59 Comments - Flyin'Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 9:40 am: The thread, unlike the Bears receivers, is open. - 47th Ward - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 9:45 am: Whether intentionally or not, the team raised expectations for this year. Fields was set to excel in Year 3, the defense has seven new starters, they used their top draft pick on an offensive tackle. They got a true number one receiver. And the wheels have completely fallen off. They would have been better off if instead of raising expectations, they simply said the rebuild is continuing and we aren’t close yet. That would have the benefit of being true and then I wouldn’t feel cheated watching these guys make dumb moves. First play of the first drive of the second half? Delay of game penalty. How does that happen? - Huh? - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 9:45 am: JS Mill needs to file another missing person’s report. - JS Mill - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 9:48 am: =JS Mill needs to file another missing person’s report.= Actually, I just contacted my attorney and I am filing suit against Rich for mental anguish for having a Bears thread. The blog is my safe place and Rich has corrupted this safe place with Bears talk. I have been triggered and don’t feel safe. /s maybe. Also, at this point I am hoping the “team” goes missing. - James the Intolerant - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 9:49 am: Never trust a team that wins the offseason. Best draft, best free agents, new President so top notch organization. Sheesh. - Rich Miller - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 9:50 am: ===unlike the Bears=== The Comcast post-game show spent some time analyzing a play during which the offensive line did an excellent job but no receivers were open. The analysts somehow didn’t notice that *9* Bears players were either on or behind (QB) the line, leaving just two players downfield. That isn’t football. I’ve been covering government long enough to recognize bureaucrats overcompensating for criticism - in this case, about the offensive line’s severe shortcomings. - Frida's boss - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 9:54 am: Rivers had the line yesterday at 3.5 at midnight last night. Today it’s at a 3, in favor of the Broncos. Just staggering to see how bad this team really is. It was like watching the Sox or Bulls this past year. Just when you think it’s done being as bad as it can get, it gets worse. - Gravitas - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 9:54 am: It is difficult to see any improvement absent an ownership change or a dramatic overhaul of the front office. One wonders if the franchise would be better or worse if George S. Halas, Jr., had not predeceased his father. Once Muggs passed away, the ownership of the team passed to his older sister, Virginia McCaskey. Papa Bear (George S. Halas, Sr.) had groomed his son to succeed him. - FormerParatrooper - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 9:55 am: That was an ugly game. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 10:00 am: ===his son=== Women can’t manage or own franchises to run them well? You have no idea how GSH raised Virginia or how her own SON screwed up family ownership to winning football. You are wholly ignorant to Mike McCaskey because it has to be “about a woman” - Bruce( no not him) - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 10:02 am: It’s gonna be another long cold winter for Bears fans. - Annonin' - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 10:03 am: Just another dose of the McCaskey magic….BTW while Capt. Fax raises the idea a vote to hasten the exit… why would Arlington Heights want to spend millions AND add to the empty office/apartment glut. We are guessing they now realize this boondoogle does not work. - Jerry - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 10:04 am: Just letting the Bears new “President” know that the team is free to build a stadium where ever, or when ever they want, with their own money. Don’t go mooching at the public trough for guv’mint handouts. Other wealthy team owners have built their own stadiums out of pocket. - TradedUpForMitch - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 10:08 am: How about that T-Formation though? Pretty innovative. Thrilled the nation. Never forget. - Larry Bowa Jr. - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 10:09 am: No need to apportion blame among the McCaskeys. It doesn’t really matter who’s responsible for what behind the scenes there, what matters is this franchise has been consistently awful since free agency came to the NFL and its leadership has never at any point demonstrated a coherent vision for how to be something other than that. The saddest thing to me is all the Bears fans on reddit/twitter telling themselves Kevin Warren will fix mess because “he’s a football guy!” (he’s actually a basketball guy). - Henry Francis - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 10:09 am: The rot is so deep with this franchise. Remember 10 years ago they interviewed Bruce Arians to be head coach, and decided to go with a guy from the CFL? (Trestman). The 2 most important decisions a franchise can make is who is going to be head coach and who is going to be QB. No team has hired more head coaches that are in way over their head. And no team has wasted more draft capital on QBs. The only solace I can take is that I am not a Jets fan. How did the Bares not trade up to draft Zach Wilson? - Sox Fan - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 10:10 am: ===It is difficult to see any improvement absent an ownership change or a dramatic overhaul of the front office.=== Story of my Chicago fandom. It’s crazy that I’m jealous of Cubs fans these days - Suburban Mom - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 10:12 am: Got a kick out of all the headlines from Chicago outlets that were like STOP EMBARRASSING US IN FRONT OF TAYLOR SWIFT, PLEASE - Gravitas - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 10:19 am: @Oswego Willy: Thanks for inserting gender bias into a comment where no such slight was intended. By the way, you omitted to note that Mrs. McCaskey is over 100 years old. Actually, I know something about the Halas family as they were former residents of my old neighborhood and once belonged to our local church. The Vanisi family lived on my street. Their son, Jerry, was the general manager of the Bears during the successful 1985. Before NFL franchises became hugely profitable, the team was operated like a mom and pop corner grocery store. A common criticism is that the front office still resembles the Bailey Building & Loan in Bedford Falls. - Arsenal - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 10:20 am: ==Has anyone considered that maybe the team wants to tank in such a thoroughly horrific manner that Chicago legislators will actually be eager to vote for a bill that subsidizes their exit from the city?== This is funny, but for real, when I saw how poorly they were handling the stadium process, I thought to myself, “Oh no, they’re going to ruin Justin Fields, too, aren’t they?” - Ducky LaMoore - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 10:20 am: It has forever been known that football games are won and lost at the line of scrimmage. The fact that the Bears seemed to not prioritize the o and d lines is total incompetence. That is on the GM. But the fact that the coaching staff can’t put together a game plan that can mitigate weaknesses is equally troubling. And I find myself sitting here wondering… should they just fire everyone now…? What benefits are there to waiting…? - mrp - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 10:21 am: The seeping blob of legalized sports betting will further corrupt and tarnish the games. Happy Monday from Debbie Downer - Friendly Bob Adams - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 10:23 am: The current situation reminds me a bit of waiting and waiting for Bobby Douglass to become a better quarterback. - CentralILCentrist - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 10:30 am: On the plus side, you won’t have to worry about cap space to pay +50mil/yr for the young QB… - DeeLay - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 10:30 am: Somehow this coaching staff has taken a 1,000-yard rushing QB and forced him into a pocket passer role. Fields has regressed to making worse mistakes than his rookie season. The DC leaves within 10 days of the first game, and the defense can’t do anything right. They SHOULD beat the Broncos, but how do you expect that to happen when they struggle to do the basics? - Oswego Willy - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 10:31 am: - Gravitas - ===Once Muggs passed away, the ownership of the team passed to his older sister, Virginia McCaskey. Papa Bear (George S. Halas, Sr.) had groomed his son to succeed him.=== For someone with the “I know” in law Uncle take when called out, omitting Michael McCaskey running the franchise is you showing that bias. You’re so ingrained to the bias you feel either a need to forget Mike or just wanna blame “the woman” Go back to bed, start your day over. - Rabid - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 10:34 am: Bears went to a Taylor Swift concert and a football game broke out - Roadrager - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 10:35 am: ==Actually, I know something about the Halas family as they were former residents of my old neighborhood and once belonged to our local church.== You could always spot their contribution in the collection plate. Look for the quarters with the pinch marks. ==Before NFL franchises became hugely profitable, the team was operated like a mom and pop corner grocery store.== In so many ways, it still is. Not in the “Locals love this place, and that’s why it’s still up and running after more than a century in business” way, but in the “Owners of this rundown corner store, notorious for price gouging, know exactly whose bread to butter to keep competition off the block.” Anyway, to keep the mom-and-pop shop simile going, the Bears literally play a team owned by the Walmart family next week. - walker - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 10:36 am: Surprisingly: Some people at the doors actually are linking Bears’ on-field performance to their support for the Bears moving here. SMDH - sulla - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 10:42 am: I hope Virginia McCaskey lives forever. - CLJ - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 10:42 am: The game was so bad that Fox switched coverage to the Dallas-Arizona game in my market and I assume all non-local KC-Chi markets. I was hoping to see KC run the score up more than what Miami did to Denver. Lean in to the Bad. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 10:45 am: ===Before NFL franchises became hugely profitable, the team was operated like a mom and pop corner grocery store. A common criticism is that the front office still resembles the Bailey Building & Loan in Bedford Falls.=== “And?” Explain who the Hunt family is, and their franchise? Also, who are the Rooneys, Maras, and if they have had success. Failing to what we mortals see as failure as opposed to 32 socialized business “pods” reaping billions is adorable, “on us” to what constitutes good ownership. “Reg, you don’t understand high finance” - Grandson of Man - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 10:54 am: Maybe Fields is a worse version of Trubisky, someone with limited pocket passing ability but who can run. But it all starts with ownership, with so many bad hiring decisions and lack of a winning plan. What else would explain so many failed coaching regimes and quarterbacks, so many changes? That’s why this problem won’t get fixed. It’s way beyond embarrassing now. I - Proud Papa Bear - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 10:57 am: Can we use Halas Hall to house migrants? Obviously, the Bears aren’t using it for practice. - Chisox fan - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 11:03 am: The Bears are historically bad this year as indicated by being a likely 2-point underdog at home next week against a team that just gave up 70 points. It all starts at the top and my two favorite teams (Bears/Sox) have owners who have combined to bring a grand total of one championship over the past 37 years. - Jocko - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 11:05 am: No slight on Virginia, but the organization rot of that program goes WAY deep. 1. Mel Tucker worked for the Bears and went on FMLA right before being possibly fired. 2. The Alan Williams thing having been (and continuing to be) a debacle. 3. The fact that Eberflus wasn’t fired in the parking lot. - Redundantly Bitter South Sider - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 11:09 am: For a long time, the Blackhawks were the worst run team in Chicago. They had an aging, second generation owner who was disconnected from the modern business model of operating a sports franchise (kinda like the Bears.) And he was surrounded by cronies in his front office who were retained for decades out of a sense of loyalty rather than job performance (like the White Sox.) When Bill Wirtz passed things change quickly. The Bears and White Sox need a similar paradigm shift — one that will only come from a change in ownership. - Pundent - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 11:13 am: =Maybe Fields is a worse version of Trubisky, someone with limited pocket passing ability but who can run. = I’m not willing to make that leap. My sense is that if Patrick Mahomes were drafted by this organization he’d look a lot like Justin Fields. They’ve done a horrific job of developing players. It goes beyond the players and coaches. Whether it’s personnel or the location of their stadium, it’s simply a poorly run organization. That falls squarely on the ownership. - Rich Miller - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 11:14 am: ===if Patrick Mahomes were drafted by this organization he’d look a lot like Justin Fields=== Agreed. - Snowman61 - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 11:18 am: The Bears had so much attention and fun with the 1st round pick last year that they decided to tank this year to get it again. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 11:19 am: Things I know; The Bears as an organization do not develop talent at ANY position, let alone QB, and being drafted by this franchise means your growth is the ceiling you bring to Halas Hall your first day. The 85 Bears, yeah, let’s look there, each of the “franchise” players had best years not base years to the seasons that followed. No growth, just what “they had” Also, You can’t “Lane Kiffin” coaches and then think the next hire to run the coaching operations of a franchise will see your job as desirable. - sewer thoughts - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 11:20 am: “That’s a bold strategy Cotton, let’s see how it plays out for him.” is going to be stuck in my head all day because of the prompt. Can they get the Panthers to tank too so they have two top 5 picks? I would say I recommend JT O’Sullivans youtube breakdown of Justin Fields’ game against TB and the offense as a whole but only with the caveat that intrinsic to the human experience is suffering and that video made me feel very very human last week. - Roadrager - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 11:20 am: ==“Reg, you don’t understand high finance”== OW, methinks the Bears’ move to Arlington Heights is looking more and more like the Chiefs’ relocation to Florida with each passing day. - Homebody - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 11:23 am: I’m not a Bears fan, but I will keep beating my “no public dollars or tax breaks for billionaire entertainment businesses” drum. The research is conclusive that there is little to no return on investment for the public. That being said, bad teams will never stop being bad until there are consequences to it. People need to stop going to games. - Suburbanon - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 11:28 am: To paraphrase a wise football guru: The Bears are who we thought they were! - Oswego Willy - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 11:34 am: - Roadrager - lol, yeah. Only the McCaskeys could find a back way to buy property without any breaks or deals and still sell the team with all that mess as an asset. Lots to be said for generational wealth still getting lucky. - Jerry - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 11:48 am: I agree completely with the above point about what probably would have been the outcome with Mahomes if the Bears had drafted him. - Independent - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 12:03 pm: I believe it’s after this, Fields’ third year, that the Bears need to decide whether to pick up his fifth year option. Right now it’s an easy call. - Grandson of Man - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 12:24 pm: Didn’t new quarterbacks used to be groomed, where they would not start right away, but learn from the sidelines? With the Bears, new quarterbacks are “thrown to the wolves” with no offensive line protection or a chance to develop. Broken before they have a chance to learn the right way. - ChrisB - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 12:55 pm: OW To be fair to Gravitas, Virginia was positively ruthless in the 80s with her handling of her niece and nephew’s stock. I think that’s what he was alluding to, not how the McCaskeys have bumbled through ownership for the last 40 years. https://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/02/business/chicago-bears-unhappy-heirs-and-a-stock-dispute.html - Oswego Willy - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 1:00 pm: ===To be fair=== Then it is a bit more on point to the first comment, no? The point was about “the son” I hear ya. - Appears - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 1:33 pm: As bad as the Bears are, at least they aren’t as incompetent as the IGOP. - The Magnificent Puurple Walnut - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 1:58 pm: 13 losses in a row. BRUTAL. What is not brutal is the value of the franchise. Forbes claims the Bears have a value of 6.3 Billion dollars. Up 9% annually. They may be down in the standings and in the PR department, but they seem to be doing pretty well at the bank. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 2:02 pm: ===Forbes claims the Bears have a value of 6.3 Billion dollars.=== So the Bears gained, by Forbes’ own measure, $500 million, or a half of a billion dollars… because the Commanders were sold. That’s the ball game, or the football franchise. A half of a billion in worth… because they ate donuts, drank hotel coffee, and voted for a sale of another team. Not one nickel to a building. Not one. - Independent - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 3:46 pm: The latest line is Denver by 3.5. That shows how lowly people think of the Bears that they are 3.5 pt underdogs against a winless team that just lost by 50. - Just a guy - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 3:53 pm: - The Magnificent Puurple Walnut - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 1:58 pm: “13 losses in a row. BRUTAL. What is not brutal is the value of the franchise. Forbes claims the Bears have a value of 6.3 Billion dollars. Up 9% annually. They may be down in the standings and in the PR department, but they seem to be doing pretty well at the bank.” And that is exactly why this franchise will never be competitive until it’s sold. You have an owner that has no outside income, no business conglomerate, no real estate holdings, no oil company, to underwrite the profitability of a professional football franchise in today’s NFL. To think otherwise is sadly foolish. Does the family have money because the team has value? Of course they do. But they don’t have the money to compete with a Jerry Jones or a Robert Kraft or a Stan Kronke until they sell the team - and then they don’t have a team anymore. It’s the same reason the Bears don’t fire coaches and staff during the season - they don’t want to have to pay people for work they aren’t going to have to do. I just feel bad for the fans - because as long as that family keeps control, you’re going to keep having the same results. - 13th - Monday, Sep 25, 23 @ 10:14 pm: I know this is late in night, but this reminds me of the St. Louis Rams the last two year before they moved.. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Sep 26, 23 @ 7:56 am: ===But they don’t have the money to compete with a Jerry Jones or a Robert Kraft or a Stan Kronke=== Narrator: The NFL is not MLB or any other sport. There is a hard salary cap. The wealth of ownership and what they spend isn’t a factor, it’s a red herring. If you are fooled into this “but wealthy owners” ridiculousness, you are fooling yourself. The salary cap is also why the NFL is socialist in its practices to teams. Good try. No. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Sep 26, 23 @ 7:58 am: This alone… ===…the Bears don’t fire coaches and staff during the season - they don’t want to have to pay people for work they aren’t going to have to do.=== I took out “it’s the same reason” because you aren’t using the salary cap correctly. How many NFL teams current have 3 or more fired coaches on payrolls? Take your time. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.