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The Chicago Bears are one of the oldest professional football teams in the NFL. The team began in 1919 and have ruled Chicago every since. The Bears were the “Monsters of the Midway” in the pre-Super Bowl days, winning eight NFL championships. The team has not been nearly as successful since the inception of the Super Bowl, only coming away with one championship.
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The early Bears were led by owner George Halas who had teams with start players like Red Grange, quarterback Sid Luckman, linebacker Dick Butkus, and running back Gale Sayers. The club is famous for introducing the T-formation, a formation with two running backs in the backfield, in the 1940 championship game and destroying the Redskins 73-0.
The merger of the AFL and NFL in 1970 marked the demise of the Bears domination. The Bears struggled through the ‘70s, but were able to leave the decade with one bright spot-the drafting of Walter Payton. Payton wowed crowds with his elusive running style in the ‘70s and ‘80s that made him the NFL’s leading rusher in history, until Emmitt Smith surpassed him in 2002.
Payton had his heyday before the Bears once again returned to dominate the league. The dominance began with the hiring of Mike Ditka as head coach in 1982. Ditka and the famed 46 defense destroyed the league in 1985 season, going 15-1. The team flirted with a perfect season, but was beaten by the Miami Dolphins late in the season. The Bears were very confident. They taped the “Super Bowl Shuffle,” a music video featuring the Bears team rapping before they even went to the game.
The Bears went to Super Bowl XX heavily favored over the New England Patriots. The Bears proved the odds makers right with a 46-10 victory. The Bears kept much of the same roster, but Jim McMahon, William “Refrigerator” Perry, Richard Dent, Willie Gault, and the rest of the 1985 team could repeat its success, failing to reach another Super Bowl.
The Bears and their fans kept waiting for “next year,” holding on to that famed team and that amazing g season until another Bears team could bring Chicago a Super Bowl appearance. That team came together in 2005 with Brian Urlacher the star on defense and Rex Grossman the hope on offense. The Bears played well all season and ended up in the Super Bowl where the defense was supposed to be able to challenge the favored the Indianapolis Colts’ high powered offense. The defense was not and the Bears lost 29-17.
The Bears are still reeling the Super Bowl loss two years ago. Rex Grossman went from the franchise quarterback to fighting for his job this offseason. The running game that was so successful with Cedric Benson and Thomas Jones was not able to produce the same results with just Cedric Benson. The defense played without much intensity and failed to stop the run.
This means that the Bears have a lot of work to do in the offseason. The Bears resigned Lance Briggs with the hope of bringing back the intensity on defense of two years ago. The offense tried to find a playmaker receiver, but was only able to resign old Bear Marty Booker who is a few years older and a step slower.
The 2008 draft and the 14th pick give the Bears a lot of options, but the team is most likely going to use the pick to find an offensive tackle to add some youth to the aging line. Soldier Field will be packed, as it is every year, with loyal Bears fans, but they do not know if they will see a team from two years ago, last year, or something in between. Find Chicago Bears tickets with the Ticket Specialists at www.ticketspecialists.com, where the best seats are available at the most affordable prices.