1984 Chicago Bears season

The 1984 season was the Chicago Bears' 65th in the National Football League and their third under head coach Mike Ditka. The team improved from their 8–8 record from 1983, to a 10–6 record, earning them a spot in the NFL playoffs for the first time since 1979.

This was the first of five consecutive NFC Central titles for the Bears. They opened their 1984 training camp in a new location, Platteville, Wisconsin as head coach Mike Ditka needed his team to get away from any distractions they might face at home. The team was on the verge of discovering a group of young leaders for the first time, and began to show the dominating defense that would emerge in full the following season, and pushed much farther than anyone expected them to go.

Highlights of the season included a Week 2 shutout of the Denver Broncos 27–0 behind a huge day from star running back Walter Payton, a Week 3 victory against Green Bay, the first game between Ditka and Packers head coach Forrest Gregg, and a 17–6 victory against the defending Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Raiders. The Week 2 game against Denver featured a famous image from Payton's career: a 50+ yard run down the sideline, led by 2nd-year guard Mark Bortz, an 8th round draft pick that was converted from defensive tackle. Payton reached a major milestone as he surpassed Jim Brown as the game's all-time leading rusher in yards in the third quarter of a Week Six home game against the New Orleans Saints. The Bears beat the Saints 20–7. The 1984 Bears ran for the second-most rushing attempts in a season, with 674.

In the Divisional Round of the playoffs, the Bears defeated the Washington Redskins 23–19 for their first playoff victory in the Super Bowl era as well as their first since their victory over the New York Giants in the 1963 NFL Championship Game. However, the Bears' season ended in the NFC Championship Game 23–0 to the eventual Super Bowl XIX champions, the San Francisco 49ers.