By: Alex Patt
It becomes more and more embarrassing to be a fan of the Chicago Bears every passing week. Every year I try to tell myself to not invest too much emotion into the Bears and keep my expectations at a minimum…and YET I find myself getting angry every Sunday from September through December as the team discovers new ways to lose.
The sports world sits and laughs at the Bears. They have not lived up to the reputation they once had as one of the proudest franchises in sports in my entire life. Outside of their Super Bowl trip in 2006, they have won absolutely nothing in the past three decades. All the GMs, coaches, and quarterbacks the Bears have gone through in 30 years had all come in providing fans with hope, only to see it all fizzle out fast.
The charter franchise of the NFL has not won a Super Bowl in 36 years, has only one NFC title since, only five playoff wins in nine total playoff appearances since 1990, and six winning seasons since 2005. To put some of that in perspective, only roughly 30% of their last 30 seasons have seen the playoffs.
The Chicago Bears faithful should not have to cope by saying, “At least we are not the Detroit Lions” every year. It is so sad that the ceiling of expectations for this team is simply being better than the Lions. The ceiling should be consistently contending every season, something fans have not seen the Bears do since the 1980s. Yet here we are.
The McCaskey family has owned this team throughout all of this. Virginia McCaskey, the daughter of the late George Stanley Halas, has been the owner of the Bears since Halas died in 1983. She inherited Walter Payton and many of the eventual 1985 Super Bowl winners. Members of her immediate family have held various tasks running the organization, with her son George being the current chairman.
Look, I do not think the McCaskeys are bad people and I would not want to attack them personally. Furthermore, I do not think I can blame the current mess on 98-year old Virginia herself as she is likely not making the big decisions at this point. But this family has shown time and time again they do not know how to run an NFL team in the modern era.
This is the same family that has kept Ted Phillips, an accountant, serving as team president since the 90s. Again I do not want to personally attack Phillips, I am sure he is a nice fella and a good businessman, but he is not a football expert…he is a businessman. Want to keep him to run just the business side of things only? Fine. But being team president? Since 1999 they have gone through five head coaches and four GMs…all of that for three measly playoff wins.
The sad thing is, even if they get rid of the current regime, why the heck should fans trust the people at Halas Hall to hire the right people? Remember when they turned away Bruce Arians to hire Marc Trestman from the Canadian Football League? Oh, wait! Don’t worry! They will consult with 80-year old Ernie Accorsi, who retired over a decade ago!
At the end of the day, the results speak for themselves. It all starts at the top. This has not been a winning team in a long time and it does not look like that will change anytime soon. Justin Fields will not save this team alone. We will get fed the same old, “Mom is pissed off” from George and the process will just start all over again.
Hire a president of football operations with a football background. Let that guy hire a GM and a head coach. Go buy that land in Arlington Heights and build an actual NFL stadium. Stop with the refusal to make changes mid-season. Show us you actually care like you claim you do.
Hell, I wish they would sell the damn team…that is what I REALLY want. That is probably not happening though. They are especially not going to sell to the city of Chicago (LMAO).
I am just so sick of this team being a joke. I am tired of being owned by the Green Bay Packers. I am tired of having my hopes dashed every year. I just want a good football team that is fun to watch. Enough is enough. I am officially done with the Chicago Bears…until their next game. Just like every damn week.
Ugh.
Alex Patt Sports Chat 