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 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.
Key
| # | Number of coaches |
| GC | Games Coached |
| W | Wins |
| L | Loses |
| T | Ties |
| Win% | Winning percentage |
| – | Returning from previous year(s) of coaching |
| † | Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a coach |
| ‡ | Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a player |
| * | Spent entire NFL head coaching career with the Bears |
| § | Spent head coaching career in both CFL and NFL |
Coaches
- 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] | .jpg) | Robert E. Brannan[c] | Not Available[d] | Central Illinois Championship | ||||||||||||||
| Decatur Staleys/Chicago Staleys/Chicago Bears | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1 (2) | .jpg) | 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) | .jpg) | Hunk Anderson[g] * | 1942–1945 | 36 | 23 | 11 | 2 | .676 | 2 | 1 | 1 | NFL Championship (1943) | ||||||
| 4 (5) | .jpg) | 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) | .jpg) | 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) | .jpg) | 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) | .JPG) | Marc Trestman § | 2013–2014 | 32 | 13 | 19 | 0 | .406 | ||||||||||
| 15 (16) |  | John Fox | 2015–2017 | 48 | 14 | 34 | 0 | .291 | ||||||||||
| 16 (17) | .jpg) | 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) | _(cropped).jpg) | Matt Eberflus* | 2022–present | 34 | 10 | 24 | 0 | .294 | ||||||||||
Footnotes
- 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.
References
External links
- "Chicago Bears History". CBS Sports. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
- "Hall of Famers by Franchise". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
- "Decatur Staleys Coaching Records and History". DatabaseFootball.com. Archived from the original on November 21, 2011. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
- "Chicago Staleys Coaching Records and History". DatabaseFootball.com. Archived from the original on November 21, 2011. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
- "Chicago Bears Coaching Records and History". DatabaseFootball.com. Archived from the original on September 23, 2013. Retrieved March 18, 2008.