In only the second year of their existence, their first in Chicago, the Staleys went 9-1-1 to win their first championship. The Staleys triumphed in this season by playing their home games at Cubs Park (Wrigley Field) under the leadership of Papa Bear Halas. Their rematch victory over Buffalo late in the season gave them enough to bring home the title.
No longer did the team with the highest winning percentage win the title. This was the season with the first championsship game in pro football. The Chicago Bears ended up the season tied with the Portsmouth Spartans. Due to extreme cold, the game was played in Chicago Stadium. One of the makeshift rules shortened the field to 80 yards. The game was won by the Bears 9-0 courtesy of a Red Grange touchdown reception.
This year the Chicago Bears played host to the New York Giants in the championship game at foggy Wrigley Field. The game went back and forth all the way to the finish. With the Giants leading 21-16 the Bears scored on an incredible play. Bronko Nagurski threw a pass to Bill Hewitt who then lateralled to Bill Karr to score the game-winning touchdown and give Chicago their third championship.
1940 contained what is still the most amazing game in NFL History. The Bears went into the Championship game with an 8-3 record. Earlier in the year the Washington Redskins had beaten the Bears by a score of 7-3. Now it was time for the Bears and their now famous T-formation to visit Griffith Stadium in Washington. By halftime, the Bears were already ahead 28-0. They took their starters out and then still proceded to rack up another 45 unanswered points to win the game and the title by the score of 73-0. That is to this day the most lopsided game in the entire history of the NFL. The Bears rushing attack was so far superior to that of the Redskins that they owned a 381-5 yard advantage in the ground game. The defense also managed to make an incredible 8 interceptions, three of which were returned for touchdowns.
This is perhaps the year that the Bears/Packers rivalry really started to heat up. In the first game of the season the Bears visited Green Bay and came home with a victory. Later in the season, the Packers came into Chicago and did the same to the Bears. When the season ended, the Bears and the Packers were tied and they played a one game playoff to see who would play for the championship against the Bew York Giants. The Bears triumphed in this rubber match 33-14 and then proceeded to throttle the Giants 37-9 in the title game.
After beating their crosstown rival Cardinals, the Bears met Washington again for the NFL Championship. It was a rematch of the 1942 Championship game which was won by the Redskins. Bronko Nagurski came out of retirement and dominated the game giving the Bears a 41-21 victory.
The Bears avenged a regular season loss to the New York Giants by winning this game at the Polo Grounds 24-14. The Bears scored the go-ahead touchdown on a trick play designed by George Halas. This gave the Bears their fourth victory in the 40's.
With future Hall of Famers Mike Ditka and Doug Atkins leading the way, the Bears intercepted Y.A Tittle 5 times and shut down Frank Gifford in route to a 14-10 victory over the New York Giants. Most likely, this was the last Champtionship that the Bears would ever win in the cold of Chicago as the trend in the NFL shifted to playing Championship games indoors at neutral sites.
Link to the Bears 1985 Super Bowl Page