Old article, but nothing has changed in 6 years.
https://www.sj-r.com/story/sports/2018/ ... 365934007/The Bears are searching for their third coach since 2013 after winning just 27 games with 53 losses in that span, but the way Dan Hampton sees it, the franchise's fortunes might be different if former team President George "Mugs" Halas Jr. hadn't died of a heart attack in December 1979 at age 54.
"My rookie year, the last game, I come down to breakfast and everybody's acting real quiet. And I said, 'Who died?' And they look at me and I said, 'What?' They said, 'Mugsy.' Mugsy Halas died upstairs that night before the game," said Hampton, a Hall of Fame defensive lineman and member of the 1985 Super Bowl champion Bears. "Halas (Sr.) wanted Mugsy to run the team. And when he died, then he knew the next in line was Mike (McCaskey), and he went to his grave wanting to avoid it at all cost. Because he knew Mike didn't have that type of intuition and mentality."
When George Halas Sr. died in 1983, Virginia Halas McCaskey and sons Michael and George inherited control of the team.
"It's strange, the McCaskeys' grandfather -- I'm talking about Mike and George and the rest of them -- their grandfather invented the NFL, but they don't know much about football," Hampton said. "So think about that. Your grandfather invented the Model A and became Ford, but you don't know anything about cars. There's kind of a disconnect.
SPORTS
Former Bear Hampton points finger at McCaskeys
McCaskeys ‘don’t know much about football’
Phil Thompson, Chicago Tribune
Dan Hampton is interviewed following the premiere of the film "'85 Bears" at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018. (CantonRep.com / Scott Heckel)
The Bears are searching for their third coach since 2013 after winning just 27 games with 53 losses in that span, but the way Dan Hampton sees it, the franchise's fortunes might be different if former team President George "Mugs" Halas Jr. hadn't died of a heart attack in December 1979 at age 54.
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"My rookie year, the last game, I come down to breakfast and everybody's acting real quiet. And I said, 'Who died?' And they look at me and I said, 'What?' They said, 'Mugsy.' Mugsy Halas died upstairs that night before the game," said Hampton, a Hall of Fame defensive lineman and member of the 1985 Super Bowl champion Bears. "Halas (Sr.) wanted Mugsy to run the team. And when he died, then he knew the next in line was Mike (McCaskey), and he went to his grave wanting to avoid it at all cost. Because he knew Mike didn't have that type of intuition and mentality."
When George Halas Sr. died in 1983, Virginia Halas McCaskey and sons Michael and George inherited control of the team.
"It's strange, the McCaskeys' grandfather -- I'm talking about Mike and George and the rest of them -- their grandfather invented the NFL, but they don't know much about football," Hampton said. "So think about that. Your grandfather invented the Model A and became Ford, but you don't know anything about cars. There's kind of a disconnect.
"Everybody thinks it's about X's and O's. That's part of it, but a lot of it is about knowing the people, the coaches, the players. (Mike) Ditka said (in the documentary "85: The Greatest Team in Football History"): 'We had a lot of good players and we had some people who didn't need to be on the team. My job was deciding which ones were which.' OK? The McCaskeys don't know who is who yet. That's why they had to go out and hire people to find Phil Emery, which was a disaster. A search firm to find him? Are you kidding me? They need to lose whatever credibility they had.
"And then they had to go out and hire Ernie Accorsi to find John Fox, a drinking buddy from 20 years earlier. Again, people that know will always know, and people that don't will never."
Hampton said he likes the McCaskey family and feels they've invested a lot into making the team better, but they just don't have the courage of conviction to make sound football decisions.
"Football coaches basically were players that loved the game and wanted to stay in it, so you're not dealing with really sophisticated people, but everybody's got a story and they're going to tell you how great they are," Hampton said. "You've got know what to look at to identify who can cut it. Halas (Sr.) knew that Ditka could cut it. Mugsy's the one that hired (general manager Jim) Finks."
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