Poll of the Day: Do you like the Chicago Bears’ “C” logo?

In a recent market research poll, FanJuicer.com had each logo in the NFL ranked from one to thirty-two. I was surprised where the iconic Chicago Bears’ “C” came in on their list. It was 28th overall, better than only the Washington Redskins (29), Cincinnati Bengals (30), New York Jets (31) and Cleveland Browns (32).

I thought the classic, old school “C” would have ranked higher, but maybe it’s just too classic and old school for the current fan-base.

The other one letter logo, the “G” from the Green Bay Packers, ranked 20th. The Minnesota Vikings and the Detroit Lions cracked the top five, coming in at five and two respectively.

Fan Juicer spoke with an anonymous graphic designer, and here’s his take on the Bears’ current helmet logo.

I’m not sure how I feel about the underbite on the “C.” I can see how this would be a polarizing feature of this logo. I wish to an extent that it met up more evenly. I think they could have had the bottom meet up in a more even fashion and still maintained the sharpness, of the “C,” which I like. I don’t mind the point [ON THE BACK SIDE OF THE “C”], without the point it would be super boring. The point actually does add something from a design standpoint that makes it stand out.

I wanted to get a take from a graphic designer that is a friend of the program, so I reached out to David Taylor from Cheeky Monkey Art, who used to do all our fun photoshops here at WCG. He did all my Sackwatch logos, and back in the day he had his own section (One Stop ‘Shop).

David isn’t very fond of the “C” either calling it, “Boring and outdated. Which isn’t surprising since the team is run by the McCaskey’s, the personification of the previously stated terms.”

Here’s his full reasoning.

The Bears “iconic” wishbone C was taken from the University of Chicago and similar logos have been used by the Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, a part of the Minnesota Twins logo, Chicago Cardinals, Catawba College, Chapman University, etc etc etc.

There is nothing wrong with a classic logo, but the logo is so ubiquitous and there is even a long debate of who stole the logo first: the Reds or the Bears. Bottom 5 is where I would put the Bears logo as well. Because it could easily be mistaken for a number of other things with a small color change, and the Bears, a professional sports team that pays players millions a year, deserve a logo that is all their own.

The logo was originally used back in the late 1900’s and while I’m all for history, something as old, tired, and overused needs an update. Aesthetically, it definitely could be more pleasing to the eye, even evening out the “C” would make it look cleaner. Overall, it feels lazily designed for today’s standards, and takes seconds to recreate.

Maybe fans want something a bit edgier or more ferocious looking. Recently the Bears launched a new Monsters of the Midway marketing campaign with artwork by former Bears’ defensive lineman, Israel Idonije, and he came up the following for the Bear.

Here’s how things have looked through the years.

The Bears do have a few other common logos in use for licensing.

How about the classic Bear?

Or what about the script “B” that is often seen embroidered on hats?

What about this one?

Vote in our poll of the day, and if you are sick of the “C” tell us in the comment section what logo you want to see on the helmet.