Bears

The team began life in 1919 as the Decatur Staleys by the A.E. Staley starch company. It joined the American Professional Football Association as a charter member on 17 September 1920, moved to Chicago the following year as the Chicago Staleys, and took the name Bears in 1922, the navy blue and burnt orange borrowed from the University of Illinois.

The nickname "Monsters of the Midway" grew out of the defenses that stretch produced, and it resurfaced with the 1985 team: fifteen wins against a single loss, Mike Ditka on the sideline, Buddy Ryan's 46 Defense doing the damage, and a 46–10 win over the Patriots in Super Bowl XX that remains the club's only Super Bowl title. Walter Payton and Dick Butkus carried that period's weight on either side of the ball, and their years are the ones still cited when the club's history comes up.

Against the Green Bay Packers the Bears have played the oldest rivalry in the NFL, running back to 1921. Division titles have kept coming since, including as recently as 2025.

Home games are played at Soldier Field, 62,500 seats, in a city that has followed this club since before the league itself had a settled name.