Montgomery Bears The Montgomery Bears were a professional indoor football team that played their home games at the Garrett Coliseum in Montgomery , Alabama . They are a member of the American Indoor Football Association . The team began play as the Montgomery Maulers of the National Indoor Football League and won the Atlantic Conference Central Division Championship in 2005 . The 2005 season ended in the conference semifinals of the playoffs to the Rome Renegades , who went on to appear in the NIFL Championship Indoor Bowl V . The team folded in October 2007 . Entire Team Fired . Late in April , 2006 , the second year of the club ' s existence , Donald Jackson , an attorney representing members of the team said the club had not paid the players , staff or coaches in more than a month . The team ' s owner ( Jamie LaMunyon ) made national news on April 27 , 2006 , by terminating the contracts of all players and announcing that replacements would be hired . New Ownership . On May 3 , 2006 , the Maulers came under new ownership . After losing five of their first six games , the team has rallied under new management , winning five of the next six ( the lone defeat was a 1 point overtime loss in an away game ) . The Maulers showed their renewed tenacity most recently in the Osceola rematch . After a downed Montgomery player was speared in the back of the head ( with no penalty having been assessed ) , the teams broke out into a 17 minute bench clearing brawl resulting in 19 players being ejected . Montgomery managed to overcome a 15 point deficit in the fourth quarter to pull off the 1 point win . Although this was officially the second time these teams have played , the first meeting was actually fielded by players from the SSFL ' s Gulf Coast Raiders ( a team owned by Michael Mink ) due to the previously mentioned contract disputes . Following the loss , Michael Mink and John Morris decided to become more involved with arena football and purchased the Maulers franchise with Mink becoming head coach and Morris becoming general manager . Subsequently , a number of Raiders players have been signed to the Maulers roster , which has brewed speculation that the Raiders will be used as a farm team for the Maulers . 2006 Playoffs . Following a drumming by the top ranked Fayetteville Guard , the Maulers were 6 - 7 overall with the surprising opportunity to still make the playoffs . Tied for 7th place in the conference with the Charleston Sandsharks whom was scheduled the final game of the regular season , the winner was to receive the final playoff spot ( only 6 teams per conference qualify ) . The Maulers lost the game 28 - 39 , but Charleston ' s general manager Al Bannister had already stated the organization would skip the playoffs and refocus its energy on next season . It was noticed that the official NIFL web site had an asterisk by the teams name and stated no team with outstanding operational items ( stats ) would be eligible for the playoffs . Later , it was revealed the franchise had cheated by using at least six illegal players and also had outstanding fines due to administrative issues ( not exchanging film with opponents or keeping statistics at home games ) . Subsequently , the Sandsharks were banned from the playoffs for the infractions , with the Maulers being awarded the sixth Atlantic conference spot . However this all proved academic as the Maulers lost in the first week of the playoffs on July 8 at Lakeland . Falling behind 27 - 0 in the first quarter , Montgomery stormed back but could not quite complete the comeback falling 70 - 62 , ending their season 7 - 8 . After the 2006 season , the team announced they were changing their name to the Montgomery Bears and moving to the American Indoor Football Association . Season - By - Season . ! Totals | | 21 | | 24 | | 0