The Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears are an American football team in the NFC East division of the National Football league. The team is based in Chicago, Illinois and since 1971 have played their home games at Chicago’s Soldier Field which is located on the shore of Lake Michigan. The bears have won 9 Professional American Football league championships which include 8 NFL Championships and Super Bowl XX. Twenty-six of their players are featured in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Bears have recorded more regular season and overall victories than any other NFL football team. On December 7, 2008 they won their 700th game. For more than 40 years, the team logo has been the ‘wishbone’ C.

The company club was founded in 1919 in Decatur and named the Decatur Staleys for the company who established it. The team became a charter member of the NFL in 1920. The team made the move to Chicago in 1921 and became the Chicago Staleys. In 1922 George Halas purchased the rights to the club from A.E. Staley for $100.00 and renamed the team the Chicago Bears. Home games were played at Wrigley Field through the 1970 season. The Bears have an aggressive long-standing rivalry with the Green Bay Packers dating back to 1921. One of the incidents that started the feud happened in 1921. Halas somehow got the Packers expelled from the league so he could keep them from signing up a player that he wanted for his team. After successfully closing the deal with that player Halas condescendingly got them re-admitted to the league. The teams have played more than 170 games against each other.

Lovie Lee Smith is the current head coach of the Bears. He took the team to the win of Superbowl XX in 2006. Lovie earned all-state honors 3 years in high school as a defensive end and linebacker. He played college football at the University of Tulsa. He was a two time All-American at linebacker and safety. His first coaching jobs were with high school teams. By 1983 he was coaching linebackers at the college level, first at his alma mater Tulsa, followed by stints with University of Wisconsin-Madison, Arizona State University, and University of Kentucky. He moved on to defensive backs coach at the University of Tennessee and Ohio State University. His first professional job was linebacker coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. His next move was to the St. Louis Rams as the defensive coordinator. In 2004 the Chicago Bears hired Smith as head coach.

Some of the Bears strongest and favorite players include Kyle Orton, Robbie Gould, Matt Forte, Devin Hester, Lance Briggs, Charles Tillman, Brian Urlacher, Kevin Payne and Corey Graham. Bad news for the Bears is the loss of defensive tackle, Dusty Dvoracek, who is recovering from a torn ACL and will sit out the season.