The fan base is taking the championship drought hard
Five other Chicago sports teams have combined to win 12 titles since the Bears won their last championship in 1985. They are as follows: Blackhawks (3 times, 2010, 2013, 2015), Bulls (6 times, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998), Cubs (2016), Fire (1998) and White Sox (2005).
Since Chicago is first and foremost a Bears city, and always will be, Chicago sports fans remain in a state of discontent. If you interact with any Bears fans over the next week, you may pick up on this vibe. The Bears’ last championship ring was won so long ago that the jewelry itself has changed greatly since then.
Chris Poitras is the general manager and senior vice president of Jostens, the leading producer of championship rings and the company that manufactured the Bulls’ six title celebration rings.
“In the near future, we will be at the forefront of using technology to not only tell the story of a team, but also to tell the story of each individual,” Poitras said exclusively with Ratings.org, “seamlessly combining art, craftsmanship and innovation in every piece.
“It’s going to be a fascinating evolution. I think the next one to three years will bring even more dramatic changes than we’ve seen in the last five.”
It’s no exaggeration to say that the next time the Bears win a ring, it will be almost unrecognizable from the brilliance it acquired 40 years ago.
The base is also struggling to move forward since 1985
Given that it’s been four decades and counting since the last title, you can imagine how much the fanbase lives in the past. It’s like an NFL fandom version of Al Bundy, the fictional centerpiece of the ’80s FOX sitcom. Married…with children: There aren’t many wins in current seasons, so there is a fixation on the football glory of the past.
Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that the show was set in Chicago. The ’85 Bears were such a colorful, fun-loving, and notorious group that the next Bears championship team, whenever that may be, would probably still come in second to that Super Bowl XX-winning team from 40 years ago.
Eric Dickerson is a member of the Hall of Fame, but he never played in a Super Bowl, and only one game for the conference title. That happened in 1985, when his LA Rams lost 20-0 to the Chicago Bears.
Asked if/when the Bears win another title, the ’85 “Super Bowl Shuffle” team would still be the top priority in the hearts and minds of Bears fans.
“Oh, they certainly would, because that team was so dominant and the things they did – the Super Bowl Shuffle,” Eric Dickerson, the NFL’s single-season rushing record holder, said exclusively with The Sports Bank. “Even if they won this year, but the ’85 Bears… definitely.”
This theory was almost put to the test when the Bears reached the Super Bowl in 2006, but lost to Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts. Even with the win, it’s hard to imagine Brian Urlacher, Devin Hester, Rex Grossman and Thomas Jones becoming more legendary than Walter Payton, Mike Singletary, Jim McMahon, Richard Dent and Steve McMichael.
If you’re chatting with any Bears fans this week, be prepared for them to bring this up, at least in some way.
chicago is Still waiting to have an elite passer.
Caleb Williams, the No. 1 overall pick in 2024, is the latest caller charged with one day becoming “that guy” in Chicago Bears quarterback history. There is still time, but he has not yet shown that one day he will be that icon of the franchise. While the Ravens pass defense is obviously struggling, Williams has yet to find his rhythm and can be contained.
Before Williams, Justin Fields had a chance to become the franchise QB of all time, but he failed.
Being in Chicago wasn’t the problem, as last week’s New York Jets score attests. Fields led a Jets offense that had -10 passing yards in a loss to the Denver Broncos in London.
Before Fields, it was 2017 second overall pick Mitch Trubisky who took on this challenge. He made one Pro Bowl and put up some decent stats for a couple of years, before failing and then moving on to become a career backup.
In 1995, Erik Kramer rewrote the Bears’ single-season passing record book, with 3,828 yards and 29 touchdown passes. 30 years have passed; The NFL has since rewritten the rules to facilitate many more passes, and yet no Bears QB has been able to beat Kramer’s benchmarks.
The Bears’ passing record book is dominated by Jay Cutler, a man who only made the Pro Bowl once.