Chicago Bears in the context of "AFL–NFL merger"

The Near South Side is a community area of Chicago, Illinois, United States, just south of the downtown central business district, the Loop. The Near South Side's boundaries are as follows: North—Roosevelt Road (1200 S); South—26th Street; West—Chicago River between Roosevelt and 18th Street, Clark Street between 18th Street and Cermak Road, Federal between Cermak Road and the Stevenson Expressway just south of 25th Street, and Clark Street again between the Stevenson and 26th Street; and East—Lake Michigan.

Along Lake Shore Drive, the Near South Side includes some of Chicago's best-known structures: Soldier Field, home of the NFL's Chicago Bears; McCormick Place, Chicago's primary convention center; the Museum Campus, which contains the Field Museum, the Shedd Aquarium, and the Adler Planetarium; and Northerly Island. The area is currently undergoing a major residential and mixed-use redevelopment.

The Chicago Park District is a municipal government agency of the City of Chicago. It is one of the oldest and the largest park districts in the United States.

As of 2016, there are over 600 parks included in the Chicago Park District as well as 27 beaches, 10 boat docking harbors, two botanic conservatories, a zoo, 11 museums, and one stadium. The Chicago Park District also has more than over 230 field houses, 78 public pools, and dozens of sports and recreational facilities, with year-round programming. It also owns and operates the lakefront stadium, Soldier Field, which the Chicago Bears and Chicago Fire FC lease. The district is an independent taxing authority as defined by Illinois State Statute and is considered a separate (or "sister") agency of the City of Chicago. The district's headquarters are located in the Brighton Park community area on the West Side of Chicago.

Soldier Field (historically often referred to as Soldiers' Field) is a multi-purpose stadium on the Near South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1924 and reconstructed in 2003, the stadium has served as the home of the Chicago Bears from the National Football League (NFL) since 1971, as well as Chicago Fire FC of Major League Soccer (MLS) from 1998 to 2006 and since 2020. It also regularly hosts stadium concerts and other large crowd events. The stadium has a football capacity of 62,500, making it the smallest stadium in the NFL. Soldier Field is also the oldest stadium established in the NFL and 3rd oldest in MLS.

The stadium's interior was rebuilt as part of a major renovation project in 2002, which modernized the facility but lowered its seating capacity, eventually causing it to be delisted as a National Historic Landmark in 2006. Soldier Field has served as the home venue for a number of other sports teams in its history, including the Chicago Cardinals of the NFL and University of Notre Dame football. It hosted the 1994 FIFA World Cup, the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup, and multiple CONCACAF Gold Cup championships. In 1968, it hosted the inaugural World Games of the Special Olympics, as well as its second World Games in 1970. Other historic events have included large rallies with speeches, including by Amelia Earhart, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Martin Luther King Jr.

Museum Campus is a 57-acre (23 ha) park in Chicago along Lake Michigan. It encompasses five of the city's major attractions: the Adler Planetarium, America's first planetarium; the Shedd Aquarium; the Field Museum of Natural History; Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League; and the Lakeside Center of McCormick Place. Spanning from Roosevelt Road in the north to the terminus of the Stevenson Expressway at Lake Shore Drive in the south, the Museum Campus consists of the southeastern portion of Grant Park, the entirety of Northerly Island, and the northern portion of Burnham Park.

The NFC Championship Game is the annual championship game of the National Football Conference (NFC) and one of the two semifinal playoff games of the National Football League (NFL), the largest professional American football league in the world. The game is played on the last Sunday in January by the two remaining playoff teams, following the NFC postseason's first two rounds. The NFC champion then advances to face the winner of the AFC Championship Game in the Super Bowl.

The game was established as part of the 1970 merger between the NFL and the American Football League (AFL), with the merged league realigning into two conferences. Since 1984, each winner of the NFC Championship Game has also received the George Halas Trophy, named after the co-founder of the NFL and founder and longtime owner of the Chicago Bears, George Halas.