The Bears are no longer the NFL's winningest franchise for the first time in 101 years
For the first time in 101 years, the Chicago Bears are not the winningest franchise in the NFL.
The Green Bay Packers, thanks to their comeback 28-19 win over the Bears at Soldier Field on Sunday, now have 787 regular-season wins, the most in NFL history.
With their win over Chicago today, the @Packers have passed the Bears for the most wins by a franchise in NFL history.
It's the first time since 1921 that a team other than the Bears had the most wins. #NFL pic.twitter.com/EXRWpJg1TM— Pro Football Reference (@pfref) December 4, 2022
While the Bears’ season hasn’t been going well whatsoever — they now sit at 3-10, and are better than only the Houston Texans (1-10-1) — Sunday’s loss knocked them off of the top spot on the league’s win list.
The Bears, who are one of the founding members of the league, have held at least a share of the all-time franchise win list since 1921. That’s 101 years ago, before World War II, the Great Depression and even before the invention of sliced bread. Warren G. Harding had just started his first and only term as the 29th President of the United States in 1921, the same year that comedian Rodney Dangerfield, boxer Sugar Ray Robinson and former First Lady Nancy Reagan were all born.
The NFL wasn’t even called the “National Football League” in 1921. It was still the American Professional Football Association, though it became the NFL the following year.
The Packers, who joined the league in 1921 and are the third-oldest team still remaining today, are now officially the winningest.
The Bears led throughout much of Sunday’s game, thanks to 71 yards on the ground and a rushing touchdown from quarterback Justin Fields. Yet Aaron Rodgers and the Packers put up 18 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, including a 46-yard touchdown run from Christian Watson in the final two minutes, to put away the Bears. Green Bay improved to 5-8 while Chicago has dropped six straight games.
