Why do the Chicago Bears wear orange and blue? The story of the Chicago Bears colors, including full color codes.

In this article, we look at the history and details of the Chicago Bears logo and colors.

We discuss the different colors and logos that the team have used throughout the years- including full details of their CMYK, HEX, RGB and Pantone codes.

An introduction to the Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears are actually just over 100 years old and they are one of two charter football teams left in the NFL. The other is the Arizona Cardinals.

The team was founded by A.E. Staley, from Staley’s Starch Company. They started off their existence playing in Decatur, Illinois when the Staley’s and George Halas bought the team for $100.

The Bears were also the first team in football history to buy another player when they purchased Ed Healey from Rock Island in 1922.

Since then, the Bears has had limited success on the field as they only have one Super Bowl win in their 103 year team history. This is when they won the 1986 Super Bowl 46-10 over the New England Patriots.

This particular vintage of the Chicago Bears was considered to have the best defensive unit in NFL history.

The most famous Chicago Bears

While the team from the windy city hasn’t had a great win history, that doesn’t mean they haven’t had their share of dominant players over the years.

Today we are going to run through five of their most famous players.

1. Walter Payton

Payton is the NFL’s all time leading rusher with 16,276 yards on 3,838 rushes and 110 touchdowns.

While Payton wasn’t the tallest player on the team by a long shot at 5’10, he still weighed 200 pounds.

2. Dick Butkus

The 6’3 245 pound linebacker had a number of nicknames including The Enforcer, The Animal and The Maestro of Mayhem, which derived from his commanding ability to get to ball carriers on the field.

3. Clyde “Bulldog” Turner

Bulldog Turner was a four time pro bowler.

For those that may not know what that is, the Pro Bowl is basically the all star game for the NFL, a game played the Sunday between the conference championships and the Super Bowl.

In an unfortunate series of events for the Lions, they thought they were going to draft Turner but the Bears were able to pick him first in the draft.

4. George Halas

If you’re going to talk about Chicago Bears history, there are two players you absolutely do not avoid talking about.

They are George Halas and Mike Ditka, as they both played and coached for the Bears. We will get to Ditka in a minute.

With Halas, he was with the Bears for literally the first 63 years in their history, 1920-1983.

What happened in 1983? Sadly, he passed away. He was also the inventor of concepts such as putting men in motion before the snap.

5. Mike Ditka

Mike Ditka aka Iron Mike or the Doctor is unique to the Bears as well, in the sense that he has coached and played for them, but he was not a part of their founding as he was not yet alive.

He was the fifth pick of the NFL draft, and he was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a player in 1988. Dikta was the Bears coach when they won their one Super Bowl in 1986.

While Ditka played for the Bears his entire career, he also took his head coaching services to the Saints from 1997-1999 and he was a special teams/receivers coach with the Cowboys from 1973-1981.

Why do the Chicago Bears play in blue and orange?

The Chicago Bears are known for their orange and blue team uniforms.

The team first switched to these jerseys in 1923 in honour of George Halas Alma Mater, the University of Illinois.

Chicago Bears colors: CMYK, HEX, RGB and Pantone color codes

Below, find the Chicago Bears colors, including the individual GEX, RGB, CMYK and Pantone codes for each color.

Bears Blue

HEX: #0B162A

RGB: (11, 22, 42)

CMYK: (100, 60, 0, 80)

Pantone: PMS 5395 C

Bears Orange

HEX: #C83803

RGB: (200, 56, 3)

CMYK: (0, 75, 100, 0)

Pantone: PMS 1665 C

A history of the Chicago Bears logo and colors

1920

The Chicago Bears first logo lasted exactly one season and the logo choice had to do with Staley’s food manufacturing business.

In addition, the Bears were playing in Decatur, Illinois.

The Bears first logo was an orange and blue ball with white lettering, with the idea that it would bring attention to the name of Staley’s business.

1921-1940

1921 was the year that the Bears moved to Chicago , and just like when most teams change cities, that also means they change their logo. The Bears are not an exception to that rule.

The Bears replaced the round circle with a brown football with white lettering, spelling out the American Professional Football Association with the year 1920 in the middle.

This represented the year they were founded.

The word “Staley’s” was changed to orange with a blue outline.

1940-1945

1940 was the first year the Bears were officially called the Chicago Bears.

Their logo was a picture of a blue bear running with a football standing up. This represents the strength of their players.

1946-1962

The logo during this period was a picture of a bear hovering over a football. The bear had sharp claws to depict its aggression.

The ball had a blue outline with white stitching.

1962-1973

This version of the logo starts to resemble the Chicago Bears logo that you might recognise today.

The only difference between this version and the current version is that the C has a white outline and is not “colored in.”

The C, which has been labelled as the wishbone C, originated from the University of Chicago in 1898. It has been used by several other college and professional teams in the last 124 years.

1974- Today

Since 1962, the Bears logo hasn’t really changed that much.

Instead of using the standard wishbone C, now the logo is colored in with the color orange which stands for energy, optimism and happiness. The black outline is supposed to exude perseverance and excellence.

1993

While this version of the logo was never an official Bears logo for a period of time, those in charge of the Bears logo decided to try an alternate logo, which featured a roaring bear in the middle of the C.