The team had six seasons with ten or more defeats in the mid-to-late 1990s and early 2000s. By happenstance, the 1970s and 1990s are the only two decades in Bears history in which the team has not won or competed for an NFL Championship or Super Bowl. The most recent season was 2006 when they finished 8-8.
The Bears have never won a title in any other form of sports such as baseball or hockey. They last appeared in the World Series in 1952, when they lost to the New York Yankees. They last played in a Stanley Cup Finals game in 1975, when they were defeated by the Montreal Canadiens.
Since their inception in 1920, only the 1927 Detroit Lions have gone through a longer drought than the current Bears team. The Lions went 0-10-1 during this period and didn't win another game until 1995 when they beat Green Bay 24-23 in the first round of the NFL Playoffs before losing to Atlanta in the next round.
Currently, the Bears are slated to play in the NFL's annual postseason tournament known as "The Playoff Game". The top eight teams based on league standings at the conclusion of the regular season will participate. Each team will be seeded based on their record and will play one of the other seven teams in one-off games called "Wild Card Games". Winners advance to the next round while losers go home.
Undefeated seasons by the Bears The Chicago Bears, charter members of the National Football League, were among the elite of the league in its early years. In fact, the Bears suffered just two losing seasons in their first 27 years. Along the way, they claimed seven league championships during that span (1920–1946). That's more than any other team!
The Bears' undefeated season of 1942 is still considered one of the greatest achievements in NFL history. Led by legendary quarterback and player-coach George "Boomer" Bush, the Bears defeated the Washington Redskins in the championship game of the World War II playoffs, 17-7, at home to capture their third NFL title in four years. With the victory, Chicago became only the second franchise to win three titles in a row (Detroit has since duplicated this feat). The '42 season was also notable for being the last time until 1970 that an African-American played in a white jersey number (Carl Eller) or black jersey number (Lewis Powell) in a playoff game.
The following year, Bush was injured in a car accident and replaced by Charlie Batch, who went on to lead the Bears to another undefeated season. However, due to a backlog of games from before WWII, the Bears were forced to play their final regular season game while still unbeaten. They lost that game, but still won the Eastern Division title with a 9-3 record.
Some Bears supporters believe their club is still plagued by the "Honey Bear Curse," as the squad has yet to win a Super Bowl since the group's dissolution (as of 2020). The Bears came close to winning Super Bowl XLII, but were defeated by the Indianapolis Colts.
The curse is said to be linked to the death of Buddy Holly, who was born in Lubbock, Texas, and died in an airplane crash near Clearwater, Florida, when he was only 24 years old. According to the story, when the Chicago Bears played in Lubbock during halftime of their 1972 game against the Dallas Cowboys, they had all their equipment painted honey brown, in honor of Buddy Holly.
Furthermore, it is believed that because the franchise has never come close to winning the big game, its luck will soon run out and it will not be able to win the championship.
In 2019, the Bears appeared in the Super Bowl before being defeated by the New England Patriots. During the game, quarterback Mitchell Trubisky suffered a shoulder injury which forced him to leave the contest early. On January 20, the team announced that Trubisky would need surgery to repair a fracture in his arm post-surgery.
Copyright © 2020 - 2023 Sportsmanist Inc.
