Bears–Cardinals rivalry
Bears and Cardinals face off during the 1926 season. | |
| Location | Chicago, Phoenix |
|---|---|
| First meeting | November 28, 1920 Cardinals 7, Staleys 6 |
| Latest meeting | November 3, 2024 Cardinals 29, Bears 9 |
| Next meeting | 2027 |
| Stadiums | Bears: Soldier Field Cardinals: State Farm Stadium |
| Statistics | |
| Meetings total | 96 |
| All-time series | Bears: 60–30–6 |
| Largest victory | Bears: 53–7 (1941) Cardinals: 53–14 (1955) |
| Most points scored | Bears: 53 (1941) Cardinals: 53 (1955) |
| Longest win streak | Bears: 7 (1940–1943) Cardinals: 4 (1950–1952) |
| Current win streak | Cardinals: 1 (2024–present) |
The Bears–Cardinals rivalry is a National Football League (NFL) rivalry between the Chicago Bears and the Arizona Cardinals.
It is the oldest rivalry in the NFL, featuring the only two franchises that remain from the league's founding in 1920. At the time, the teams were known as the Decatur Staleys (now the Chicago Bears) and the Racine Cardinals (now the Arizona Cardinals). Despite the "Racine" name, the Cardinals were based in Chicago, named after the city's Racine Avenue. In 1921, the Staleys relocated to Chicago, and the rivalry became known as the "Battle of Chicago," a moniker it held for 38 years. This longstanding competition is considered the first true rivalry in NFL history, and is often referred to by modern media as the "NFL's oldest rivalry."
The rivalry began to diminish after the 1959 NFL season, when the Cardinals relocated from Chicago to St. Louis. Following the move, the NFL began treating the Bears and Cardinals as a standard inter-divisional matchup for scheduling purposes, leading to significantly fewer meetings between the teams. During the AFL–NFL merger in 1970, the league considered several realignment proposals for the newly formed National Football Conference (NFC), one of which would have placed the Bears and Cardinals in the same division. However, this option was ultimately rejected in favor of an alignment that placed the Bears in the NFC Central and the Cardinals in the NFC East. The rivalry further declined when the Cardinals relocated again, this time to Arizona in 1988.
The Bears lead the overall series, 60–30–6. The two teams have not met in the playoffs.