ARE BEARS THE WORST FRANCHISE IN SPORTS?

With McCaskeys at helm, who plays QB doesn’t matter

In January 1986, the Chicago Bears won Super Bowl XX. That’s Super Bowl 20 for those who prefer plain English. The Bears did it with the youngest team in the NFL. That Bears team is considered by many experts and fans as the single greatest Super Bowl team in NFL history. No team before, or since, has dominated and punished opponents like the 1985-86 Bears did.

Naturally, the expectation within the Bears organization, from fans and media in Chicago, as well as experts nationwide and likely everyone associated with the NFL, was the Chicago Bears would win more Super Bowls. Two, maybe three more titles seemed realistic.

The consensus was the Bears were about to become a dynasty.

Now, nearly 31 years later, and except for one losing appearance in 2006, the Bears have not sniffed the Super Bowl. Instead, they’ve stumbled and bumbled their way to insignificance with only five playoff appearances and four wins in playoff games since 1992.

Fans, who could be counted on to pack the NFL’s smallest (and ugliest) stadium, are staying away by the thousands. Some games as many as 7,500 to 10,000 fans to stay home.

Those who do show up at Soldier Field take part in the perfunctory pre-game tailgating along Chicago’s magnificent lakefront. But the buzz is gone.

In homes across Chicagoland, what used to be appointment viewing has turned into, “Well, if there is nothing to do I’ll watch the Bears game.” But if the weather is nice like it often is in Chicago in autumn, who wants to sit indoors to watch the Bears?

The grim truth is the Chicago Bears are the worst franchise in Chicago. Even the Bulls, who’ve become an NBA laughingstock, are a better franchise than the Bears.

For the Bears, what’s now at risk is becoming the worst franchise in American sports.

Unlike the Cleveland Browns, or any of the bad major league baseball franchises or inept NBA franchises, the Chicago Bears play in a city tailor-made for great sports franchises.

Third largest city in the U.S. with culture galore; restaurant city of the year, Hamilton selling out every night, world renown skyline, home of Obama, mind-expanding museums, the Bean, intellectually challenging universities, attractive to corporate headquarters, and intensely loyal sports fans.

Chicago is a vibrant city that should be a magnet for free agent players, great coaches and top-of-the-line sports executives.

Somehow, the Bears have not proven capable of leveraging all that Chicago has to offer to help them attract and retain the right management team, coaches, and players.

The Bears are a lumbering Amtrak while the NFL’s current top teams are modern-day bullet trains.

What ails the Bears is easy to see but harder to fix. There is a singular reason for the free fall the team has endured since the great 1985-86 Super Bowl Bears.

The McCaskey family.

Descendants of the NFL’s founding father, George Halas, the McCaskeys own the team but, unlike Papa Bear Halas, do not know much about running a professional football organization. And they’ve surrounded themselves with men who don’t appear to know much about developing a championship culture. The opposite of the Blackhawks and Cubs.

The first problem is that 94-year old Virginia McCaskey, daughter of George Halas, apparently signs off on major decisions, such as who the Bears hire for team president, GM, and head coach. Her son, the earnest but ineffective George McCaskey is chairman of the team and often appears befuddled.

Since George McCaskey became chairman in 2011, the Bears record is 43 wins, 64 losses and zero playoff appearances.

The team president hired years ago by the McCaskeys (Ted Philips), the general managers (several), and head coaches (several) the organization hired have not been championship quality. They replaced capable, knowledgeable football executives, like Jim Finks and Jerry Vainisi, with comparative novices.

The tone set by the McCaskey family, compared to Rocky Wirtz or Tom Ricketts, is not a winning tone. The culture is not a winning culture.

Bears executives rely on clichés and overdone references to “Bears tradition,” while some fans cling to the worn out “Bear weather” refrain. (In recent years the Bears have performed poorly in December “Bear weather” games.) You can almost hear the slogan “Make the Bears Great Again” echoing from Lake Forest.

Is anyone – players, fans, the media - inspired by the McCaskeys?

From the top of this organization on down, from Virginia and George McCaskey to Ted Phillips to General Manager Ryan Pace to Head Coach John Fox, is there a more lackluster group in pro sports? They could easily change the team name to the Chicago Bores.

Most often, the conversation surrounding the Bears is about who should play quarterback.

During the Jay Cutler-era the debate was, should the talented but erratic Cutler start, or should the non-flashy but reliable back-up Josh McNown start?

Earlier this year, there was disbelief when Bears GM Ryan Pace signed Mike Glennon, a barely mediocre back-up with Tampa Bay, to a guaranteed $18 million contract, and a promise to be the Bears starting QB this season. But then Pace gave up three draft picks to select QB Mitch Trubisky with the overall second pick in the draft. Soon the debate began; why draft Trubisky to sit behind the obviously inept Glennon?

After a handful of games, the Bears broke their promise and benched Glennon in favor of Trubisky. (It should be noted elite franchises never back themselves into a corner over players like Glennon.)

Meanwhile, the Bears season is in freefall. They will miss the playoffs for the 7th consecutive season. For the 4th consecutive season they will finish with a losing record. And, barring a miracle, they will finish last in the NFC North for the 4th consecutive season.

For the Bears, who plays QB is somewhat irrelevant.

What matters is, is there someone, anyone, among the McCaskey clan capable of channeling their inner Tom Ricketts or Rocky Wirtz, willing to post-haste shake up this disorganized, embarrassing organization.

Too bad the NFL cannot institute an eminent domain policy and take the team away from the affable, but hapless McCaskeys.

Douglas FreelandDecember 7, 2017