Latest rankings prove to be a bad look for Chicago with Indiana moving quick to potentially steal the Bears
The back-of-mind stadium news regarding the Chicago Bears is starting to build real momentum.
Amidst the Chicago Bears success during the 2025-26 season, the organization has been slowly progressing with the stadium talks regarding the future home of the franchise.
The start of the season, and eventual playoff push, was not the time to bring up the conversation regarding the team’s eventual move, or even the possibility of the Bears leaving Chicago with sights potentially set on Indiana.
But, with the season now behind us, it is time to consider the future and what that future is going to look like for the Bears, beyond what the team puts on the field.
Bears ranked last in 2025 regular season attendance totals
FOX Sports posted a very telling graphic this week detailing the attendance totals for all 32 teams during the 2025 regular season. The Bears ranked last with an attendance number of 465,014.
If you divide that number by the number of home games played this season (8), you get an average attendance of 58,127. These numbers make sense considering Soldier Field has one of the league’s smallest capacities with a capacity of 61,500.
Granted, the Bears had a strong homefield advantage this season going 7-3 at home when you factor in the two home playoff games, including the thunderous crowd during the wild card win over the Green Bay Packers.
“I want to thank our fans,” Bears general manager Ryan Poles said. “As coach [Johnson] said, I’ll never forget those playoff games. The games at the end of the season, they brought it. I had never seen Soldier Field like that before. I can’t wait to get back to that point. I had family members flying in to O’Hare texting me, saying, ‘I’ve never seen anything like this’ in terms of the amount of pride that our fans had, wearing their Bears gear, pumped up about the upcoming game.
“We felt that, and that’s part of the job that we don’t talk about a lot. It’s just inspiring our fan base, inspiring the community, bringing that joy and that fun to the community because of the football team and how they’re doing.”
At the same time, those numbers are telling and it speaks to why the Bears are eager to get stadium plans off the ground as soon as possible to build a state-of-the-art stadium that can pack more devoted Bears fans. The only problem for fans is that Indiana seems to be making the most progress.
Indiana passes Chicago Bears stadium bill
On Wednesday, the Indiana senate unanimously approved a bill to establish a Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority. It’s similar to what the state did to eventually build Lucas Oil Stadium, the home of the Indianapolis Colts.
It just goes to show that the state is moving quick with this plan of bringing the Bears to Northwest Indiana and making a strong push while Illinois continue to work things out behind the scenes with the proposed Arlington Heights plan.
When team president Kevin Warren first mentioned Northwest Indiana as a potential destination to build the new Bears stadium, he made sure to note that this wasn’t a leverage move. It still certainly feels like one by forcing both states into this tug-of-war. It’s very similar to what just transpired between Missouri and Kansas with the Kansas City Chiefs now expected to cross state lines.
The good news is that things can start moving quickly with two different states involved aiming to land the Bears. This will continue to be a developing situation for months to come.
Chicago Bears News
Bears insider points to positive momentum for Ben Johnson when it comes to retaining vital pieces to his coaching staff
The Chicago Bears might not lose any more members of Ben Johnson’s staff this cycle.
