The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league’s National Football Conference (NFC) North division. They play their home games at Soldier Field on the city’s Near South Side. The Bears were founded in Decatur, Illinois, in 1919 and played their first season in 1920.
George Halas and Ed Bearss started the team as an amateur organization that participated in local semi-professional leagues before joining the NFL in 1921. Halas became the team’s first head coach, leading them to success on the field during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. After reaching the NFC Championship Game twice during this period, they reached their first Super Bowl following a victory over the New York Giants in 1969. The team has made eight other appearances in Super Bowls, most recently losing to the San Francisco 49ers in 2013. In 1970, Halas was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and he was replaced as head coach by Dick Jauron who led the Bears to two more NFC Championship Games but no further Super Bowl appearances.
The late 1980s and early 1990s saw a decline for Chicago with three straight losing seasons from 1988 to 1990 followed by four straight seasons of 8–8 finishes from 1992 to 1996. However, under new head coach Lovie Smith from 2001 to 2006, who led them to their sixth NFC Championship Game appearance after back-to-back 10–6 seasons en route to winning two division titles (2005 and 2006), they returned to prominence both on and off the field becoming one of only six teams since World War II with consecutive winning seasons (2007 and 2008). In 2011, they finished 11–5 but lost 32–14 at Green Bay in what was then Lambeau Field’s biggest home loss ever; it would be their final game at Soldier Field before moving into newly built UIC Stadium for 2017.