List of Chicago Bears head coaches explained
This is a complete list of Chicago Bears head coaches. There have been 17 head coaches for the Chicago Bears, including coaches for the Decatur Staleys (1919–1920) and Chicago Staleys (1921). The Bears franchise was founded as the Decatur Staleys, a charter member of the American Professional Football Association. The team moved to Chicago in 1921, and changed its name to the Bears in 1922, the same year the American Professional Football Association (APFA) changed its name to the National Football League (NFL).
The Chicago Bears have played more than 1,000 games. Of those games, five different coaches have won NFL championships with the team: George Halas in, 1933, 1940, 1941, 1946 and 1963; Ralph Jones in 1932; Hunk Anderson and Luke Johnsos in 1943; and Mike Ditka in 1985.[1] George Halas is the only coach to have more than one tenure and is the all-time leader in games coached and games won, while Ralph Jones leads all coaches in winning percentage with .706.[2] Abe Gibron is statistically the worst coach of the Bears in terms of winning percentage, with a .268 average.[3]
Of the 18 Bears coaches, three have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame: George Halas, Paddy Driscoll, and Mike Ditka.[4] Several former players have been head coach for the Bears, including George Halas, Hunk Anderson, Luke Johnsos, Paddy Driscoll, Jim Dooley, Abe Gibron and Mike Ditka.
After Ditka was fired following the 1992 season, the Bears went through six head coaches starting with Dave Wannstedt, who coached until 1998. Dick Jauron took over in 1999 until he was fired in 2003. Lovie Smith was hired on January 14, 2004.[5] Smith was fired on December 31, 2012, after the Bears missed the playoffs with a 10–6 record after starting the season 7–1.[6] On January 16, 2013, Marc Trestman was hired to be the new head coach to take Smith's place.[7] Trestman was fired on December 29, 2014, with a 13–19 record over two seasons.[8] On January 16, 2015, John Fox was hired as the new head coach of the team.[9] He compiled a 14–34 record over three seasons before being fired on January 1, 2018.[10] A week later, Matt Nagy became the new head coach.[11] Nagy was fired after the 2021 season. Matt Eberflus was named the new head coach on January 27, 2022.
Key
Coaches
Note: Statistics are accurate through the end of the 2023 NFL season.
Footnotes
- Official Chicago Bears record books list Halas as the first head coach in franchise history and therefore head coach Matt Eberflus would be the 17th head coach in franchise history.
- The winning percentage is calculated using the formula:
- Robert E. Brannan became the coach of the club when it was established by the A. E. Staley Company of Decatur, Illinois in 1919 as a company team.
- No official records for the 1919 season in Chicago Bears record books, but the team finished the season 6–1.
- Halas' full coaching record with the Bears is 497 regular season games coached with a record of 318–148–31 and a W–L percentage of .682. He is also 6–3 in 9 Playoff games.
- The NFL did not hold playoff games until 1932.
- Anderson and Johnsos were co-Head Coaches from 1942 to 1945. They were appointed by Halas when he left to serve in the US Navy.
External links
- Web site: Chicago Bears History . . March 18, 2008 . January 7, 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100107201239/http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/teams/history/CHI . live .
- Web site: Hall of Famers by Franchise . . March 18, 2008 . October 15, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151015213446/http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/teams.aspx . live .
- Web site: Decatur Staleys Coaching Records and History . DatabaseFootball.com . March 18, 2008 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20111121125251/http://databasefootball.com/coaches/coachteam.htm?tm=DEC&lg=apfa . November 21, 2011 .
- Web site: Chicago Staleys Coaching Records and History . DatabaseFootball.com . March 18, 2008 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20111121081305/http://databasefootball.com/coaches/coachteam.htm?tm=CHS&lg=apfa . November 21, 2011 .
- Web site: Chicago Bears Coaching Records and History . DatabaseFootball.com . March 18, 2008 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130923014834/http://www.databasefootball.com/coaches/coachteam.htm?tm=chi&lg=nfl . September 23, 2013 .
Notes and References
- Web site: NFLTeamHistory.com . Chicago Bears Championship History . March 18, 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080517201444/http://www.nflteamhistory.com/nfl_teams/chicago_bears/championship_history.html . May 17, 2008 . dead .
- Web site: Ralph Jones' Coaching Record. Pro Football Reference. March 18, 2008. January 20, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110120174804/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/JoneRa0.htm. live.
- Web site: Abe Gibron's Coaching Record. Pro Football Reference. March 18, 2008. October 2, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20111002191341/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/GibrAb0.htm. live.
- Web site: Hall of Famers by Franchise . . March 18, 2008 . October 15, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151015213446/http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/teams.aspx . live .
- News: Yahoo Sports . Bears hire Smith to be head coach . March 18, 2008 . January 16, 2004.
- News: Lovie Smith out after nine seasons as Bears coach. Dan. Pompei. Chicago Tribune. December 31, 2012. December 31, 2012. December 31, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20121231202354/http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/chi-chicago-bears-fire-coach-lovie-smith-2012,0,1783180.story. live.
- News: Trestman chosen to be bears new head coach. Chicago Tribune. Brad. Biggs. January 16, 2013. December 6, 2014. December 25, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141225012319/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-01-16/sports/chi-bears-hire-marc-trestman-20130115_1_head-coach-marc-trestman-coach-trestman. live.
- News: Chicago Bears fire Marc Trestman. National Football League. NFL Enterprises LLC. December 29, 2014. December 29, 2014. June 21, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200621163423/https://www.nfl.com/news/chicago-bears-fire-marc-trestman-0ap3000000451258. live.
- Web site: Bears hire John Fox as new head coach. Chicago Tribune. January 16, 2015. January 19, 2015. January 19, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150119192501/http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/chi-bears-hire-john-fox-coach-story.html. live.
- Web site: Patra. Kevin. Chicago Bears fire coach John Fox after 5-11 season. National Football League. January 1, 2018. January 1, 2018. July 30, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200730153618/https://www.nfl.com/news/chicago-bears-fire-coach-john-fox-after-5-11-season-0ap3000000901544. live.
- News: Biggs. Brad. Bears hire Matt Nagy as franchise's 16th head coach. Chicago Tribune. January 8, 2018. January 8, 2018. January 8, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180108231857/http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/ct-spt-bears-matt-nagy-coach-20180108-story.html. live.
- Web site: Bears' Smith wins AP Coach award . January 7, 2006 . March 31, 2008 . Associated Press . ESPN . April 27, 2006 . https://web.archive.org/web/20060427212033/http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2283709 . live .
- Web site: Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year . March 31, 2008 . Super Bowl . February 7, 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080207190338/http://www.2007-superbowl.com/NFL_Coach.html . dead .
- Book: Halas, George . Halas by Halas: The Autobiography of George Halas . 1979 . McGraw-Hill . 0-07-025549-0.
- Web site: Jack Pardee . March 31, 2008 . Sports Reference, LLC. . January 12, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230112185443/https://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/PardJa0.htm . live .
- Web site: 89 – Mike Ditka. March 31, 2008. chicagobears.com. https://web.archive.org/web/20071220123238/http://www.chicagobears.com/tradition/hof-ditka.asp. December 20, 2007. dead.
- Web site: Ditka's delirium . March 31, 2008 . Dickey . Glenn . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080916143434/http://archive.profootballweekly.com/content/archives/draft_1998/dickey_042299.asp . September 16, 2008 .
- Web site: MIKE DITKA. March 31, 2008. Nationwide Speakers Bureau, Inc.. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20080405125918/http://www.nationwidespeakers.com/speaker/80/mike-ditka/nfl-coaching-legend. April 5, 2008.
- Web site: Mike Ditka, Chicago Bear '61–'66; '82–'92 . March 31, 2008 . Taylor . Roy . July 5, 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080705093420/http://www.bearshistory.com/lore/mikeditka.aspx . live .
- Web site: Dave Wannstedt . March 31, 2008 . Sports Reference, LLC. . December 10, 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101210093644/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/WannDa0.htm . live .
- Web site: Dick Jauron . March 31, 2008 . Sports Reference, LLC . September 4, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110904082935/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/JaurDi0.htm . live .
- Web site: Lovie Smith. March 31, 2008. chicagoBears.com. https://web.archive.org/web/20080304013359/http://www.chicagobears.com/team/coach.asp?coach_id=1. March 4, 2008. dead.
- Web site: Lovie Smith . March 31, 2008 . Sports Reference, LLC. . January 22, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230122044924/https://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/SmitLo0.htm . live .
- News: Biggs. Brad. Matt Nagy caps his 1st Bears season with the NFL Coach of the Year Award. Chicago Tribune. February 2, 2019. February 2, 2019. February 3, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190203044815/https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/ct-spt-bears-matt-nagy-nfl-coach-of-the-year-20190202-story.html. live.
- Web site: Ellis. Cam. Matt Nagy named Head Coach of the Year by Pro Football Writers of America. NBC Sports Chicago. January 17, 2019. January 17, 2019. January 19, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190119121447/https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/bears/matt-nagy-named-head-coach-year-pro-football-writers-america. live.