They finally broke a 17-year championship drought with a 14-10 win over the New York Giants in 1963.Īlmost all of the successes on and off the field for the Bears in the 64-year period between 19 can be attributed to George (Papa Bear) Halas, who served the Bears as an owner, player, coach, general manager, traveling secretary, and in virtually every other capacity imaginable. Despite winning nearly 60 percent of their games in the 1950s, the Bears did not win an NFL title and made only one playoff appearance. The Bears won three, including the famous 73-0 annihilation of the Washington Redskins in 1940. The Bears kicked off the 1940s with four straight NFL championship appearances. The next year, they inaugurated the NFL championship series by defeating the New York Giants, 23-21. In 1932, they defeated the Portsmouth Spartans 9-0 to win the championship in the first NFL game to be played indoors. The Bears signed the fabled collegiate All-America, Red Grange, in 1925 and then showcased him before the first huge pro football crowds. They were the first to buy a player from another team - $100 for Ed Healey from Rock Island in 1922. A year later, the team was renamed the Chicago Bears.įrom the very start, the Bears were one of pro football's most successful and innovative franchises. The Staleys won the 1921 league championship. In 1921, the Staley Starch Company gave Halas the team, $5,000 and permission to move the team to Chicago if he would agree to keep the Staleys name for a year. Then on September 17, 1920, the Staleys, with George Halas as their representative, joined the American Professional Football Association, which was renamed the National Football League in 1922. in 1920 when the Staley Starch Company decided to sponsor a football team. Their 1,000-game history started in Decatur, Ill. The Chicago Bears are one of only two charter members of the National Football League still in existence.
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