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We Trace the Bears' Story from 1920 to Today · Sports History Network

• 0:47
  It's no secret that the Chicago Bears have had a long and tenured football history in the NFL.
• 0:52
  But we have some great insight from a man who brings us all kinds of great insight in NFL Scott Perry.
• 0:58
  Professor Perry has a spotlight on the Chicago Bears here on Pigskin Dispatch tonight.
• 1:08
  Hello, my football friends.
• 1:09
  This is Darren Hayes of pigskindispatch.com welcome once again to the Pig Pen, your portal deposit of football history.
• 1:14
  And welcome to Friday where we get a visit to from our friend Professor Perry.
• 1:18
  Scott, welcome back to the Pig Pen.
• 1:20
  Hey, Darren, thanks for having me.
• 1:21
  This is great.
• 1:22
  Hey, you know, it's very rare, Darren, that I get caught up in the excitement of another team.
• 1:26
  I have orange blood, but ironically, sometimes the Bears look like the Broncos.
• 1:31
  They wear those orange jerseys and it really throws people off.
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  But not me, because I'm a Bronco fan.
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  But especially when they had Jay Cutler there after that a few years back, right?
• 1:41
  Don't remind me.
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  That's a whole other story.
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  So why am I excited?
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  Because it's just a big deal.
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  I think about what they've done in the past couple of years.
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  He starts off the season saying he wants to be the win the most prolific scoring team.
• 1:56
  And I don't know if he mentioned at the time who that was, but of course it's my Broncos having scored 38 plus points a game back in 2013.
• 2:06
  And I say that kind of maybe John Fox ironically changed the Broncos hotel overnight and it wasn't a certain brand because that first snap went over Peyton Manning's head and they ended up scoring.
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  That was two points for Seattle.
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  Denver scores eight after scoring 606 for that 2013 season.
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  The most prolific offense.
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  Anyway, that's a bad memory.
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  I'm going back to, to the Bears here.
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  So they want to be the most prolific.
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  That's what they've got to be.
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  All right, so they score three, game two in the 26 season and now they're back.
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  An amazing.
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  I, I was surprised.
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  I didn't watch the game.
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  So I heard that they beat the Eagles in week three.
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  That's pretty good.
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  Now, as the graphic shows in the, for the, for this in 2024, an unbelievable thing happened where the NFC Souths won 40 games over the course of the three top three team season and the last place team won
• 3:06
  five games and that was the Bears.
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  Unbelievable.
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  Next year the Bears win the division.
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  Can you.
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  It's amazing.
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  Just all of a sudden, you know, it's the best thing about pro football is when you see these quarterbacks that everybody has high hopes for, and they're kind of sputtering to start their career.
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  Then all of a sudden he ignites and.
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  And Caleb just did it.
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  Amazing.
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  And Casey Casem.
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  Casey Keenum.
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  Keenum.
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  There it is.
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  Comes through a former Bronco and he beats the champions of two seasons ago.
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  Pretty impressive.
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  So for them to do that.
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  So I'm hyped on the Bears.
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  I want to give a little Bears history.
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  You know, they stirred original team back in 1920 and 1922.
• 3:54
  George Howis goes to Wrigley Field.
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  The talk about potentially having his football team, the Staley's play at that stadium.
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  So he's sitting there and I guess the story is he looks out and says, boy, my guys are a lot bigger than those guys.
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  So it works out that the Bears can go to Wrigley and he changes the name to a bigger version of the players he's out there watching.
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  So what team was he watching, Darren?
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  Had to be the Cubbies.
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  Right.
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  So now they're the Bears after 1922.
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  So, you know, I love the fact that my book shows how many championships every team has gotten since kickoff.
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  1920.
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  And very rarely do I ask a fan of a team a championship count and they give me the right number.
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  So do you have a guess as to what that number is for Bears fans?
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  I want to say, is it eight?
• 4:47
  Oh, it's very close.
• 4:48
  Yes.
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  Their next one is 10, so they are sitting at nine.
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  Yep.
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  So prior to the last one is 63.
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  And I always thought that was a bucket deal, but.
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  But this came along two years later.
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  So he doesn't.
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  He didn't have a ring.
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  And then again, when I get my talks, I.
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  I talk about the Bears being an original franchise but only having two super bowl appearances.
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  And then I hold up I should have it ready, but I don't.
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  I hold up a picture of a young Tom Brady and I say they in 1985 or the best defense maybe in history.
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  And the other key to that was Tom Brady was 8 years old, potentially in San Francisco playing Legos in front of the TV during the Super Bowl.
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  And that's one of the reasons maybe the.
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  The Patriots were not able to beat that best defense ever.
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  So other teams did beat the Patriots, so maybe they would have beaten them, but that's how that goes.
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  And then fast forward to 06 and I talk about my guy, Peyton Manning.
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  But for many years, he was the wrong horse.
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  What's the wrong horse in the NFL?
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  I believe you.
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  You could refer to the Colts when.
• 5:58
  You say that Colts as the wrong horse.
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  As a Bronco fan, of course.
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  So Peyton for 12 years was the wrong horse.
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  Came over to be a Bronco, the right horse for four years.
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  And in my mind he should have been in every super bowl.
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  He made 2 and 1 1.
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  But let's go back to his 12 years as a.
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  As a colt.
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  His only championship was 06 and they did beat the Bears.
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  So the bears are the 1985 NFC and world champion and the 2006 NFC champion.
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  Who would they beat to get to that game in 2006 for the NFC championship?
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  Oh, God.
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  Was it the Buccaneers that year?
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  That's the beauty of my, of my book.
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  This one's too old.
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  But anyway, I'm pretty sure it was the Packers.
• 6:46
  It could be.
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  You Could Be right is the ultimate reference book.
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  You open up.
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  There's the standings and then a playoff grid using just the helmet.
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  So.
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  So that's.
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  Am I missing any early history?
• 6:58
  Well, well, let's go.
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  Go back just a second just to clarify because 1920, first year of the NFL.
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  The team was the Decatur Staleys in Decatur, Illinois.
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  They moved to Chicago where the Chicago Staley's 1921, 1922, like you said, they became the Chicago Bears.
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  Just to get a little bit more clarity on the history.
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  Great.
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  But am I right?
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  That 22 was the first season it really.
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  And.
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  And that's correct.
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  Became the Bears.
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  Okay.
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  Yeah, that's correct.
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  Good.
• 7:27
  Good.
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  I love it.
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  And.
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  And they.
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  Another little bit of trivia.
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  When they had their first claimed NFL championship, it was in your neck of the woods, where you're from.
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  You're from western New York, The Staley swindle, where they had the.
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  Believe the Buffalo, all Americans, they talked them into playing what they called an exhibition game and gave the Bears.
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  The Bears won that game, had a better record.
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  They went back to the NFL to Joe Carr, I believe, and said, hey, we got a better record and they won the championship.
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  It wasn't an exhibition game.
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  And the Staley's seemingly swindled the Buffalo crowd.
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  So that's.
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  I know the Sports History Network informed me of that recently.
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  Must have.
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  It must have been.
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  Was it on your show?
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  I've talked about on my show, but it's probably Josie Emba that's talked about it.
• 8:15
  And I know you know Ken Crippen, who's from Western New York, you know, the Buffalo fans are still a little irritated by it, but I've had a lot of guests on from Buffalo, you know Greg Tranter and Jeff
• 8:25
  Miller and Ken Crip and love to talk about that.
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  And they're still a little bit bitter.
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  Right, Right.
• 8:31
  Well, you know, my family's in Rochester.
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  And if you look up the word irritated, there's a Bills logo.
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  So unfortunate.
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  But that might change this year.
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  We'll see how it goes.
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  But anyway, back to the Bears history since kickoff, 1970.
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  Again, that's my book.
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  Every game played since the merger is registered in my book by year bystandings using the helmets worn that year.
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  Below that's the playoff grid.
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  And then there's.
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  And Darren, I'll have you show this page, but I have a copy here that I can, I can reference as I do this.
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  The Bears are an anomaly because the idea behind the book, as we're looking at the page, you see there's a left.
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  There's a left column of teams usually over 500, and that's the winning side.
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  And then the top of the other column is usually just under 500.
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  So the bottom of the winning goes up to terrific and the top of the losing goes down to horrific.
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  So now the Bears stay out of both of those horrific and terrific.
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  They hang out at the bottom of the winning or the top of the losing.
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  And currently they have the Buffalo Bills blocking them from being the top of the losing side.
• 9:45
  I can't mention that without saying the Bills need, I think, nine more wins.
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  And if they can get those wins, they'll be on the winning side if the Raiders move off there and then the Bills will be a winning team for the first time in their NFL history when you accumulate all
• 10:00
  their.
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  Their games.
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  But back to the Bears, they are.
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  They.
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  They've got three or four seasons to go of winning before they can think about getting back to the.500 mark and being a winning organization since the merger.
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  Now, I do keep track of all time and they are a winning organization.
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  Over 800 wins in their history.
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  But I'm a 1970 Professor Perry aspect of it, so.
• 10:27
  Well, Scott, let me ask you a question.
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  Okay.
• 10:29
  So when you, you started your book at 1970, so the early 70s were the Bears had to be pretty close to be on the winning side.
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  Then it was.
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  Was it probably the, the seventies and the nineties sort of killed them.
• 10:41
  Well, no, that's.
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  I love that you said that.
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  And here's a great connection.
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  So I always ask somebody, I say, here's my book.
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  I want you to tell me what year you're going to see your team first appear in the playoff grid.
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  And for the Bears, it's They lose to the Cowboys, Cowboys go on to beat the Vikings, and they go on to beat my Broncos in the 1977 season.
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  So.77, that's a couple of years after Peyton shows up.
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  So prior to Payton, they weren't.
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  They.
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  I don't think they got close.
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  I have to check my book, but I don't think they were really close to a playoff spot prior to.
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  To that first appearance in 77.
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  So.
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  Okay.
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  That's right.
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  Your.
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  Your ground zero is 1970.
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  You're not going back before that.
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  That's right.
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  I guess that's where I was saying.
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  But that's.
• 11:27
  There's no, There is no history in your book before 1970.
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  It starts at 1970.
• 11:31
  Not in the book.
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  But I mean, everything for the records for moving the helmet.
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  Yes.
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  Okay.
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  Gotcha.
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  Gotcha.
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  I love this fact that in 1969, the Steelers go to Chicago and they.
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  And, and they play.
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  And I believe the Steelers won.
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  Okay.
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  And they both had one win after the season.
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  And today they don't do coin flips.
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  They would have determined which one was worse, and one of them won in Chicago.
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  So anyway, that's a little convoluted, but the coin flip went into Pittsburgh's favor and In April of 70, the first draft with the merged league, Pittsburgh at.
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  Terry Bradshaw has four championships to show for that coin flip, while the Bears.
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  I did talk to a Bears fan recently, and Sid Gilman seems to have qualified as franchise quarterback.
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  But other than that, I will.
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  I will give them Gilman.
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  Am I right in your estimate?
• 12:31
  Yeah, but he would have been before 1970.
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  Right, but I'm talking.
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  So my point is that the coin flip went the Steelers way because I'm talking to a Steeler fan on a night of a Steeler game.
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  And had it not gone that way, maybe the Bears would have gotten Bradshaw and now.
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  But my point is the bears, 106 years old, no franchise quarterback, but maybe I changed my tune on that.
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  But I'm not.
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  I'm still.
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  The jury's still out on that.
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  So.
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  Yeah, I mean, that's fair to say.
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  They didn't.
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  They didn't really have a lengthy franchise quarterback.
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  I guess you could say McMahon was a, you know, an 85 season.
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  He was.
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  He was their quarterback.
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  Well, there's a show.
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  How do you define a franchise quarterback?
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  To me, it's eight or nine winning seasons and at least one championship.
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  I don't know how I got that, but that's something that's.
• 13:19
  That'd be a fair assessment.
• 13:20
  Yeah, he definitely didn't have that.
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  I don't think he had eight or nine seasons on the Bears, so.
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  So the Bears did get close.
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  They sniffed the top 10 and they did get over.500.
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  They have been a winning team and over the course of these 56 years since the merger, well, we're in year 57, so they have been respectable.
• 13:41
  But they, they had a bunch of losses recently, so they're down so 422 and 454 going into this season.
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  So they're are, they did lose.
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  So they're two and one.
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  So yeah, they got a little bit of work to do to get the 500.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  So.
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  But they are the top of the list and everybody below them is.
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  It's pretty good.
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  So.
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  But anyway, I think that's.
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  Any more.
• 14:06
  You have any questions about anything I left out with Bear history?
• 14:09
  No, I think that's pretty thorough, so.
• 14:11
  Well, you've been referring to the book.
• 14:12
  We've been showing pages of it.
• 14:14
  Why don't you tell folks what the name of your book is and where they can get it?
• 14:18
  Okay.
• 14:18
  Well, I appreciate you showing the COVID NFL since 1970.
• 14:23
  It's a junior high fan being upset moving from upstate New York to Denver.
• 14:28
  I, I, it was a long story.
• 14:31
  I picked the Broncos over the Bills.
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  Graduated high school five years after moving out here.
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  With Denver having zero playoff wins, I was so frustrated, I sat down and added up every game from the merger until that point in time.
• 14:43
  And, and that compilation made me feel good because 75 of the teams had a worse winning percentage in regular season.
• 14:51
  Even though I couldn't get a playoff win, I felt good about the team and I kept it.
• 14:55
  And it just evolved into, into this book that I've updated every year since 2010.
• 15:02
  So it's worth checking out for this show.
• 15:06
  Darren, I want to have people email me.
• 15:08
  And do you put that graphic up of Scott at the name of the book.com because I'd like to to get them an autograph copy with their favorite team inserted as opposed to going to Amazon.
• 15:18
  So either going to Amazon's great.
• 15:20
  They can email me, I'll send them that page separate or I can give them a special edition because they watch this program.
• 15:27
  So awesome.
• 15:28
  Okay.
• 15:29
  Yeah.
• 15:30
  And folks, if you did, if you're driving or you don't have a pen right now, you can always go to the show Notes.
• 15:34
  We'll have that link to get to Scott's email so you can take advantage of this great deal he is offering.
• 15:40
  So Scott, we really appreciate you coming on here to talking about this football history.
• 15:44
  The Bears a mix of some other teams in there as well but well rounded performance.
• 15:49
  We'd love to have you on again and thank you for preserving football history.
• 15:53
  You bet.
• 15:56
  That's all the football history we have today folks.
• 15:58
  Join us back tomorrow for more of your football history.
• 16:03
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• 16:15
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• 16:29
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• 16:37
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• 16:39
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• 16:42
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