The Monsters of the Midway is most widely known as the nickname for the National Football League's Chicago Bears. The moniker initially belonged to the University of Chicago Maroons football team, which was a reference to the Midway Plaisance on the South Side of Chicago. The nickname became associated with the Bears, who won six championships between 1932 and 1946. The nickname was revived in the Super Bowl era of the NFL to describe the team's dominant defenses, particularly the 1985 Bears team that won Super Bowl XX. Monsters of the Midway is also used by the Bears in marketing campaigns and promotional media.
Background
Origins
thumb|right|The "Monsters of the Midway" nickname was inspired by the [[Midway Plaisance.]]
The nickname Monsters of the Midway originally referred to the University of Chicago Maroons, a college football program led by Amos Alonzo Stagg. The Maroons were a prominent collegiate football program in the early 1900s, winning two national championships in 1905 and 1913.
Mid-1980s revival
The nickname was revived in 1985 by the Chicago Bears' dominant defense. The team used the "46 defense" to generate immense pressure on opposing offenses and devastate quarterbacks. Former Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann reflected on playing against the Bears in a 45–10 loss that season, commenting "Their intention was to take us out. If you had that kind of physical talent and a scheme that allowed you to take shots at the quarterback, if you didn't take us out legally, you'd be crazy." The team cruised to a 15–1 regular season record, The Monsters of the Midway moniker remained as no other team won more combined games than the Bears between 1984 and 1988. The nickname saw a resurgence in 2006, when Urlacher and the Bears' defense led the team to Super Bowl XLI, where they ultimately lost to the Indianapolis Colts.
TSR published a game entitled Monsters of the Midway in a 1982 edition of their magazine Dragon. It was a football simulation with various fantasy characters taking the place of football players. The game 1993 Mutant League Football referenced the name, calling one of its fictional teams the "Midway Monsters". The 2017 Mutant Football League video game, a spiritual successor to Mutant League Football, featured a fictional team called the "Midway Mutants".
In 2013, the Bears partnered with Two by Four/Chicago to create a new marketing campaign, "Believe in Monsters", inspired by the nickname. The Bears also formally trademarked the "Monsters of the Midway" that year. In 2018, the Bears partnered with Israel Idonije to publish a webcomic strip titled, Monsters of the Midway. The comic strip featured current and former Bears players, who fought monsters, cryptids, and villains modeled after other NFL teams. The series was revived for the 2019 season. The Bears have released trading cards based on the Monsters of the Midway comic every season since 2020.