Chicago Bears logos , uniforms , and mascots Since the team ' s inception in 1920 , the team ' s uniforms have received very little changes , with minor changes and various patches added . The classic look of the club ' s uniforms has given it the title of one of the best uniform sets in the league . Logos . The club has had few official logos throughout their history . The first was introduced in the early 1940s with a bear running with a football . The next logo featured a navy blue bear on top of a football . The team kept this until 1962 , when the Bears trademark ' C ' logo was first introduced by the team . The change in their logo from the black bear was due to the addition of logos on helmets , which pro football teams started adding in the late 1950s and early 1960s . Unlike some NFL franchises that have had many different looks over time , the Bears have kept the wishbone ' C ' for over 40 years . The Bears ' C ' logo first appeared on the helmets in 1962 . ( The " C " is in the same font as the " C " long worn on the Cincinnati Reds ' baseball caps , as well as loosely resembling the University of Chicago Maroons logo ) . The logo changed from white to a white - bordered orange logo eleven years later , and has remained unchanged ever since . In 1974 , the team decided to keep the same white ' C ' logo but to change the color of it from white to orange with a white trim . This is the current logo to this date ; however , the club has experimented with some alternative logos throughout the past decade , including a navy blue bear inside of the orange wishbone ' C ' , introduced in 1995 , and an orange bear head , introduced in 1999 . Uniforms . Helmets . For most of the 1940s through the late 1960s the Bears , unlike most all NFL teams , wore helmets and face masks made by Chicago - based Wilson Sporting Goods . This headgear was of a slightly different shape than that of the Riddell company , the principal supplier to NFL teams . ( Gale Sayers ' s mid - 1960s flared - ear Wilson helmet and white face mask with angled vertical bars are familiar to football fans ) . In 1982 , the club ' s standard gray facemasks became dark blue . In 1994 , in honor of the NFL ' s 75th Anniversary , the Bears helmets were all blue , and without the logo . The Bears would don a similar helmet to the 1994 helmet in 2010 , honoring the Monsters of the Midway , with the helmets still being blue , but with a white facemask . Jerseys . In 1920 the team introduced the official team uniforms containing brown and blue stripes . This design of vertical stripes was a popular trend for football jerseys of the 1920s . The stripes were made up of strips of canvas that helped players grip the football . This was necessary because the standard football then in use was slightly fatter , rounder , and more difficult to handle than a modern football . The players ' jersey number was displayed only on the back . In the 1930s , the franchise ' s team uniform underwent some substantial alterations . After many subtle and not - so - subtle changes , by 1933 the Bears donned all - orange jerseys with navy numbers and matching navy blue helmets . George Halas , by all accounts , adopted the navy blue and orange colors in honor of those of his alma mater , the University of Illinois . The team experimented with all orange uniforms during the decade , which was booed by the New York crowd during a game against the New York Giants for being " loud " . In 1936 , they modified this design into " an early version of psychedelia " by adding three orange stripes to their helmets , changing the color of the jerseys from orange to white , complementing the new white jerseys with fourteen navy and orange alternating stripes on the sleeves , and introducing socks with a similar striped pattern extending from ankle to knee . Due to poor response from the fans and the media , this design lasted only one season . In 1935 , the Bears introduced an orange jersey with black arm stripes . Striping on the socks were added 5 years later . By 1949 , the team was wearing the familiar navy blue shirts with white , rounded numbers . In 1956 , the team added " TV numbers " to the sleeves . By 1957 the NFL , in part for easier television viewing , ordered home teams to wear dark , primary - colored jerseys and road teams white ; the Bears ' white jersey featured blue numerals with orange trim , and the three parallel sleeve stripes , the top and bottom blue and the middle orange . By 1960 the team ' s home jerseys had added orange trim to the round white numerals ( which became slightly smaller ) ; the blue socks gained white borders to the orange stripes . In 1961 the orange sleeve stripes were given white borders . The Bears added the initials " GSH " to the left sleeve of their jerseys after the October 31 , 1983 passing of George Halas . In 1970 , the Bears added names to the back to the players jersey . For decades , the team was known as the only NFL team to wear jersey numbers that were not the traditional block - style numbers . Although a handful of other NFL teams such as the early - 1960s Pittsburgh Steelers and the Houston Oilers during their early AFL days experimented with rounder jersey numbers , by the mid - 1960s the Bears were the only team left to continue wearing rounded jersey numbers , though on a few occasions in 1971 and 1972 the team appeared in jerseys with plain block numerals . Since the mid - 1990s , however , several teams have shifted away from the block numbers in favor of numbers that match a specific team font ( e . g . Denver Broncos , Baltimore Ravens , Philadelphia Eagles , etc . ) or in the case of the Pittsburgh Steelers , match the jersey number font with the helmet numbers while otherwise leaving the jersey design alone . In 2002 , the Bears ' blue became slightly darker in order " to achieve standardization among teams . " . In 2012 , the Bears received minor changes to the uniform after Nike took over as the official uniform supplier , with the numbers on the sleeve moved to the shoulder pads , and the " GSH " was enlarged . Pants . The Bears ' pants have substantially remained the same throughout , with blue pants having orange and white stripes , as well as white pants with blue and orange stripes . The team normally wears their blue pants with their away jerseys , and white pants at home . The addition of navy blue pants as a part of the road kit came in 1984 . For a few games in the 1930 ' s the Bears wore a combination of orange jerseys and orange pants . The socks on the home uniforms are blue with orange stripes , resembling that of the stripes on the jersey , with the road uniform having alternating blue and orange stripes on white socks . The Bears ' 2000 campaign was the first year in which the Bears returned to black shoes . Patches / Stickers . During the Bears ' 2010 season , the team wore a # 99 sticker on the back of their helmets to mourn the death of Gaines Adams , as well as wearing a # 34 patch in 1999 to honor Walter Payton , who died that year . In their 1991 year , the team wore a # 91 patch in honor of rookie Fred Washington , who died in a car accident , along with a # 50 patch in 1992 , in which they paid tribute to Mike Singletary , who retired that year . In 2001 , the Bears wore a " Salute to Soldier Field " patch in honor of their stadium Soldier Field , which began its reconstruction that year . Variations . During the 1994 season , the Bears – with most of the other NFL franchises – introduced throwback uniform s to be worn in the honor of the NFL ' s 75th Anniversary . These jerseys , with brown and blue stripes , resemble the original uniforms worn by the team in the 1920s , which came along with brown pants , as well as blank blue helmets . On October 7 , 2002 the Bears wore navy blue pants with their navy blue home jerseys for the first time , and lost at home to Green Bay before a national Monday Night Football audience . The Bears did not wear the all - blue combination again until the 2006 regular season finale against the Packers , also a loss , on December 31 . Also , the Bears wore all - white uniforms during their final two road games in the 2006 season , and for all of the 2008 season . On November 13 , 2005 and October 29 , 2006 ( both times in games against the San Francisco 49ers ) , the Bears introduced an orange alternate home jersey . The orange swaps roles with the navy blue on this alternate jersey , as it becomes the dominant color while the navy complements . The Bears also donned the orange jerseys on October 28 , 2007 against the Detroit Lions , a game that they lost 16 - 7 . The Bears again wore the orange jerseys for the fourth consecutive year on October 19 , 2008 when they hosted the Minnesota Vikings . The Bears previously wore orange jerseys as part of a throwback uniform in a Thanksgiving Day game at the Dallas Cowboys in 2004 . Since then , the Bears frequently wore their orange uniforms against their divisional rivals . For the 2010 season , the Bears introduced throwbacks representing the original Monsters of the Midway of the 1940s . They wore the uniforms against the Green Bay Packers on September 27 , 2010 and against the Vikings on November 14 later that season . Both of those games were wins for the Bears . For the 2005 – 07 and 2010 home openers , the team wore the white jerseys with the navy blue pants , and is 4 – 0 in these games , beating the Lions in 2005 , 2006 , and 2010 , and beating the Kansas City Chiefs in 2007 . In 2012 , the Bears announced that they will wear their 1940s alternates from 2010 against the Packers and Carolina Panthers . For unknown reasons , the video game " Madden NFL 13 " has the team wearing their away jerseys orange pants , though the team has never worn the combination . Retired numbers . The Bears have retired thirteen uniform numbers , which is the most in the NFL , and ranks fourth behind the NBA ' s Boston Celtics ( 21 ) , MLB ' s New York Yankees ( 16 ) , and NHL ' s Montreal Canadiens ( 15 ) for the most in North American professional sports . Mascots . Mascots . Before the 2003 season , the team had two unofficial mascots named " Rocky " and " Bearman " . " Rocky " was a man who donned a # 1 Bears jersey , carried a megaphone , and started chants all over Soldier Field during the 1970s , 1980s and early 1990s , in a fashion similar to Fireman Ed . There is no known source of who " Rocky " was , and presumably currently lives in Northwestern Indiana . Don Wachter , also known as " Bearman " , is a season ticket holder who decided in 1995 that he could also assist the team by cheerleading , similar to Rocky . The club allowed him to run across the field with a large Bears flag during player introductions and each team score ( a role currently done by the Bears 4th Phase and Bears captains ) . In 1996 , he donned his " costume " of face paint , bear head and arms , and a number 46 jersey . " Bearman " was forced to stop wearing his costume with the introduction of Staley Da Bear in 2003 ; however , in 2005 Wachter was allowed in costume again . " Staley Da Bear " is an anthropomorphic bear with a customized # 00 jersey , with blue and orange eyes , synonymous with the team ' s main colors . His name is eponymous to corn processing company A . E . Staley , who originally founded the Bears ' franchise in 1919 . Like Rocky and Bearman , he entertains Bears fans , but like other NFL mascots , and mascots in general , Staley also makes various visits to charity events , parties , Chicago Rush AFL games , and other Bears - related events , as well as taking part in various games with his " furballs " against youth football teams at halftime . Cheerleaders . The team also formerly had their own cheerleading squad called the Chicago Honey Bears . However , Bears owner Virginia Halas McCaskey terminated them after the 1985 season . The squad ' s uniforms have changed 3 times : from 1977 - 1979 was a white bodysuit with navy blue sleeves , from 1980 - 1984 was also a white bodysuit , but with orange sleeves and the navy was moved to the trim , and in the squad ' s final season in 1985 , the uniform was redesigned with an orange sequin vest . Notes . The Bears wore their 1940s throwbacks in 2010 and 2012