Bears–Cardinals rivalry
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 and features the only two teams that remain from the league's inception in 1920. At that time, the Bears were known as the Decatur Staleys, and the Cardinals were the Racine Cardinals. In 1922, both teams moved to Chicago, and the matchup between the teams became known as "The Battle of Chicago" for 38 years, making it the first true rivalry in the league's history.
Chicago Bears
Arizona Cardinals
| |
| First meeting | November 28, 1920 Cardinals 7, Staleys 6 |
|---|---|
| Latest meeting | December 24, 2023 Bears 27, Cardinals 16 |
| Next meeting | 2024 |
| Statistics | |
| Meetings total | 95 |
| All-time series | Bears, 60–29–6 |
| Largest victory | Bears, 53–7 (1941) |
| Longest win streak | Bears, 9 (1940–1943) |
| Current win streak | Bears, 1 (2023–present) |
The rivalry diminished after the 1959 NFL season, when the Cardinals relocated to St. Louis. After the re-location, the NFL treated the Cardinals and Bears like any other inter-divisional pairing for scheduling purposes, resulting in the teams playing much less frequently. With the completion of the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, the enlarged NFL seriously considered (in addition to at least four other possible solutions) an alignment for the new National Football Conference that would have placed the Cardinals and Bears in the same division. Ultimately, this alignment was not chosen, and instead the Bears were placed in the NFC Central and the Cardinals in the NFC East. When the Cardinals moved to Arizona in 1988, the rivalry was further diminished.
Under the current NFL scheduling formula, the Bears and Cardinals play at least once every three years. The Bears currently lead the all-time series 59–29–6.