The past 25 seasons for the Chicago Bears have included a Super Bowl-opening thrill followed by disappointment, a sudden rise quieted quickly by the thump of the ball on two metal posts, and three other teams that went nowhere in postseason.
Ranking any of those teams above teams who actually won Super Bowls would be completely wrong. when they couldn't get it done in the end during their own seasons.
Apparently winning means little in ESPN's eyes, though.
That's because the greatest team on the list made by ESPN's Bill Barnwell is the New England Patriots team that went into the Super Bowl unbeaten and then lost to the New York Giants 17-14.
17 years agoβ¦
Manning. Lobs it. Burress. Alone. TOUCHDOWN, NEW YORK!
18-1 Giant loss.
The greatest upset in Super Bowl history. pic.twitter.com/GECtlgfi02
β Doug Rush (@TheDougRush) February 3, 2025
This is a popular thing too, making that Patriots team No. 1 one on lists even though they were No. 2 that year in reality. To underscore the stupidity and lack of logic in compiling this list, that Giants team which beat those Patriots was not even ranked among the top 25 teams of this century's first quarter.
I guess we all just ignore that Lombardi Trophy presentation.
In fact, just take the trophy and give it to Robert Kraft. He doesn't have enough of them.
#NeverForget B.J. Raji had a pick-six against the Bears in the 2010 NFC Championship Game #TBT #TNFpic.twitter.com/P2qaf8zRQN
β NFL Retweet (@NFLRT) September 28, 2017
This all said, there is a link here to the Bears to make this list relevant to readers from Chicago and ultimately even more irrelevant because of its lack of logic.
Sitting at No. 8 in the last 25 years is none other than the 2010 Green Bay Packers.
From sneaking into the playoffs as a 6 seed all the way to Super Bowl champions. π
The 2010 Packers find themselves on the top 100 greatest NFL teams of all time.
#NFL100 #GoPackGo
pic.twitter.com/zhANUU1Who
β GBP Daily - Rob Westerman lll (@GBPdaily) November 8, 2019
That's right, the same team that wouldn't have even made the playoffs if Lovie Smith and his team had avoided taking their offensive foot off the gas pedal in the final game of the regular season.
A Bears win in that game let Green Bay into the playoffs and then Green Bay beat the Bears in Chicago to get to the Super Bowl when Jay Cutler was injured. That same Packers team had lost to the Bears earlier in Chicago. Then again, did winning the Super Bowl even mean anything for those Packers in making this list? It didn't mean anything for the 2007 Giants.
βI just donβt think there is a fair argument that of all the single seasons weβve seen in NFL history, one of the five best was the one we just saw from Philadelphia.β@getnickwright names his 5 best teams of all-time & 5 best teams in the last 30 years: pic.twitter.com/q7POcUG4st
β First Things First (@FTFonFS1) May 26, 2025
Does that Packers team belong on such a list after losing six games? Possibly, probably, but eighth? And on this list in eighth when the Giants from 2007 who beat an undefeated team for the Lombardi Trophy couldn't even get a sniff?
Wow. Give me my subscription money back from ESPN plus, and the Disney Channel while you're at it. Using Barnwell logic, John Fox's three-win Bears of 2016 and Matt Eberflus' 2022 team with three wins should get considered for the list.
When the Giants beat the Patriots, ruining their unbeaten season pic.twitter.com/BCswKlb9Oc
β Rich Fenton (@fenton_rich) February 13, 2022
Another atrocity involves a team Bears fans knew very well. That was the 2018 Los Angeles Rams. They're 25th greatest on this 25-team list from the first quarter century.
Remember them? They scored six points against Khalil Mack, Akiem Hicks and the boys in getting embarrassed 15-6 in December that season at Soldier Field. Then they made the Super Bowl because 1) the Bears got double-doinked out, 2) officials cheated for them on one play in the NFC Championship Game against the Saints. Finally, they scored one field goal against the Patriots in embarrassing fashion and lost the Super Bowl.
πππππ¦πππ« π, ππππ | π #DaBears force 4 Jared Goff INTs to beat the 11-1 Rams on SNF!
The Bears also rushed for 194 yards pic.twitter.com/BlDKsZi6bT
β This Day in Chicago Sports (@ChiSportsDay) December 9, 2020
Yet, the Patriots team that manhandled those Rams easily for the trophy did not even get on the list. Hmmm.
With so poor of a team included on the list, perhaps that 2018 double-doinked Bears or the Brian Urlacher 2006 team that was "who we thought they were" belonged on this list.
18 years ago today.
βThey are who we thought they were!β pic.twitter.com/gL0xZ52I75
β TodayInSports (@TodayInSportsCo) October 17, 2024
Those Bears didn't win Super Bowls, and the 2018 Bears didn't even win a horribly disappointing game in the playoffs against the Eagles. However, Barnwell has other teams in the top 25 who not only failed to make or win the Super Bowl, but didn't even win a playoff game.
He had the Bills of 2022, who got routed by the Bengals in the playoffs on the list. The Broncos of 2013, who lost by 35 points in the Super Bowl, were at No. 15. Also, the 2007 Colts were on itβnot the team to beat Devin Hester and the Bears in Miami but the next year's team that failed to win a playoff game.
Best Bears moment, Super Bowl XLI, #5
Rex Grossman to Muhsin Muhammad, touchdown
This four-yarder gave the Bears a 14-6 lead in the 1st quarter. Felt damn good :)@WCGridiron pic.twitter.com/EoykYj6fnl
β Jack M Silverstein πΊπΈ (@readjack) February 5, 2019
Of course those 2006 Bears were not on the list. Neither were the 13-win 2001 Bears of Ted Washington/Keith Traylor nor the first Lovie Smith division winners of 2005.
Those teams really did not belong on a list of the top 25 teams this century.
Then again, plenty of teams no better than they were seemed to pop up on this pathetic ESPN offering. It's a wonder the 2008 Lions didn't make his list of 25 greatest teams of the century using his logic.
The 0-16 Detroit Lions in 2008.pic.twitter.com/7EiNSf6mek
β KO (@KnightOw7) May 19, 2025
X: BearsOnSI