This summer, the Bears will become the 18th team to participate in HBO's "Hard Knocks" documentary, the NFL, the Bears and Max announced on Thursday.
Part of the three-pronged criteria for a team's eligibility in being forced into participation is their absence from the documentary in the last 10 years. Because the Bears have never participated in the documentary dating back to its start in 2001, they qualified for forceful participation.
HBO has now covered 16 teams across 21 different versions of the documentary thus far. Along with the Bears this offseason, they'll notch another team in the New York Giants with a new offseason version of the documentary that stems from the end of the 2023 season to the beginning of the summer.
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Here are all the teams who have/will participate in the documentary. (Italicized teams are those who are slated to participate but have yet to do so.)
| Year | Team | Version |
| 2001 | Baltimore Ravens | Training Camp |
| 2002 | Dallas Cowboys | Training Camp |
| 2007 | Kansas City Chiefs | Training Camp |
| 2008 | Dallas Cowboys | Training Camp |
| 2009 | Cincinnati Bengals | Training Camp |
| 2010 | New York Jets | Training Camp |
| 2012 | Miami Dolphins | Training Camp |
| 2013 | Cincinnati Bengals | Training Camp |
| 2014 | Atlanta Falcons | Training Camp |
| 2015 | Houston Texans | Training Camp |
| 2016 | Los Angeles Rams | Training Camp |
| 2017 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Training Camp |
| 2018 | Cleveland Browns | Training Camp |
| 2019 | Oakland (now Las Vegas) Raiders | Training Camp |
| 2020 | Los Angeles Chargers and Rams | Training Camp |
| 2021 | Dallas Cowboys | Training Camp |
| 2021 | Indianapolis Colts | In-Season |
| 2022 | Detroit Lions | Training Camp |
| 2022 | Arizona Cardinals | In-Season |
| 2023 | New York Jets | Training Camp |
| 2023 | Miami Dolphins | In-Season |
| 2024 | New York Giants | Offseason |
| 2024 | Chicago Bears | Training Camp |
The Bears' version of the "Hard Knocks" documentary will first air on Aug. 6.