Big Sky Black Bears

2024 Big Sky Black Bears Season
The Big Sky Black Bears are a virtual American football team that plays in the Valiant Football League, playing in the Pacific Conference as a member of the Pacific Conference Central Division. The team was formed in 2014 as the Vegas Demons. Though the team continued to carry the first ten years of their club history with them, the Demons would relocate to Montana following the 2023 UFL Season, marking the end of the Vegas Demons as a club in the United Football League, and the birth of their successor club- the Big Sky Black Bears.
From 2014 until 2020, former NFL quarterback Jimmy Clausen served as the team's head coach until being fired following the 2020 season. North Dakota State University head coach Matt Entz would then be hired to become the second head coach of the Vegas Demons ahead of the 2021 Season, also serving as the General Manager of the franchise.
The Black Bears- during their stint as the Vegas Demons- had won the league championship once in franchise history in 2016, and have won the Pacific Conference championship twice in both 2016 and 2017. Despite being included into the Pacific Conference Central Division in 2018, the Demons have never won the Pacific Conference Central Division in their history.
The team played their home games at Sam Boyd Stadium in Carson City, Nevada and Mackay Stadium in Reno, Nevada prior to relocation. Following their relocation to Montana, they began play at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in 2024.
==History==
===Vegas Raiders and Early Struggles (2014-2015)===
Before the start of the UFL's inaugural season, the Raiders hired former Carolina Panthers quarterback Jimmy Clausen to serve as the head coach of the team during their formative years. With Clausen involved with running the offense, the Vegas Raiders would select Tarvaris Jackson to play as the starting quarterback of the franchise for their inaugural season in the UFL Quarterback Draft, which would prove to be a costly decision as the team would finish their first season with a league-worst 1-5 record, earning the top pick in the 2015 UFL Draft. With the first pick in the first round of the 2015 UFL Draft, the Raiders would draft Penn State halfback Saquon Barkley to afford Jackson a running game to help move the offense forward going into the franchise's second season in the league.
Despite Saquon Barkley providing a performance that would earn him the 2015 UFL Rookie of the Year Award, the Raiders would finish with a 2-4 record to miss the postseason for the second consecutive year. This outcome would prove to be the final straw for the Tarvaris Jackson era in Vegas, as Jackson would be released in favor of drafting Saquon Barkley's former Penn State quarterback Trace McSorely to control the offense going into the 2016 UFL Season.
===Back to Back League Championship Appearances and Rebranding to the Vegas Demons (2016-2017)===
Going into McSorely's rookie year with the franchise, the Vegas Raiders would start hot on the season, earning a 3-1 record through the first four weeks of the season before finishing the year with a 4-2 record, good enough to earn the second seed in the Pacific Conference postseason picture, earning the Raiders their first playoff berth in franchise history. Under the McSorely-Barkley combination, the Raiders would defeat the defending league champion Los Angeles Bolts in the Pacific Conference Divisional Round before defeating the top-seeded Arizona Copperheads in the Pacific Conference Championship Game to earn the franchise their first league championship appearance in it's history. The Raiders would then defeat the Atlantic Conference Champion New York Sentinels in the league championship game, earning the franchise their first league championship in the process. Following the team's league championship victory and the announcement of the NFL's Oakland Raiders of their impending relocation to Las Vegas, Nevada, the Vegas Raiders would rebrand themselves to the Vegas Demons in order to avoid a legal battle with the National Football League.
Going into the 2017 UFL Season, the Demons were one of the favorite's to return to the league championship, which is exactly what the franchise would do in Trace McSorely's sophomore season as quarterback, earning a league-best 5-1 record in a season that would prove to be a season in which Trace McSorely would win the 2017 UFL MVP Award. The Demons would proceed to defeat the Seattle Avengers in the Pacific Conference Championship Game to earn their second-consecutive trip to the league championship, this time playing the Atlantic Conference champion Connecticut Stampede, who would put up too much of a competition for the Demons to handle, knocking off the Demons a game short from repeating as the league champions, earning the Stampede their second league championship in franchise history.
===League Championship Hangover and the End of the Trace McSorely era (2018-2019)===
Despite being predicted to make a third-consecutive league championship game, the Demons would disappoint by finishing the season with a 3-3 record, ending in last place in the Pacific Conference Central Division and missing the postseason completely.
Following a regression from the Demons, the following year would see the Demons finish the season with a 6-10 record to miss the postseason for the second consecutive year. Following two disappointing seasons after his MVP Award in 2017, the Demons would allow Trace McSorely to leave the team during the 2019 UFL Free Agency period and use the time to sign former Los Angeles Bolts quarterback Jason Eason to lead the offense for the 2020 UFL Season.
===Matt Entz, Dalton Sneed, and the Death of the Vegas Demons (2020-2023)===
After hiring Matt Entz, the Vegas Demons would draft quarterback Dalton Sneed to head the club. Along with declining attendance, the Vegas Demons began to struggle as a club, failing to enter the playoffs during their stint in Vegas whilst under the guidance of Matt Entz. Following the 2023 season and a struggle to find a permanent home in the state of Nevada following the closure of Sam Boyd Stadium, the Vegas Demons would be granted permission to relocate to the state of Montana by the United Football League, thus beginning the era of the Big Sky Black Bears.
===Relocation to Montana, Rebranding to the Big Sky Black Bears (2024-present)===
Matt Entz would enter the offseason intending to re-sign third year quarterback Dalton Sneed following a successful, winning season in the 2023 UFL Season.