Not content with being routinely one of the worst teams in the NFL, the Chicago Bears are determined to establish themselves as the dumbest.
Any hope there was that the Bears were heading in a better direction with the fire general manager Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy Monday morning it had evaporated by midafternoon. Within an hour, Bears president George McCaskey said he was a “fanatic, not a soccer evaluator” but did not see the need for someone to supervise the team; He said that part of the new GM’s job would be to teach him the ropes; And, simply put, he called one of the team’s best and most respected players since the Bears of ’85 a liar.
Clearly, the brilliance and intelligence that made George Halas an NFL titan was not passed on to his descendants.
“We understand that a lot of Bears fans are unhappy, and we are unhappy too. And we are frustrated, ”McCaskey said. “And we understand that there really isn’t much that can be said today that makes people feel much better about the situation.
“The only opportunity to produce results is in the field,” McCaskey said. “And that won’t be for some time.”
And that’s where McCaskey, and the rest of his family, go wrong. Of course, the NFL is a results-oriented business, and it’s not as easy as snapping your fingers to get a team back in competition for a Super Bowl. His fans get it.
Where the McCaskeys have failed is in thinking that they can continue to operate their franchise as if it were still part of a league that is taking the Midwest by storm rather than the multi-million dollar international giant that is the NFL today. Personal relationships should not take precedence over knowledge and experience, however, they do with Bears. The ability to “collaborate” shouldn’t excuse ineptitude, but it does with the Bears. A collegiate atmosphere isn’t more important than a winning culture, but it is with the Bears.
The NFL is a fierce, what-have-done-for-me-now league, and McCaskey proved once again that he and his family are over their heads.
It’s a good move to remove Ted Phillips, longtime Chicago team president and CEO, from soccer operations. Phillips is a nice and loyal man, he is and always has been a money guy, and he has nothing to say about the direction of the team.
However, Phillips will continue to have a huge role, as he will serve on the search committee for the new GM and coach because, as McCaskey put it, “I totally trust Ted.” Worse still, McCaskey doesn’t see the need to hire a director of soccer operations, leaving everything to the general manager and putting himself in charge of deciding how things go.
Jerry Jones knows as much about football as anyone else in the NFL and even spoils it by not having a buffer between him and the team, someone who can evaluate the team’s day-to-day operations but also anticipates the long-term future. movements necessary for the success of a franchise. Do you really think McCaskey, who became president after a long stint at the box office, will fare better?
WHO IS OUTSIDE? Brian Flores of the Dolphins, Mike Zimmer of the Vikings, Matt Nagy of the Bears among those fired on monday
“Organizationally, it remains to be seen how much is going to change because I don’t have a general manager to report to me,” McCaskey said. “I have a lot to learn in that regard, and I am counting on the new general manager to help me in this process.”
That sound you hear is the cackle from the headquarters in Green Bay, knowing that the Packers’ supremacy in the best rivalry in the NFL is assured for another decade. And the howl of Bears fans, whose patience has been tested time and again since the glory days of Payton, McMahon and the Super Bowl Shuffle.
Bears fans are fiercely loyal, but they have their limits. Cold weather wasn’t the only reason for all the empty seats at Soldier Field at the end of the season, and a gleaming new stadium in the suburbs won’t be of much value if fans have turned their attention elsewhere.
Which brings me to McCaskey’s low shot to Olin Kreutz.
The offensive lineman was a Bears Bear, a brave and level-headed guy to whom the team’s history meant something. He has maintained ties with Chicago in his retirement, and his brutal honesty about the team and its shortcomings have only earned him more affection from fans.
So when McCaskey was asked about Kreutz’s claim last week that the team wanted him to join the coaching staff in 2018, but had offered him only $ 15 an hour, I should have known to take the right path. Instead, McCaskey got sarcastic.
“Over the years, I’ve learned to take almost everything Olin says with a grain of salt,” McCaskey said, his voice smug. “I look forward to hearing that story again and hope he includes it in his Hall of Fame induction speech.”
Kreutz responded, of course, and said he has receipts. Even if he didn’t, though, it wouldn’t matter. The Bears need a president who thinks big, not a narrow-minded one.
No one doubts that the McCaskeys love the Bears. But with each cycle of hiring and firing, each move rooted in the past rather than the future, it becomes increasingly clear that the Bears would be better off without them.
Follow USA TODAY sports columnist Nancy Armor on Twitter @nrarmour.
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism