Countdown to Kickoff… George Halas Days Until Chicago Bears Season Opener

George “Papa Bear” Halas (Photo via ESPN)

We decided to do a countdown to the Chicago Bears season opener on September 8th versus the Cincinnati Bengals. Thanks to one of our Twitter followers, we decided to combine the countdown with a roster preview of sorts.

We’re 1 week away from the start of the Bears season!  Finally!!!  That’s seven days away, or George Halas Days away from meaningful football.  If it wasn’t for George Halas, professional football as we know it might not exist.  Let’s get to know a little bit about the founder of the NFL and the Chicago Bears.

George Halas is known  to most as Papa Bear, but his other nickname was Mr. Everything.  That’s appropriate, as he served as owner, player (wide receiver and defensive end), coach and handled ticket sales and the business end of the Bears.  So basically, Brandon Marshall, Julius Peppers, Marc Trestman, Ted Phillips and more all rolled into one.

Halas founder the team that we know today as the Chicago Bears as the Decatur Staleys in 1920.  They moved to Chicago and played as the Chicago Staleys in 1921 before becoming the Chicago Bears in 1922.  They adopted orange and blue as their team colors for Halas’ University of Illinois Alma Mater.

Halas was a part of 8 NFL Championships – 1921, 1932, 1933, 1940, 1941, 1943, 1946 and 1963.  As their head coach, he guided the team to 324 wins, far and away the most of any other coach in team history.  Check out this awesome clip of Halas from NFL Films:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FRZWXCRw3s

Not many Bears wore Halas’ #7, with the last being quarterback Bob Avellini from 1975-1984.

We’re just 7 days away.  Are you ready???

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