Chicago Bears Logo History

Chicago Bears was initially established in Decatur, Illinois on September 19, 1919, before moving to Chicago in 1921. It was set up by A.E Staley and was originally named Decatur Staleys. Chicago Bears is one of the most successful franchises of the NFL holding the record for second-most victories in the league after the Packers.

The Chicago Bears also have the most players inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Bears are one of the only two franchises remaining in the NFL that were established around the 1920s.

The Evolution of the Chicago Bears Logo

1920

Along with its name, Chicago Bears has also made a few alterations to their logo over time. Initially, during the Staley era, the first original logo was inspired by A.E Staley’s business with the ‘Decatur Staleys’ nameplate. As the team moved to Chicago in 1921, the logo for the team was redesigned to add the Chicago tag. The redesigned logo featured a brown rugby ball with “Staleys” scripted below.

1940

The first logo under the name of the Chicago Bears was created in 1940. It was a black bear holding a rugby ball which was said to depict power and confidence.

1945

The Chicago Bears were quick to modify their logo as they changed it again five years later in 1945. The new logo saw the orange rugby bowl increase in size while a black bear crawled on top of it. The logo was themed with the team's typical black & orange colours along with the white elements.

1962

The Chicago Bears designed their famous “wishbone C” logo in 1962.” It is a neatly scripted C letter which was introduced as the logo in black and white colour.

1974

Chicago Bears ‘wishbone C’ was changed later in 1974. It was filled with a colour palette of vintage orange, black & white. The logo has a double outline black on the outside and white on the inside, while the letter ‘C’ is orange. This wishbone C logo was the Bears’ primary logo for over 60 years before being switched to secondary in 2023.

2023 - Present

The Chicago Bears most recently improved their logo to a Bear’s head themed with its vintage colours. This logo was marked as the team's secondary logo for 23 years before being promoted to primary in 2023.

Chicago Bears Alternative Symbols

Chicago Bears also have their separate Wordmark logos and emblems as well. The Bears introduced their wordmark logo in 1974 which is simple “Bears” written in Bold and comes in Black or Orange colour font.

There is also a memorial logo which was presented in 1974. The logo symbolises the Hallas Family and has “GSH” written in their team's typical colours.

Chicago Bears Anniversary Emblems

The Chicago Bears welcomed their fans to a festival celebrating their 100th anniversary in 2019. In this carnival, they also introduced an emblem which depicted the franchise’s century completion mark.

The festival was called ‘Bears100’ and was celebrated in a variety of ways.

The Chicago Bears also marked their 75th anniversary with a special event logo. This emblem conveyed the team’s completion of 75 years designed with the classic bear head in blue.

Chicago Bears Helmet Design

1920

The Chicago Bears wore a plain brown helmet during the start of the franchise. The Bears’ helmet has been through various alterations over the years.

1936-37

For the next four decades, the helmet was changed to blue with three orange stripes over it.

1962-1972

This was the year when the wishbone C was engraved on helmets for the first time. This design stayed for around a decade with Da Bears.

1973-2018

During this course, the helmet was redesigned with new colours introduced. As the primary colour remained sane, the colour in the Wishbone C was changed to orange with a white border on the helmets

2019-2021

The Chicago Bears brought the throwback helmet with three orange stripes in 2019. It was introduced in 1936 and has stripes which go to the bottom of the helmet.

2022-Current

The most recently designed Chicago Bears helmet was in 2022. It introduces the orange colour as primary for the first time on Helmets with the wishbone C printed on the side of it. You can also see ‘Bears’ written on the forehead of this helmet.

Chicago Bears Uniform History

1920-1921

When the team started as Decatur Staleys in 1920, the squad wore a red colour jersey with slightly brown bottoms to go with it. In their first season under the new name tag (Chicago Bears) the team was introduced with Orange colour uniforms to go with the brown bottoms.

1921-1927

In the first season under the Chicago Bears, the squad started wearing two threads for the games. During their home games, they continued to wear the red uniforms while the road kit in Orange colour was introduced for the very first time. Da Bears continued with the Orange skins till 1927.

1928-1930

In the late 1920s, the world saw the very first glimpse of the classic navy blue uniforms of the Chicago Bears. They were designed with orange stripes and vice versa for the second kit.

1930-1940

Over the ten years, the team most likely had five or more different uniform combinations. The most significant alteration was the introduction of White jerseys in this era. These uniforms came in with orange-and-blue stripes. They also comprised drastically striped socks, shoulders, and helmets, as well as orange jerseys with blue pants.

1941-Current

In the 1941 season, the Chicago Bears altered their primary uniform to Navy Blue Uniforms with White bottoms. This theme is used to date by the Illinois franchise and is one of their most vintage ones. Stripes on the side of the pants were also added around this time. Since the 1940s era, the Chicago Bears have followed their Home & Road kit colour themes.

2023/24 Season

In the 2023/24 season, the Bears held their vintage colours for the first kit. Along with the orange stripes, we could see their memorial logo on the side of their shoulders.

Chicago Bears Alternate Threads

Along with their other threads as Orange and the classic navy-themed uniforms, the Chicago Bears put up a third kit which was All-White in the 1960s. The Chicago Bears still bring up these threads as away uniforms and throwback occasions.