Wikipedia

List of Chicago Bears head coaches

There have been 18 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).

Mike Ditka was the head coach of the Bears from 1982 to 1992 and was elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1988.[1]

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 1921, 1933, 1940, 1941, 1946 and 1963; Ralph Jones in 1932; Hunk Anderson and Luke Johnsos in 1943; and Mike Ditka in 1985.[2] 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.[3] Abe Gibron is statistically the worst coach of the Bears in terms of winning percentage, with a .268 average.[4]

Of the 18 Bears coaches, three have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame: George Halas, Paddy Driscoll, and Mike Ditka.[5] 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.[6] Smith was fired on December 31, 2012, after the Bears missed the playoffs with a 10–6 record after starting the season 7–1.[7] On January 16, 2013, Marc Trestman was hired to be the new head coach to take Smith's place.[8] Trestman was fired on December 29, 2014, with a 13–19 record over two seasons.[9] On January 16, 2015, John Fox was hired as the new head coach of the team.[10] He compiled a 14–34 record over three seasons before being fired on January 1, 2018.[11] A week later, Matt Nagy became the new head coach.[12] Nagy was fired after the 2021 season. Matt Eberflus was named the new head coach on January 27, 2022. After losing a sixth game in a row on Thanksgiving, November 28, 2024, Eberflus was fired and finished with a .304 winning percentage, the third worst in team history. Thomas Brown was named interim Head Coach for the remaining 5 games of the season.

George Halas, founder of the Bears, shown here during his brief career with the New York Yankees in 1919[13]

Key

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# Number of coaches
GC Games Coached
W Wins
L Loses
T Ties
Win% Winning percentage
– Returning from previous year(s) of coaching
00† Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a coach
00‡ Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a player
00* Spent entire NFL head coaching career with the Bears
00§ Spent head coaching career in both CFL and NFL

Coaches

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Note: Statistics are accurate through the end of the 2023 NFL season.
Decatur Staleys
#[a] Image Name Term Regular season Playoffs Achievements
GC W L T Win%[b] GC W L
(1)[a]   Robert E. Brannan[c]
1919
Not Available[d]
 Central Illinois Championship
Decatur Staleys/Chicago Staleys/Chicago Bears
1 (2)   George Halas[e] † 1920–1929 * 134 84 31 19 .730 No postseason[f] NFL Championship (1921)
2 (3)   Ralph Jones * 1930–1932 41 24 10 7 .706 – – – NFL Championship (1932)
–   George Halas[e]† 1933–1942 * 110 84 22 4 .799 6 4 2 3× NFL Championships (1933, 1940–41)
3 (4)   Hunk Anderson[g] * 1942–1945 36 23 11 2 .676 2 1 1 NFL Championship (1943)
4 (5)   Luke Johnsos[g] * 1942–1945 36 23 11 2 .676 2 1 1
–   George Halas[e] † 1946–1955 * 119 75 42 2 .641 2 1 1 NFL Championship (1946)
5 (6)   Paddy Driscoll ‡ 1956–1957 24 14 9 1 .609 1 0 1
–   George Halas[e] † 1958–1967 * 134 75 53 6 .588 1 1 0 NFL Championship (1963)
AP Coach of the Year (1963, 1965)[14]
Sporting News Coach of the Year (1963, 1965)[15]
UPI NFL Coach of the Year (1963, 1965)[16]
6 (7)   Jim Dooley * 1968–1971 56 20 36 0 .357 – – –
7 (8) Abe Gibron * 1972–1974 42 11 30 1 .268 – – –
8 (9)   Jack Pardee 1975–1977 42 20 22 0 .476 1 0 1 UPI NFC Coach of the Year (1976)[17]
9 (10)   Neill Armstrong * 1978–1981 64 30 34 0 .469 1 0 1
10 (11)   Mike Ditka ‡ 1982–1992 168 106 62 0 .631 12 6 6 Super Bowl Championship (1985)
AP Coach of the Year (1985, 1988)[18]
Pro Football Weekly Coach of the Year (1988)[19]
Sporting News Coach of the Year (1985)[20]
UPI NFC Coach of the Year (1985, 1988)[21]
11 (12)   Dave Wannstedt 1993–1998 96 40 56 0 .417 2 1 1 UPI NFC Coach of the Year (1994)[22]
12 (13) Dick Jauron 1999–2003 80 35 45 0 .438 1 0 1 AP Coach of the Year (2001)
Pro Football Weekly Coach of the Year (2001)[23]
Sporting News Coach of the Year (2001)
13 (14)   Lovie Smith 2004–2012 144 81 63 0 .563 6 3 3 AP Coach of the Year (2005)[24]
Pro Football Weekly Coach of the Year (2005)[25]
14 (15)   Marc Trestman § 2013–2014 32 13 19 0 .406
15 (16)   John Fox 2015–2017 48 14 34 0 .291
16 (17)   Matt Nagy* 2018–2021 65 34 31 0 .523 2 0 2 AP Coach of the Year (2018)[26]
PFWA Coach of the Year (2018)[27]
17 (18)   Matt Eberflus* 2022–2024 46 14 32 0 .304
18 (19) Thomas Brown*[h] 2024– 2024 0 0 0 0 –


Footnotes

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  • a 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.
  • b The winning percentage is calculated using the formula:  
  • c 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.
  • d No official records for the 1919 season in Chicago Bears record books, but the team finished the season 6–1.
  • e 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.
  • f The NFL did not hold playoff games until 1932.
  • g 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.
  • h Offensive coordinator Thomas Brown served as interim head coach for the final 5 games of the 2024 season.

References

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  1. ^ "Mike Ditka's Coaching Record". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
  2. ^ "Chicago Bears Championship History". NFLTeamHistory.com. Archived from the original on May 17, 2008. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
  3. ^ "Ralph Jones' Coaching Record". Pro Football Reference. Archived from the original on January 20, 2011. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
  4. ^ "Abe Gibron's Coaching Record". Pro Football Reference. Archived from the original on October 2, 2011. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
  5. ^ "Hall of Famers by Franchise". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on October 15, 2015. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
  6. ^ "Bears hire Smith to be head coach". Yahoo Sports. January 16, 2004. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
  7. ^ Pompei, Dan (December 31, 2012). "Lovie Smith out after nine seasons as Bears coach". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on December 31, 2012. Retrieved December 31, 2012.
  8. ^ Biggs, Brad (January 16, 2013). "Trestman chosen to be bears new head coach". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on December 25, 2014. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
  9. ^ "Chicago Bears fire Marc Trestman". National Football League. NFL Enterprises LLC. December 29, 2014. Archived from the original on June 21, 2020. Retrieved December 29, 2014.
  10. ^ "Bears hire John Fox as new head coach". Chicago Tribune. January 16, 2015. Archived from the original on January 19, 2015. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
  11. ^ Patra, Kevin (January 1, 2018). "Chicago Bears fire coach John Fox after 5-11 season". National Football League. Archived from the original on July 30, 2020. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
  12. ^ Biggs, Brad (January 8, 2018). "Bears hire Matt Nagy as franchise's 16th head coach". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on January 8, 2018. Retrieved January 8, 2018.
  13. ^ "George Halas' Statistics". Baseball Reference. Retrieved March 20, 2008.
  14. ^ "Bears' Smith wins AP Coach award". ESPN. Associated Press. January 7, 2006. Archived from the original on April 27, 2006. Retrieved March 31, 2008.
  15. ^ "Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year". Super Bowl. Archived from the original on February 7, 2008. Retrieved March 31, 2008.
  16. ^ Halas, George (1979). Halas by Halas: The Autobiography of George Halas. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-025549-0.
  17. ^ "Jack Pardee". Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on January 12, 2023. Retrieved March 31, 2008.
  18. ^ "89 – Mike Ditka". chicagobears.com. Archived from the original on December 20, 2007. Retrieved March 31, 2008.
  19. ^ Dickey, Glenn. "Ditka's delirium". Archived from the original on September 16, 2008. Retrieved March 31, 2008.
  20. ^ "MIKE DITKA". Nationwide Speakers Bureau, Inc. Archived from the original on April 5, 2008. Retrieved March 31, 2008.
  21. ^ Taylor, Roy. "Mike Ditka, Chicago Bear '61–'66; '82–'92". Archived from the original on July 5, 2008. Retrieved March 31, 2008.
  22. ^ "Dave Wannstedt". Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on December 10, 2010. Retrieved March 31, 2008.
  23. ^ "Dick Jauron". Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on September 4, 2011. Retrieved March 31, 2008.
  24. ^ "Lovie Smith". chicagoBears.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2008. Retrieved March 31, 2008.
  25. ^ "Lovie Smith". Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on January 22, 2023. Retrieved March 31, 2008.
  26. ^ Biggs, Brad (February 2, 2019). "Matt Nagy caps his 1st Bears season with the NFL Coach of the Year Award". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on February 3, 2019. Retrieved February 2, 2019.
  27. ^ Ellis, Cam (January 17, 2019). "Matt Nagy named Head Coach of the Year by Pro Football Writers of America". NBC Sports Chicago. Archived from the original on January 19, 2019. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
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