Chicago Bears, it’s time to come out of hibernation

Chicago sports lovers have gripes when their teams don’t win. But overall, fans here have had a pretty good run over the last 25 years.

Just last summer the Chicago Sky won their first league title, defeating the Phoenix Mercury 3-1 in the 2021 WNBA Finals. Chicago’s hoops women only played their inaugural season in 2006. That’s not a bad start—when you consider the Utah Jazz, who have been around since 1974, have yet to win the NBA Finals. (Then again, Chicago had something to do with that.)

But the reigning WNBA champs aren’t the only ones who’ve kept fans happy in recent years.

We all know the Cubs finally killed the Curse of the Billy Goat, winning a contentious 2016 World Series over the Cleveland Indians, after going down 3-1 in a best of seven series. The Blackhawks won Stanley Cups in 2010, 2013, and 2015, becoming their own mini-dynasty, while the White Sox started off our 21st century with a four-game sweep of the 2005 World Series. And before that, our Bulls dominated the 1990s, bringing home six O’Brien trophies.

And then there’s our Chicago Bears, whose championship prowess has been largely dormant since before the entire current roster was born.

Back when they were the ’85 Bears, we were feared on both offense and defense. Opposing players on any team could not stop Walter Payton’s runs. Our defensive line consisted of a nightmare regiment—Richard Dent, Dan Hampton, William Perry, and Steve McMichael—all of whom were put on earth to clean your clock. Linebackers Otis Wilson and Mike Singletary were fierce too, and the Bears held a sound secondary, and offensive line. The ‘85 Bears terrorized the NFL, snagging 15 wins and Super Bowl XX, doing it all without a Hall of Fame quarterback.

But now we’re nearing 40 years since our best era. Through it all, fans have had to weather Green Bay’s dominance plus the Hall of Fame careers of two Packers’ arms, Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers.

The good news is we now have our own exciting new quarterback in Justin Fields, plus new coaches and a promising core to build on. But Chicago’s fans are more than restless.

We’re tired of the top local story being Aaron Rodgers’ whining. Or injured players, missed playoffs—or a revolving door of Bears coaches.

As next season approaches, we look forward to a winter in which the Bears have come out of decades of hibernation. Get it going, guys.

Andy Frye has written for ESPN Chicago and Rolling Stone. His new book about Chicago, NINETY DAYS IN THE 90s, is out now.