I’ve always been a big fan of history. Any kind of history. That may not be popular to say with a lot of people, but I feel studying it can often reveal certain trends that can point towards something that will happen in the near future. It was no different with Chicago Bears history either. With the dead period of the offseason in full cry, I decided to go digging into the archives again.
What was I searching for? Honestly, I wasn’t entirely sure at first. The only word that kept popping in my head, as mentioned above, was “trends.” Are there any trends about Bears history that might reveal something interesting about this season and those to come? As it turns out that’s an emphatic yes.
It centered around the fact that this will be the 2018 season. It represents the looming end of the latest decade of Bears football. I decided to go back every 10 years and evaluate each Bears team. Specifically, I wanted to know where they’d come from, where they were and where they were going.
I arrived at a surprising conclusion. The Bears are a team of patterns, going up and down as if traveling through hills. The end of one decade they’re ascending towards contention, the next they’re on the precipice of rebuilding. It’s one that has held true since the earliest days of the teams’ existence and leads me to this conclusion:
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Chicago Bears history is marked by alternating upswings and downswings
2008: Downswing
Though the team was still good at this point in time, cracks were already starting to show. They finished a disappointing 7-9 the year before and a good part of their core was beginning to get older. Olin Kreutz was 31. Brian Urlacher was 30. Mike Brown was 30 and ravaged by injuries. The window for success was closing. Though they’d get back to the NFC championship in 2010, most knew that was likely their last, best chance before the true decline began.
1998: Upswing
The end of the Dave Wannstedt era was finally at hand. Most people didn’t know what the future held but things were already pointed in the right direction. That became clear when third round pick Olin Kreutz gained the starting job at center. He was the first genuine star the team had drafted in a long time and set the stage for those who would follow not long after including Urlacher two years later.
1988: Downswing
The Bears were one of the best teams in the league in 1988, boasting a 12-4 record and the #1 defense. However, the luster they’d had back in 1985 was long gone. Walter Payton had retired. Jim McMahon was traded. Several of the star pieces on that defense was also getting old. It was a good team, but not a great one anymore. Their loss in the NFC championship to San Francisco marked the end of their title hopes for the next 18 years.
1978: Upswing
Optimism was sky high by 1978. The Bears had made the playoffs for the first time in 14 years the season before. Walter Payton was ascending to the status of the best football player in the NFL and other pieces of their eventual championship team in 1985 were starting to arrive. Gary Fencik was an established starter at safety. Dan Hampton would be their first round pick the next year and it only got bigger as the 1980s arrived.
1968: Downswing
This was the first year the Bears weren’t going to have George Halas as their head coach in ages. Worse still a lot of the roster was aging away and the team just couldn’t keep up at replenishing the talent. Though they had Dick Butkus and Gale Sayers in their primes, the Bears were a shadow of the team that won the championship five years earlier. It only got worse over the next five years as they endured arguably their worst period in franchise history.
1958: Upswing
Though the Bears had failed to win the championship in 1956, it was evident by 1958 that their roster was gaining strength. They had future Hall of Famers Bill George and Doug Atkins on defense along with future All-Pro Joe Fortunato. On offense, there was future Hall of Fame tackle Stan Jones. They also drafted the eventual franchise-leading receiver, Johnny Morris. It was a team just a few pieces away from gunning for a championship. By 1963, they were ready and got the job done.
1948: Downswing
All good things come to an end. By 1948, the Bears dynasty was in its death rows. Most of the core that had claimed four championships between 1940 and 1946 were either gone or too old to carry the franchise any longer. Certain pieces were in place to continue the winning tradition but bad luck would prevent Chicago from playing for a title again until 1956, never mind winning one.
If the pattern holds, then the 2018 Bears are filled with players that will pave the way towards an eventual Super Bowl date within the next few years. The current makeup of the roster alone offers that optimism. Throw this shocking trend on top of it? It’s hard not to get excited.
