| 1990 Chicago Bears season | |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Mike Ditka |
| Home field | Soldier Field |
| Results | |
| Record | 11–5 |
| Division place | 1st NFC Central |
| Playoff finish | Won Wild Card Playoffs (vs. Saints) 16–6 Lost Divisional Playoffs (at Giants) 3–31 |
The 1990 Chicago Bears season was their 71st regular season and 20th postseason completed in the National Football League (NFL). The Bears were looking to return to the playoffs after missing them in 1989 and did so, winning their sixth NFC Central Division championship in seven seasons. With the change in playoff structuring that began in 1990, the Bears were not guaranteed a bye week for winning the division and had to play on Wild Card weekend. They defeated the New Orleans Saints 16–6 in the Wild Card round but were defeated by the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants at Giants Stadium 31–3 in the Divisional Playoffs. This was also the last division title the Bears would win until 2001.
For the only time in Mike Ditka's tenure as the Bears' head coach, the team played a regular season game in the state of Arizona when they visited the Phoenix Cardinals on October 28. Chicago left Tempe victorious; it was the Bears' first matchup against the Cardinals since Chicago visited the Cardinals in St. Louis six years earlier.
Late in the season, tragedy struck when defensive tackle Fred Washington, the Bears' second-round pick in the 1990 NFL draft, was killed in a car accident on December 21, 1990.[1]