5<\/p>\n The Bears have plans to build a multi-billion dollar stadium away from Soldier FieldCredit: Manica<\/p>\n The Bears have long been looking to move from historic Soldier Field, which sits on the Near South Side of Chicago, and has been their home since 1971.<\/p>\n Arlington Heights, Illinois, had been the expected site<\/a> for a new, $4.7billion stadium<\/a>.<\/p>\n But issues over public funding have allowed two other states to try and lure the franchise away.<\/p>\n It was revealed in December 2025 that the Bears were mulling a move to Indiana, and their push for a new stadium across state lines took a big step forward last week.<\/p>\n READ MORE NFL NEWS<\/p>\n Indiana lawmakers cleared a path<\/a> for the team to build their new domed stadium in Hammond, Northwest Indiana, in news that surprised Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Iowa was said to be keen on pulling the Bears east, with a big proposal of their own.<\/p>\n The future of the team, then, is far from settled.<\/p>\n But moving out of Soldier Field, to the suburbs or beyond, risks upsetting some of important cogs in the current Chicago operation.<\/p>\n Ben Johnson shared love for Soldier Field before relocation battle broke out<\/p>\n Head coach Ben Johnson, who turned the Bears from a 5-12 team to NFL<\/a> playoff contenders in 2025, has already made clear his love for the team’s historic lakefront home.<\/p>\n Chicago beat their great rival, the Green Bay Packers<\/a>, in a dramatic wild-card game on the shores of Lake Michigan back in January.<\/p>\n 5<\/p>\n Johnson has turned the Bears into contenders, and has spoken highly of Soldier FieldCredit: Getty 5<\/p>\n Chicago beat their rival, Green Bay, in a dramatic wild-card playoff gameCredit: Getty<\/p>\n The Bears rallied from 18 points down to win 31-27, and scored 25 of those points in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n It was an incredible turnaround, and one that will live long in the memory of a team that were then edged by the Los Angeles Rams in overtime a week later.<\/p>\n Speaking about that playoff victory against the Packers, Johnson revealed the Soldier Field atmosphere was key to the comeback.<\/p>\n “When you win a game in that fashion, scoring 25 points in the fourth quarter, there’s a level of excitement,” he told ESPN Chicago.<\/p>\n “That’s something that I don’t think they’ll ever forget.”<\/p>\n Host Jeff Joniak, who also serves as a play-by-play commentator for Bears radio broadcasts, noted that the floor of Soldier Field was ‘shaking’ that night.<\/p>\n 5<\/p>\n Johnson admitted the Soldier Field atmosphere in January was like no otherCredit: Getty<\/p>\n Johnson then admitted he had never been in an atmosphere quite like that before.<\/p>\n “You felt the fans throughout the day. Felt the energy leaving the hotel, going over to the stadium,” Chicago’s HC explained.<\/p>\n “We stayed at a hotel close to the stadium. You kind of see it building over the course of the day too, as we’re just buying our time before we go over.<\/p>\n “Then to experience that firsthand, I mean, it’s second to none.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n NFL’s Greatest……<\/p>\n Ranking the top 10……<\/p>\n “I don’t know if I’ve been a part of something quite like that before, especially in that fourth quarter when things got a lot closer.<\/p>\n “You could just feel it all come to life. I think they knew what our players already believed, that despite digging ourselves in a little bit of a hole early on, that we’re going to find a way to come out on top.”<\/p>\n Quarterback Caleb Williams<\/a>, who has also been a key part of the Bears’ impressive turnaround, has offered similar praise of the Soldier Field atmosphere<\/a>, and the general vibe of the Windy City.<\/p>\n It seems that both he and Johnson would prefer staying in Chicago, over a move across state lines.<\/p>\n 5<\/p>\n The Bears will move from Soldier Field, but to where is not yet clearCredit: Getty<\/p>\n But the decision, ultimately, is above them.<\/p>\n What is the latest on the Bears stadium move?<\/p>\n While a path has been cleared for a stadium site near the Wolf Lake area of Hammond, Indiana, team president Kevin Warren said this past weekend that legislation is also moving forward in Springfield, Illinois.<\/p>\n “We continue to work with Illinois\u2019 leadership and appreciate the progress being made,” a statement said.<\/p>\n Read More on talkSPORT<\/p>\n A final decision is yet to be made, but regardless of where they end up, the Bears will soon be out of Soldier Field — with aims to be in a new home by 2029.<\/p>\n Stay up to date with the latest from the NFL across all platforms – follow our dedicated talkSPORT USA Facebook page<\/a> and subscribe to our talkSPORT USA YouTube channel<\/a> for all the news, exclusives, interviews and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chicago Bears could be on the move. A three-way tug-of-war is set to unfold over the future…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":773022,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2070],"tags":[109663,265,109661,10654,374,102435,109664,107751,10655,23343,109666,48545,109668,1036,108580,692,391,741,2493,7,109665,107003,6,835,7828,90714,832,10187,10661,108578,109662,109667],"class_list":["post-773021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-bears","tag-2025-chicago-bears","tag-american-football","tag-are-the-bears-moving-from-chicago","tag-arlington-heights","tag-bears","tag-bears-indiana","tag-bears-news-and-rumors","tag-bears-relocation","tag-bears-stadium","tag-bears-stadium-news","tag-bears-stadium-update","tag-ben-johnson-bears","tag-ben-johnson-soldier-field","tag-caleb-williams","tag-caleb-williams-stats","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-bears","tag-chicago-bears-news","tag-chicagobears","tag-football","tag-hammond-indiana","tag-iowa-bears","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-news","tag-nfl-offseason","tag-nfl-relocation","tag-nfl-rumors","tag-nfl-stadiums","tag-soldier-field","tag-soldier-field-chicago","tag-why-are-the-bears-leaving-chicago","tag-why-are-the-bears-relocating"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=773021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/773022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=773021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=773021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=773021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771930097_450_renderings-bears-proposed-stadium-arlington-1046569249.jpg\")
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