do you need endorsed?
BUDDY RYAN
He hated Mike Ditka, and Ditka hated him. Together, they killed the NFL in 1985. Ryan was defensive coordinator and mastermind of the famed “46” defense that made QBs scream for mommy to make it stop. Faker’s gold: 46 was named for safety Doug Plank, a paralyzingly powerful hitter, who wore that number for the Bears from 1975-82.
DAN HAMPTON
The “46” started with this Hall of Fame defensive tackle, no matter how many knee surgeries he required, and there were so many required that he finally got a punch card so the 11th surgery was free.
GALE SAYERS
A spectacular running back who came out of Kansas in 1965 and scored an NFL-record 22 touchdowns in his rookie season. He led the league in rushing the next season and again in 1969. Sayers seemed likely to own all the rushing records until he suffered a second knee injury in 1970.
SUPER BOWL XX
The culmination of what has been called the greatest single-season team in NFL history. The 1985 Bears dominated opponents with the best running game in the league, which was overshadowed by the most destructive defense in the NFL. The SuperBears combined spectacular football with colorful personalities — Punky QB” Jim McMahon mooned a helicopter during practice the week of the Super Bowl — and swaggered into legend with the 46-10 vivisection of the Patriots on that glorious night in New Orleans.
WALTER PAYTON
“Sweetness” was drafted by the Bears in 1975 and was the only good thing about the offense for almost a decade. Payton became the NFL’s all-time rushing leader on Oct. 7, 1984, and held the mark for 18 years. Mike Ditka called him the best football player ever. Died of a rare form of liver cancer in 1999. He was 45.
DEVIN HESTER
The only player to return the opening kickoff of the Super Bowl for a touchdown. He also holds the record for most combined touchdowns on kickoff and punt returns.
WILLIAM PERRY
The “Refrigerator” became a national sensation during his rookie season in 1985 when coach Mike Ditka lined up the defensive tackle in the offensive backfield as a blocker for Walter Payton. Eventually, Perry carried the ball, scoring a touchdown in the Super Bowl. “Even when I was little, I was big” Perry said.
ED O’BRADOVICH
A vicious defensive end on the Bears’ 1963 championship team, “O-B” delivered a key play in the title game with a surprising interception.
MIDDLE LINEBACKERS
The Bears’ bone-crushing fame at the position began in the 1930s with Bronko Nagurski, a ferocious fullback who played both ways. Then came Clyde “Bulldog” Turner, George Connor, Bill George, Dick Butkus, Mike Singletary and Brian Urlacher. It’s why HMOs were invented.
BEAR WEATHER
The cold-weather-toughened Bears hosted the West Coast-based 49ers in the NFC championship game in January 1989 in wind chills that dipped to minus-26 degrees in Soldier Field. The final: 49ers 28, Bears 3. R.I.P. Bear Weather.
JAY CUTLER
The quarterback involved in the biggest trade in team history holds almost every significant Bears passing record. He has not, however, won a Super Bowl or even appeared in a Super Bowl. Waiting. Wait. Ing.
“BRIAN’S SONG”
A movie set in the racially charged 1960s based on the bond between Gale Sayers, a black player, and Brian Piccolo, a white player who learns he’s dying of cancer. Bring tissues.
ED SPRINKLE
Disputed his long-held description as “the meanest man in pro football” but seemed OK with his nickname “The Claw” for his vicious clothesline tackling.
THE HONEY BEARS
After a miserable 1975 season, George Halas formed the cheerleading squad in 1976. Virginia McCaskey terminated it after Super Bowl XX in 1986. The Bears haven’t won the Super Bowl since. Connect the dots, people.
“DA SUPERFANS”
“Saturday Night Live” mocked Bears fans with a recurring skit invoking DIT-ka, my friend. Fat guys wearing aviator sunglasses ate tons of pork products and had heart attacks from which they revived themselves by pounding their own chests. Bearsssssssss.
@ChiTribGraphics
