Bears unveil unique team photo

[Staley Da Bear]

This summer, the Chicago Bears had a lot on their plate.


The COVID-19 pandemic created the need to rethink every aspect of running an NFL franchise. The team enacted spacing requirements, testing procedures and mask protocols. Despite months of uncertainty, the NFL season finally started.


That's when a secondary issue entered the conversation: how does a team shoot a team photo in a pandemic?


"Even with all of the changes that we've had this year," said Scott Hagel, Bears senior vice president of marketing and communications, "we still had this on our radar. As we were approaching the start of the regular season, and then certainly in the beginning portion, seeing all the challenges, it was becoming apparent that a team picture might not be easily done in 2020."


The history of team photos runs back to the team's inaugural season as the Decatur Staleys in 1920. Save for a few lost photos from the late 1920s, every Bears team is represented in film.


This year, there was a serious logistical problem. The Bears were set to spend the entire year limiting close contact among the entire team. The spacious indoor football field in the Walter Payton Center was lined with generously spaced desks for team meetings.


The team photo would take over 100 people and force them close enough together to capture everyone in the same frame. The normal procedure would be like the biggest team meeting, in the smallest possible space, where masks would defeat the purpose of the gathering in the first place.


"Clearly, you're going to have a lot of guys right next to each other," said Hagel, "likely for more than 15 minutes, which is everything that you don't want to do in this environment. We've been spending a ridiculous amount of time and energy, and people have done a wonderful job ensuring that our meeting spaces are set up [to avoid that], so we're not doing that."


Team leadership met on the topic. The group, including Chairman George H. McCaskey and President and CEO Ted Phillips, came to a unanimous decision. There would be a picture for the 2020 Chicago Bears, and it would be unlike that of any previous team.


"One of the things that we all felt strongly about is that just skipping it wasn't a good option," said Hagel. "We've got 100 years of history. We didn't want this to be the 101st season and not have some way to document who the team was."


Hagel consulted with John Conroy, the Bears director of creative services. They made the decision to approach local digital artist Eliot Zuniga about the possibility of an illustrated team picture.


Zuniga designed the logo for the Bears' "Monsters of the Midway" comic book series made during the 2018 and 2019 seasons in conjunction with former Bears player Israel Idonije's Athlitacomics.


"He's a very talented artist," said Hagel. "He's got the ability to do portrait-type pictures. He presented us with three different ideas to look at, and we decided to commission him to illustrate what the team picture would look like in 2020."