The Prophecy is nothing compared to The Year of 5. We are headed into what might just be the greatest anniversary season in Bears history. And I am going to use it to magical think my way to an incredible 2025 season.<\/p>\n
We know the \u201885 Bears have an anniversary. But what else? Let\u2019s go from least notable to most. (All newspaper clips pulled from Newspapers.com.)<\/p>\n
2015 \u2014 Bears spoil Brett Favre Day<\/p>\n Celebration date: Nov. 26<\/p>\n This is a relatively small anniversary, one that will fade with time. But in a social media era where everything that ever happens in sports gets honored with an \u201con this date\u201d tweet, I always enjoy seeing the Bears D stuff Rodgers and the Packers Green Bay on a goalline stand, spoiling Brett Favre\u2019s jersey retirement day on Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n This was doubly sweet because 21 years earlier, the Packers whipped our butts on Halloween the day that we retired the jerseys of Dick Butkus and Gale Sayers.<\/p>\n Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler (6) and Chicago Bears tight end Zach Miller (86) after a play to Chicago Bears wide receiver Marquess Wilson (10), which is later ruled on the one-yard line against the Green Bay Packers during the second quarter on Thursday, Nov. 26, 2015, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis. (Jose M. Osorio\/Chicago Tribune\/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)<\/p>\n 1975 \u2013 Walter Payton\u2019s rookie year<\/p>\n Celebration date: Nov. 16 (Walter\u2019s first 100-yard game)<\/p>\n Unlike the rookie years of Sayers, Butkus, Grange, or even Rick Casares, Walter Payton\u2019s rookie year wasn\u2019t dominant. But it is historic, and the Bears play this year on the 50th anniversary of Walter\u2019s first career 100-yard game, when he gained 105 yards against the 49ers.<\/p>\n 1975 was also the first full season under GM Jim Finks, who would build most of the \u201885 Bears. Walter Payton was Finks\u2019s first draft pick.<\/p>\n 1955 \u2013 Standout, league-leading offenses <\/p>\n There is no singular anniversary here; after an 0-3 start, the Bears went 8-1 the rest of the way and lost the Western Division to the L.A. Rams by half a game, getting eliminated in the last week of the season, in which the Bears won but did not get the required Rams loss.<\/p>\n What makes 1955 relevant just to keep in mind is that if everything goes as it should the next few years, 1955 and 1956 will be two major \u201cfirst time since\u201d seasons. The three-year run from 1954 to 1956, ending with an NFL championship game appearance, represents the last time a great Bears team was known more for offense than defense<\/a>.<\/p>\n Since the end of the two-way football era, the Bears have only finished #1 in yards twice: 1955 and 1956. So when the Ben Johnson Bears finish #1 in total yards, we\u2019ll hear that it\u2019s the first time since \u201856 and \u201855.<\/p>\n Quarterback for those teams was Ed Brown, who made the Pro Bowl both years, making him the only Bears QB to make the modern Pro Bowl (since 1950) twice, much less in consecutive seasons. When Caleb Williams makes his second Pro Bowl, get ready for \u201cThe first Bears quarterback since Ed Brown\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n In 1955, rookie running back Rick Casares made his first of five straight Pro Bowls; in 1956, he led the NFL in rushing, rushing touchdowns and total touchdowns. Yet the biggest Bears offensive star in \u201855 was second-year left end (wide receiver) Harlon Hill, who for the second year in a row led the NFL in receiving touchdowns and total touchdowns.<\/p>\n His deep-ball threat earned him the first annual Jim Thorpe Trophy, the NFL MVP award voted by players. He is one of three Bears to win a major MVP award: Sid Luckman winning the Joe F. Carr award in 1943, Hill in \u201855, Payton as unanimous MVP in 1977 and Payton winning the NEA MVP in 1985.<\/p>\n Meaning when Caleb wins his first MVP, you\u2019ll read that he joins Walter Payton as the only AP MVP from the Bears, and perhaps you\u2019ll see Luckman and Hill mentioned too.<\/p>\n 1995 \u2013 Erik Kramer\u2019s team passing records<\/p>\n Celebration dates: Dec. 4 (Kramer sets yards record), Dec. 24 (Kramer sets TD record)<\/p>\n Thirty years ago this season<\/a>, Erik Kramer was the only quarterback in the NFL to take every snap and set two franchise season passing records: his 3,838 yards surpassed Billy Wade\u2019s 3,172 in 1962, while his 29 touchdown passes broke Sid Luckman\u2019s 1943 mark of 28<\/a>.<\/p>\n Jeff Graham also set the franchise season receiving record with 1,301, breaking Johnny Morris\u2019s mark of 1,200 yards. Though four Bears receivers have passed Graham (led by Brandon Marshall in 2012), no one has passed Kramer in either mark.<\/p>\n How fitting it will be when Williams breaks both in the 30th anniversary of Kramer\u2019s records! I hope they bring my fellow November 6er there to see either or both in person. Football players go through a lot in retirement, and Kramer persevered through more than most. He deserves this moment of celebration.<\/p>\n Photo by Focus on Sport\/Getty Images<\/p>\n 1895 \u2013 George Halas is born<\/p>\n Celebration dates: Feb. 2<\/p>\n Before we hit the final four, I\u2019m going to drop in two Bears-adjacent anniversaries, simply because it\u2019s interesting to me that they both fall in a Year of 5.<\/p>\n In 1895, George Halas was born\u2026<\/p>\n 1915 \u2013 George Halas doesn\u2019t die<\/p>\n Celebration dates: July 24<\/p>\n \u2026and in 1915, George Halas didn\u2019t die, missing his company outing on the ill-fated S.S. Eastland, which capsized on July 24, 1915, killing 844 people on board<\/a>.<\/p>\n As I was reviewing all of the team\u2019s Year of 5 anniversaries, I thought of these two. They\u2019re not exactly Bears anniversaries, but we wouldn\u2019t have the Bears without them.<\/p>\n 2005 \u2013 The rise of Lovie\u2019s Bears<\/p>\n Celebration dates: Oct. 30 (Peanut\u2019s walkoff), Nov. 13 (Vasher\u2019s FG return), Dec. 4 (Bears beat the Packers 19-7), Dec. 25 (Bears clinch division)<\/p>\n Now this was fun! A year that opened with Rex Grossman going down in preseason seemingly for the season, followed by an excruciating 1-3 start, suddenly became the franchise\u2019s longest in-season winning streak in 20 years and one of the great defenses we\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n Brian Urlacher won Defensive Player of the Year, Mike Brown came right back to his best work after missing most of 2004, and four young Bears defenders became among the NFL\u2019s best defenders in one way or another: Nathan Vasher, best playmaker, Tommie Harris, most lethal interior defensive lineman, Charles Tillman, most clutch, and Lance Briggs, simply one of the best, period.<\/p>\n Oh\u2026 and Adewale Ogunleye had 10 sacks, Alex Brown got a vote for DPOY (as did Vasher and Briggs), Hunter Hillenmeyer was probably the best \u201cthird best\u201d linebacker in the league and rookie Chris Harris started 13 games and clinched the division title with an interception.<\/p>\n Balancing that defense was a mauling, grinding, veteran offense led by Olin Kreutz, Thomas Jones, Muhsin Muhammad, John Tait and Ruben Brown, plus Kyle Orton, the fourth-round rookie who earned their trust and respect.<\/p>\n Photo by Jonathan Daniel\/Getty Images<\/p>\n 1965 \u2014 Gale Sayers\u2019s six-touchdown game + the Sayers\/Butkus double rookie year<\/p>\n Celebration date: Dec. 12<\/p>\n In September of 1969, Gale Sayers was named the first team halfback on the NFL\u2019s 50th anniversary team after just four seasons in the NFL. How does that honor happen so quickly? Well, with rookie years like this: an NFL-record 22 touchdowns (still the rookie record), including tying the single-game record with six.<\/p>\n That was Dec. 12 at Wrigley Field, one of the most electrifying performances in NFL history, in which Sayers scored four times on the ground, one on a reception and once on a kick return, averaging 21 yards per touch. He was named first-team All Pro by four major voting bodies, including the AP and the players vote (the NEA), won every major Rookie of the Year award and received a vote for MVP.<\/p>\n Sayers wasn\u2019t the only superstar rookie in Chicago. Dick Butkus was also named first-team All Pro, making Butkus and Sayers the first rookie teammates named AP1 in NFL history, and one of only two such duos, alone in the history books until Shaq Leonard and Quentin Nelson did it for the Colts in 2018.<\/p>\n The Kansas Comet would open his career with five straight AP1s; he led the NFL in all-purpose yards in each of his first three seasons, won the rushing title in 1966 and 1969, led the NFL in yards per kick return in each of his first two seasons and led the NFL in total points in 1965.<\/p>\n The Bears don\u2019t play on the actual anniversary this year, but we do play Sayers\u2019s six-TD opponent, the 49ers, later in December. I trust the broadcast will give us a great montage!<\/p>\n 1925 \u2014 100th anniversary of Red Grange<\/p>\n Celebration dates: Nov. 22 (Grange on bench in fur coat with new teammates), Nov. 26 (Grange\u2019s first game with the Bears), Dec. 6 (Bears win at the Polo Grounds, capped off by Grange\u2019s pick-six, in game that saves the Giants franchise), Dec. 9 (Grange vs. Fritz Pollard), Dec. 25 (the start of the non-NFL Grange tour<\/a>)<\/p>\n Obviously with the exception of the anniversary of spoiling Brett Favre Day, which is merely a bonus feature on this list and not something we\u2019re going to celebrate beyond an acknowledgement on the day itself, the 2025 anniversary celebration is similar to the 2015 anniversary celebration. The difference is that 2015 was merely the 90th anniversary of Red Grange\u2019s arrival, while this is the 100th. That\u2019s much cooler!<\/p>\n Everyone saw how much fun the Illini had last year celebrating the 100th anniversary of Red\u2019s legendary six-touchdown game against Michigan in 1924. I don\u2019t know that we\u2019ll have anything that singular \u2014 the anniversary of the game itself was on a Saturday, so Illinois got to schedule Michigan for the precise 100th anniversary. We won\u2019t have that.<\/p>\n The Bears also announced that they won\u2019t wear any throwbacks this year, so we\u2019re not getting an update of the Grange jerseys, which we wore in 1994 for the 75th season, nor will we get the painted leather helmets that Illinois debuted last year and that the Packers, and surely others, will be doing.<\/p>\n Grange\u2019s arrival in Chicago was an enormous leap forward for the entire NFL<\/a>, and I hope the Bears do something exciting to mark the occasion. You can rest assured that I will be sharing, and enjoying, his anniversaries this fall.<\/p>\n Celebration date: ALL SEASON LONG\u2026 and also Jan. 26, 2026<\/p>\n This is the big one. And it would be even if we\u2019d won another championship since then. By pure luck, I attended the 10th anniversary celebration (a win against the Oilers) and the 20th anniversary celebration (a win against the Ravens). The \u201885 Bears have added two Hall of Famers since the 30th anniversary \u2014 Jimbo and Mongo \u2014 and we\u2019re also in the unfortunate spot of this 40-year run since \u201885 is not just by far the longest championship drought in Chicago Bears history, but also the longest active championship drought among the major Chicago teams, something that was not true in 2015.<\/p>\n One somber note on this year\u2019s anniversary.<\/p>\n By the 20th anniversary, Walter Payton had died. By the 30th, Dave Duerson. Those were the only two members of the \u201885 Bears to pass away until 2022, and we\u2019ve had three since then: Keith Ortego in 2022, reserve wide receiver James Maness in 2024 and of course Steve McMichael this year. Since the 30th anniversary, the team also lost Buddy Ryan, Michael McCaskey, head of weight training Clyde Emrich, GM Jerry Vainisi in 2022, director of player personnel Bill Tobin and of course Virginia McCaskey in February.<\/p>\n The youngest living man on the roster, Ken Taylor, was 22 that season \u2014 he turns 62 next month. The oldest living man on the roster, Mike Hartenstine, turned 72 last month. Mike Ditka has battled ill health and turns 86 in October. The number of living members of the \u201885 Bears for the 50th reunion could be a lot lower. Let\u2019s celebrate all of these greats this year!<\/p>\n Jack M Silverstein is Chicago\u2019s Sports Historian, Bears historian at Windy City Gridiron, a Pro Football Hall of Fame analyst and author of WHY WE ROOT: Mad Obsessions of a Chicago Sports Fan<\/a>. Check out his new Chicago sports history TikTok<\/a>!<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/The-Year-of-5-1.png\"\/)
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