Chicago Rush

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Chicago Rush
Conference	American
Division	Central
Year founded	2001
Home arena	Allstate Arena
City, State	Chicago, Illinois
Wild card titles	4: 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006
Division titles	2: 2002, 2004
Conference titles	1: 2006
ArenaBowl championships	1: 2006

The Chicago Rush are a 2001 Arena Football League expansion team. They are currently the defending ArenaBowl champions.

[edit] History

The team began play in 2001 and is based in Rosemont, Illinois, northwest of Chicago and near O'Hare International Airport. The team plays its home games at Allstate Arena (formerly known as the Rosemont Horizon), the same venue previously used by the Chicago Bruisers, one of the four original Arena Football League teams. The Rush competes in the Central Division of the American Conference. Mike Ditka is a co-owner of the team.

The Rush have made the playoffs every year in the franchise's short history, and so far, they have made one Arena Bowl appearance. In their inagural year (2001), the Rush won their very first playoff game, beating the Orlando Predators 41-26, but lost to the eventual ArenaBowl XV champion Grand Rapids Rampage 53-21. In 2002, the Rush won the AC Central and got a Bye in the Playoffs. They won over the Dallas Desperados 60-47, but fell in the AC Championship to the Arizona Rattlers 46-35. In 2003, the Rush had a .500 regular season, yet got into the playoffs. They fell in Round 1 to the New York Dragons 48-45. In 2004, 11-5 helped the Rush win the AC Central. They won Round 1 over the Orlando Predators 59-49, but they fell in Round 2 to the eventual ArenaBowl XVIII champion San Jose SaberCats 49-35. In 2005, they went to the AFL playoffs as the #3 seed. They won Round 1 over the Los Angeles Avengers 52-45, but ended up losing the American Conference Championship Game to the eventual Arena Bowl Champion Colorado Crush in overtime, with a final score of 49-43.

In 2006, despite a losing record of 7-9, the Rush got into the playoffs as an AC Wildcard, with the conference's #5 seed. In the playoffs, the Rush managed to pull off key upsets. In the Wild Card Round, the Rush won over the fourth-seeded Nashville Kats 55-47. In the Divisional Round, Chicago managed to pull off a huge upset, by taking down the defending champs, the Colorado Crush, with a final score of 63-46. Then, they managed to upset the second-seeded San Jose SaberCats in the AC Championship game 59-56, giving the Rush their very first Arena Bowl appearance in franchise history, where they defeated the Orlando Predators 69-61 in ArenaBowl XX, giving the Chicago Rush their first ArenaBowl title.

Quarterback Matt D'Orazio won the Offensive Player of the Game Award, Wide Receiver/Defensive Back Dennison Robinson won the Defensive Player of the Game Award, and Fullback/Linebacker Bob McMillen won the Ironman of the Game Award.

The Rush's official mascot is a friendly construction worker named Grabowski[1], a reference to Chicago's blue collar [2] background, which was coined by Mike Ditka in January of 1986 .

[edit] Season-by-season

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties

[edit] Head Coaches

2001-present Mike Hohensee

[edit] Team Roster

[edit] External links

• Chicago Rush Official Website
• Rush Arena Bowl Story in Arizona's S&E News