Chicago Bears Top 5 Quarterbacks of All Time

(last updated on February 5, 2026)

Here is a trivia question that can stump even the most knowledgeable football fans … what was the original name of the Chicago Bears franchise? If you guessed the Decatur Staleys, then you can move on to Final Jeopardy. Formed in 1920, the team was known as the Decatur Staleys before becoming the Chicago Bears in 1922. George Halas, the Hall of Fame coach and owner, was associated with the team from its inception until his death in 1983. The Bears have won nine championships, including Super Bowl XX, and they rank second all time in wins for NFL franchises. When it comes to the quarterback position, especially lately with three QBs drafted in the first round since 2017, the Bears have had their struggles at times. However, they now seem to have their guy. Will he eventually join the men below? Let’s trudge through the wind to Soldier Field and find out the best quarterbacks of all time for the Chicago Bears.

This name may elicit some cringes from Bears nation, but Mitchell Trubisky gets a spot with the best Chicago Bears quarterbacks ever. The team traded up to select Trubisky with the second overall pick in 2017. Yes, they parted ways after only four seasons, but Mr. Biscuit etched his name into the team’s all-time rankings: fifth in both passing yards and passing touchdowns (10,609 and 64). His completion % of 64 is the best in franchise history for any QB with at least 15 starts. As far as team success, he did get Chicago to the playoffs twice (2018 and 2020), but they lost in the Wild Card round both times. If you focus on Mitchell’s Pro Bowl season of 2018, you’ll see the Bears went 12-4 and won the NFC North with their quarterback producing solid numbers: a 66.6 completion %, 24 TDs to just 12 picks, 3,223 yards, and a career-best 95.4 passer rating. Yes, Chicago fans expected more from such a high draft pick, but if you go by the stats, Mitchell Trubisky was one of the top quarterbacks in Bears history.

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Ever heard of this Jim Harbaugh guy? You probably know him as the successful college and NFL head coach over the last two decades, but this former quarterback was once a first rounder of the Chicago Bears. A highly touted Michigan Wolverine, Mike Ditka selected Harbaugh with the 26th overall pick in 1987. Jim didn’t become the full-time starter until 1990, but the Bears went 11-5 and reached the playoffs in both ‘90 and ‘91. Over those two seasons, Harbaugh combined to throw for over 5,000 yards and 25 touchdowns. Keep in mind that in Mike Ditka’s run-heavy offenses the QB’s stats never looked glamorous. Nevertheless, the current coach of the Chargers did throw for 11,567 yards in his six seasons as a Bear (third in team history). On top of that, he had a very respectable 35-30 mark as the Chicago starting QB. Harbaugh later went on to have some successful years as the Colts quarterback. Now Jim Harbaugh is mostly known as one of the most famous football coaches in the country, but you should also know that he was one of the top Chicago Bears quarterbacks of all time.

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Jay Cutler’s penchant for interceptions and lack of playoff success doesn’t make him so popular, but if you look at the numbers, he has to be listed with the best Chicago Bears quarterbacks ever. Cutler is the Bears all-time leader in passing yards (23,443) and passing TDs (154) by a large margin. That resulted in only one playoff appearance for the Monsters of the Midway during his tenure. From a statistical-data perspective, this strong-armed QB did post solid stats from 2009 to 2016: five seasons of 3,000+ yards, four seasons of 20+ passing touchdowns, a 61.8 completion %, and an 85.2 passer rating. I mean, this guy does own four of the five most prolific passing seasons in the century-long history of the Chicago Bears. From an NFL-history view, Kristin Cavallari’s ex is in the top 40 all time of both passing yards (35,133) and passing TDs (227). Jay Cutler, understandably, is not going to win the race for mayor in the Windy City, but he still gets a place with the top Chicago Bears quarterbacks of all time.  

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Was there a cooler QB in the 1980s than Jim McMahon? He was a headband-wearing, beer-drinking son of a gun. Yes, Elway, Marino, and Montana were the headliners, but the Bears had the coolest of them all. Jim McMahon, to this day, is the only quarterback ever to lead the Chicago Bears to a Super Bowl title, and that feat alone puts him with the top quarterbacks in Chicago Bears history. The Bears drafted McMahon with the fifth pick in the 1982 draft, and he had a spotty first few seasons. Then things took off in the mid-80s for Jimmy and the Bears. From ‘84 to ‘88, the Monsters of the Midway reached at least the Divisional Round of the postseason each year. The ‘85 Bears, debatably the best team ever, went 15-1 and won Super Bowl XX. That year Mad Mac was a Pro Bowler with 2,392 yards in the air and 15 TDs. In those three playoff victories, #9 had a 106.6 passer rating. Because of his reckless style of play, this QB was often injured and really never put up gaudy stats. However, this dude was a winner … a 46-15 record as the starter in Chi-Town … that’s how great quarterbacks are judged. His 11,203 passing yards and 67 TD strikes are both fourth in team history, and I am sure if McMahon was consistently healthy, those numbers would be much higher. A QB’s ultimate job is to win the Super Bowl for his team and city, and that makes Jim McMahon an all-time quarterback for the Chicago Bears.

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The true halcyon days of the Chicago Bears were the 1940s: four NFL titles (nearly five) in a seven-year span. Papa Bear George Halas was the coach, and Sid Luckman was the quarterback. Implementing Halas’s T-formation offense, Luckman led the Bears to championships in ‘40, ‘41, ‘43, and ‘46. This Hall of Famer was a five-time First-Team All-Pro QB and led the NFL in passing yards and passing TDs three times (‘43, ‘45, & ‘46). Although offenses weren’t as aerial back then, in 1943 Sid threw for seven touchdowns in a win over the Giants. That record has only been tied and never broken since. In that year’s NFL Championship Game, #42 had five TD strikes with a 135.6 passer rating to clinch a third title in four years over Washington. About 75 years after Luckman’s last game as a Bear and tons of innovations to passing attacks, he still sits second all time in franchise rankings with 14,686 passing yards and 167 passing touchdowns. Sid Luckman is a Chicago legend and very possibly the best quarterback of all time for the Bears.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, March 6th, 2025 at 7:08 pm and is filed under NFL History. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.