What happened to the bears?
Have you ever noticed that the Bears don’t have cheerleaders on the sidelines during their games? You may have heard of the “Honey Bears” of the Super Bowl era and seen photos of Bears cheerleaders in the Superdome as the Bears celebrated a 46-10 drubbing of the Patriots in Super Bowl XX. But that was the last time the Bears took the field.
According to a contemporary report by the Chicago Tribune, the cheerleaders were told that their contract with the team would not be renewed after the 1985 season. The decision was not entirely a financial one, the report said. At the time, GM Jerry Vainisi asked if the cheerleaders were transient. However, that was not completely the end of Medvjedic. Cathy Core, who directed the Honey Bears, had just moved west and changed the name of her team, while taking over the leadership of Luvabull.
“Not many people can say they’ve been involved with two franchises in different sports where both teams have won a world championship,” Core told the Tribune in 1997. “That’s something I’m very proud of.”
The Bears aren’t the only team without cheerleaders. The Bills, Browns, Chargers, Giants and Steelers also don’t have sideline dance crews.
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