The 2005 Chicago Bears season was their 86th regular season and 24th post-season completed in the National Football League. The club posted a 11-5 record, earning them their first NFC North title and the second seed in the NFC for the playoffs.
The season started off with the club trying to rebound from a 5–11 season under now sophomore coach Lovie Smith. Smith was eager to lead his young team to a Super Bowl, but a preseason injury to starting quarterback Rex Grossman spelled disaster for the Bears.
The Bears began the season on a negative note, winning only one of their first four games. Despite their poor passing game, the Bears managed to win eight consecutive games through a perseverant defense and running game. The Bears eventually clinched a playoff berth on Christmas Day against the Green Bay Packers. However, in their first playoff game in almost four years, the Carolina Panthers upset the Bears, 29–21.
Famous quotes containing the words chicago, bears and/or season:
“Must we really see Chicago in order to be educated?”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“The painter ... does not fit the paints to the world. He most certainly does not fit the world to himself. He fits himself to the paint. The self is the servant who bears the paintbox and its inherited contents.”
—Annie Dillard (b. 1945)
“Hence in a season of calm weather
Though inland far we be,
Our Souls have sight of that immortal sea
Which brought us hither,”
—William Wordsworth (1770–1850)