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In this series, I will be looking at the history of coaches, quarterbacks, rushers, and receivers for all 32 franchises. For coaches and quarterbacks, I will be looking at how much their franchise’s career records (regular season only) would change if we removed the games with that person. For rushers and receivers, I will note how many times that player was the team’s leading rusher/receiver over the course of their time with that franchise (regular plus postseason).

Previous Teams:

AFC East: Dolphins, Bills, Jets, and Patriots
NFC East: Cowboys, Eagles, Giants, and Redskins
AFC North: Steelers, Browns, Ravens
NFC North: Packers, Vikings

When it comes to Chicago football, there’s only one Papa Bear. The Bears have been a successful franchise, winning 56.4% of games over the team’s nearly 100-year history. But under Halas, Chicago won 67.1% of their games; under all other head coaches, Chicago has won just 50.4% of games. Therefore, “games with Halas” has improved the team’s all-time winning percentage by a whopping 6.0%, the fourth most ever behind only Don Shula in Miami, Bill Belichick in New England, and Paul Brown in Cleveland. The second-most successful coach was Da Coach, Mike Ditka, who posted a 0.631 winning percentage over 168 games. On the flip side, John Fox and Dave Wannstedt have harmed the franchise’s winning percentage the most. The full results below:

Ovr RkCoachGWLTHC Win %FrGFrWFLFrTFr W%Win% w/o HCDiff
4George Halas497318148310.6711386761583420.5640.5046%
66Mike Ditka1681066200.6311386761583420.5640.5550.9%
117Ralph Jones41241070.6711386761583420.5640.5610.3%
124Hunk Anderson36231120.6671386761583420.5640.5610.3%
133Matt Nagy1612400.751386761583420.5640.5620.2%
163Paddy Driscoll2414910.6041386761583420.5640.5640.1%
200Lovie Smith144816300.5631386761583420.5640.5640%
312Jack Pardee42202200.4761386761583420.5640.567-0.3%
352Marc Trestman32131900.4061386761583420.5640.568-0.4%
371Neill Armstrong64303400.4691386761583420.5640.569-0.5%
438Dick Jauron80354500.4381386761583420.5640.572-0.8%
453Jim Dooley56203600.3571386761583420.5640.573-0.9%
464Abe Gibron42113010.2741386761583420.5640.573-0.9%
473John Fox48143400.2921386761583420.5640.574-1%
479Dave Wannstedt96405600.4171386761583420.5640.575-1.1%

For quarterback records, this data only goes back to 1950, so the best quarterback in franchise history isn’t included here. From 1950 to 2018, the Bears have a 0.506 winning percentage, but without Jim McMahon that number falls to 0.491. Playing opposite an all-time great defense, McMahon posted an outstanding 0.754 winning percentage as a starter, which included a 22-game winning streak. Even with McMahon, if you remove games started by Ed Brown (who has the best yards per completion average in history), the Bears would have a sub-.500 winning percentage since 1950. Meanwhile, the quarterback who most cratered the franchise’s winning percentage is Bobby Douglass, who is notable for averaging 2.25 rushing yards for every pass he threw. As always, I also recommend sorting this table by games started: you will see that Jay Cutler has started the most games for the Bears at quarterback since 1950, and that he was perfectly average.

Ovr RkQBGWLTQB Win %FrGFrWFLFrTFr W%Win% w/o QBDiff
42Jim McMahon61461500.754101851149890.5060.4911.6%
84Ed Brown66392520.606101851149890.5060.4990.7%
100Mike Tomczak31211000.677101851149890.5060.5010.5%
114Kyle Orton33211200.636101851149890.5060.5020.4%
121Johnny Lujack1813500.722101851149890.5060.5030.4%
122Mike Phipps2014600.700101851149890.5060.5030.4%
141Rex Grossman31191200.613101851149890.5060.5030.3%
144Billy Wade49272020.571101851149890.5060.5030.3%
151Zeke Bratkowski1611500.688101851149890.5060.5030.3%
154Rudy Bukich30171120.600101851149890.5060.5040.3%
172Steve Walsh118300.727101851149890.5060.5040.2%
180Jim Harbaugh65353000.538101851149890.5060.5040.2%
199Mitchell Trubisky26151100.577101851149890.5060.5050.2%
198Jim Miller26151100.577101851149890.5060.5050.2%
264Mike Hohensee22001.000101851149890.5060.5050.1%
339Greg Landry11001.000101851149890.5060.5060%
340Doug Flutie11001.000101851149890.5060.5060%
341Todd Collins11001.000101851149890.5060.5060%
356Craig Krenzel53200.600101851149890.5060.5060%
361Josh McCown74300.571101851149890.5060.5060%
360Virgil Carter74300.571101851149890.5060.5060%
366Steve Fuller116500.545101851149890.5060.5060%
369Shane Matthews158700.533101851149890.5060.5060%
429Chase Daniel21100.500101851149890.5060.5060%
439Brian Griese63300.500101851149890.5060.5060%
450Dave Krieg126600.500101851149890.5060.5060%
544Moses Moreno10100.000101851149890.5060.5070%
541Rusty Lisch10100.000101851149890.5060.5070%
543Will Furrer10100.000101851149890.5060.5070%
546Jason Campbell10100.000101851149890.5060.5070%
545Henry Burris10100.000101851149890.5060.5070%
542Steve Bradley10100.000101851149890.5060.5070%
595Bob Williams73400.429101851149890.5060.507-0.1%
609Steve Romanik94500.444101851149890.5060.507-0.1%
676Jay Cutler102515100.500101851149890.5060.507-0.1%
726Jimmy Clausen20200.000101851149890.5060.507-0.1%
737Kent Nix41300.250101851149890.5060.507-0.1%
738Mike Glennon41300.250101851149890.5060.507-0.1%
838Peter Tom Willis30300.000101851149890.5060.508-0.1%
840Jonathan Quinn30300.000101851149890.5060.508-0.1%
839Rick Mirer30300.000101851149890.5060.508-0.1%
851Chad Hutchinson51400.200101851149890.5060.508-0.2%
852Brian Hoyer51400.200101851149890.5060.508-0.2%
860Kordell Stewart72500.286101851149890.5060.508-0.2%
872Chris Chandler135800.385101851149890.5060.508-0.2%
932Larry Rakestraw40400.000101851149890.5060.508-0.2%
933Caleb Hanie40400.000101851149890.5060.508-0.2%
936Matt Barkley61500.167101851149890.5060.508-0.2%
949George Blanda2181210.405101851149890.5060.509-0.2%
977Bob Avellini50232700.460101851149890.5060.509-0.2%
993Steve Stenstrom71600.143101851149890.5060.509-0.3%
1017Jack Concannon40172210.438101851149890.5060.509-0.3%
1097Vince Evans32122000.375101851149890.5060.511-0.4%
1112Cade McNown1531200.200101851149890.5060.511-0.5%
1136Erik Kramer46182800.391101851149890.5060.512-0.5%
1148Gary Huff2251700.227101851149890.5060.513-0.6%
1195Bobby Douglass45133110.300101851149890.5060.516-1%

At running back, Bears fans can boast about two Hall of Famers during the Super Bowl era and a few other really good running backs. Walter Payton led Chicago in rushing yards in 164 of his career games (playoffs included), the second-most of any player with one team in history (Emmitt Smith, of course, being first). Gale Sayers was a superstar for a short period of time, but still cracks the top five here. Matt Forte, Thomas Jones, and Neal Anderson were workhorse backs that played at a high level during their time in Chicago.

And then there’s Rick Casares, who was an immediate star and the best fullback back in the NFL until Jim Brown arrived. In 2001, recruiting analysts said there were only five players in history who could have made the jump from high school directly to the NFL: Junior Seau, Randy Moss, Andre Carter, Herschel Walker, and Casares. And I didn’t forget about Beattie Feathers or Bronko Nagurski, but their careers ended well before 1950.

RusherFirst YrLast YrLeading RusherTotal Games%
Walter Payton1975198716419982%
Matt Forte2008201510712288%
Neal Anderson198619937312260%
Rick Casares195519645912248%
Gale Sayers19651971486871%
Thomas Jones20042006444990%
Jordan Howard20162018374877%
Anthony Thomas20012004365269%
Ronnie Bull196219702611123%
Raymont Harris19941997244455%
Willie Galimore19571963238328%
James Allen19982001235145%
Curtis Enis19982000193653%
Bobby Douglass19691975176128%
Rashaan Salaam19951997153148%
Cedric Benson20052007143837%
Don Shy19701972143244%
Lewis Tillman19941995133142%
John Dottley19511953122744%
Carl Garrett19731974122060%
Roland Harper19751982109011%
Robert Green19931996105518%
Brad Muster19881992108013%

At wide receiver, Chicago has a much less impressive history. Harlon Hill was great, but it is telling that no Bears receiver since 1961 has been able to lead the team in more games than he did during his 8-year stint in Chicago during a dead ball era. Brandon Marshall and Jeff Graham led the team in receiving yards during half of their games, but each only stayed in the windy city for two seasons.

ReceiverFirst YrLast YrLeading ReceiverTotal Games%
Harlon Hill19541961359039%
Curtis Conway19931999359437%
Willie Gault19831987328339%
Dick Gordon19651971319732%
Marty Booker19992008308336%
James Scott19761983297240%
Johnny Morris195819672912224%
Walter Payton197519872819914%
Mike Ditka19611966278532%
Wendell Davis19881993248628%
Brandon Marshall20122014234551%
Alshon Jeffery20122016216333%
Marcus Robinson19982002205139%
Tom Waddle19891994206332%
Dennis McKinnon19831989209322%
Bernard Berrian20042007196231%
Jim Dooley19521961198223%
Jeff Graham19941995173450%
Johnny Knox20092012164734%
George Farmer19701975166425%
Devin Hester200620131611214%
Rickey Watts19791983155726%
Bobby Engram19962000146223%
Bill McColl19521959149714%
Emery Moorehead198119881411512%
Matt Forte200820151412211%
Muhsin Muhammad20052007135125%
Gene Schroeder19511957136520%
Desmond Clark200320101311511%
Bo Rather19741978125621%
Bob Wallace19681972125920%
Neal Anderson198619931212210%
Brian Baschnagel19761984121329%
Earl Bennett20082013118014%
Dez White20002003106116%
Ron Morris19871992107114%
Dennis Gentry19821992101716%

That’s it for the Chicago version of this series. Please leave your thoughts in the comments.

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