List of Chicago Bears head coaches

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]

This is a complete 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).

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. 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]

George Halas, founder of the Bears, shown here during his brief career with the New York Yankees in 1919^[11]

Key

#	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

Statistics correct as of the end of the 2015 NFL season.

Decatur Staleys
#^[a]	Name	Term	Regular Season					Playoffs			Achievements
			GC	W	L	T	Win%^[b]	W	L
(1)^[a]	Fritz Wasem^[c]	1919	Not Available^[d]
(2)^[a]	Red Brannon^[c]	1919
(3)^[a]	James Cook^[c]	1919
Decatur Staleys/Chicago Staleys/Chicago Bears
#^[a]	Name	Term	Regular Season					Playoffs			Achievements
			GC	W	L	T	Win%^[b]	GC	W	L
1 (4)	George Halas^[e] †	1920–1929 *	134	84	31	17	.744	No postseason^[f]			NFL Championship (1921)
2 (5)	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 (6)	Hunk Anderson^[g] *	1942–1945	36	23	11	2	.676	2	1	1	NFL Championship (1943)
4 (7)	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 (8)	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)[12] Sporting News Coach of the Year (1963, 1965)[13] UPI NFL Coach of the Year (1963, 1965)[14]
6 (9)	Jim Dooley *	1968–1971	56	20	36	0	.357	–	–	–
7 (10)	Abe Gibron *	1972–1974	42	11	30	1	.268	–	–	–
8 (11)	Jack Pardee	1975–1977	42	20	22	0	.476	1	0	1	UPI NFC Coach of the Year (1976)[15]
9 (12)	Neill Armstrong *	1978–1981	64	30	34	0	.469	1	0	1
10 (13)	Mike Ditka ‡	1982–1992	168	106	62	0	.631	12	6	6	Super Bowl Championship (1985) AP Coach of the Year (1985, 1988)[16] Pro Football Weekly Coach of the Year (1988)[17] Sporting News Coach of the Year (1985)[18] UPI NFC Coach of the Year (1985, 1988)[19]
11 (14)	Dave Wannstedt	1993–1998	96	40	56	0	.417	2	1	1	UPI NFC Coach of the Year (1994)[20]
12 (15)	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)[21] Sporting News Coach of the Year (2001)
13 (16)	Lovie Smith	2004–2012	144	81	63	0	.563	6	3	3	AP Coach of the Year (2005)[22] Pro Football Weekly Coach of the Year (2005)[23]
14 (17)	Marc Trestman §	2013–2014	32	13	19	0	.406
15 (18)	John Fox	2015–	16	6	10	0	.375

Current coaching staff

Chicago Bears staff
	Front Office Secretary of the Board of Directors – Virginia Halas McCaskey Chairman – George McCaskey President/CEO – Ted Phillips General Manager – Ryan Pace Vice President & General Counsel – Cliff Stein Director of Player Personnel – Josh Lucas Director of College Scouting – Mark Sadowski Director of Pro Personnel – Anthony Kelly Director of Football Administration – Joseph Laine Head Coaches Head Coach – John Fox Offensive Coaches Offensive Coordinator – Dowell Loggains Quarterbacks – Dave Ragone Running Backs – Stan Drayton Wide Receivers – Curtis Johnson Tight Ends – Frank Smith Offensive Line – Dave Magazu Assistant Offensive Line – Ben Wilkerson Offensive Assistant – Ben McDaniels			Defensive Coaches Defensive Coordinator – Vic Fangio Defensive Line – Jay Rodgers Inside Linebackers – Glenn Pires Outside Linebackers – Clint Hurtt Defensive Backs – Ed Donatell Assistant Defensive Backs – Sam Garnes Defensive Quality Control – Sean Desai Special Teams Coaches Special Teams Coordinator – Jeff Rodgers Assistant Special Teams – Richard Hightower Strength and Conditioning Strength and Conditioning – Jason George Assistant Strength and Conditioning – Rick Perry Assistant Strength and Conditioning – Pierre Ngo → Coaching Staff → Management → More NFL staffs
AFC East BUF MIA NE NYJ North BAL CIN CLE PIT South HOU IND JAX TEN West DEN KC OAK SD NFC East DAL NYG PHI WAS North CHI DET GB MIN South ATL CAR NO TB West ARI LA SF SEA

Footnotes

• ^a Official Chicago Bears record books list Halas as the first head coach in franchise history and therefore current head coach John Fox would be the 15th head coach in franchise history.
• ^b The winning percentage is calculated using the formula: ${\frac {Wins+{\frac {1}{2}}Ties}{Games}}$
• ^c Wasem, Brannon, and Cook became the coaches 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 have been found for the 1919 season.
• ^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 went he left to serve in the US Navy.

References

1. "Mike Ditka's Coaching Record". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 2008-03-18.
2. "Chicago Bears Championship History". NFLTeamHistory.com. Retrieved 2008-03-18.
3. "Ralph Jones' Coaching Record". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 2008-03-18.
4. "Abe Gibron's Coaching Record". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 2008-03-18.
5. "Hall of Famers by Franchise". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
6. "Bears hire Smith to be head coach". Yahoo Sports. 2004-01-16. Retrieved 2008-03-18.
7. Pompei, Dan (December 31, 2012). "Lovie Smith out after nine seasons as Bears coach". Chicago Tribune. Tony W. Hunter; Tribune Company. Retrieved December 31, 2012.
8. Biggs, Brad (16 January 2013). "Trestman chosen to be bears new head coach". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
9. "Chicago Bears fire Marc Trestman". National Football League. NFL Enterprises LLC. December 29, 2014. Retrieved December 29, 2014.
10. "Bears hire John Fox as new head coach". Chicago Tribune. 16 January 2015.
11. "George Halas' Statistics". Baseball Reference. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
12. "Bears' Smith wins AP Coach award". Associated Press. ESPN. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
13. "Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year". Super Bowl. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
14. Halas, George. Halas by Halas: The Autobiography of George Halas. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-025549-0.
15. "Jack Pardee". Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
16. "89 – Mike Ditka". chicagobears.com. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
17. Dickey, Glenn. "Ditka's delirium:". Retrieved 2008-03-31.
18. "MIKE DITKA". Nationwide Speakers Bureau, Inc. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
19. Taylor, Roy. "Mike Ditka, Chicago Bear '61–'66; '82–'92". Retrieved 2008-03-31.
20. "Dave Wannstedt". Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
21. "Dick Jauron". Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
22. "Lovie Smith". chicagoBears.com. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
23. "Lovie Smith". Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-03-31.

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. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
• "Chicago Staleys Coaching Records and History". DatabaseFootball.com. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
• "Chicago Bears Coaching Records and History". DatabaseFootball.com. Retrieved March 18, 2008.