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I accept the NFL is a business, but even in the most cut-throat businesses, some organizations treat their own like human beings. The Bears have failed in that capacity for many years.
More egregious than anything, falsifying medical records on players who were CLEARED to play, then suffered greater injury for doing so, is ethically and morally wrong. See Blake Brockermeyer, among others. Brockermeyer was one of several who pursued litigation because the team altered medical records after the fact.
It's impossible to forgive the Dave McGinnis fiasco. After offering McGinnis less money and one year less than the NFL standard contract for head coaches at that time (1999), the Bears asked him to lie to assistant coaches he was bringing in on how many years of their deals would be guaranteed. Then, before the contract was signed, they announced the deal and a news conference BEFORE McGinnis had the opportunity to discuss it with his boss, then-Arizona Cardinals head coach Vince Tobin.
They expected 7-time Pro Bowl center Jay Hilgenberg to take shots to get on the field for several years, then refused to budge on even a marginal amount of $$$ after Hilgenberg conceded he had "lost" the negotiation. They traded Jay to Cleveland for a fourth-round draft pick (wound up being G Todd Perry, Kentucky).
Keith Van Horne also took shots to play when he shouldn't have. So did Steve McMichael. Both of those very good players ended up in holdouts because of silly-low requests for raises. The acrimony between the Bears and McMichael was so strong, they let a 13-year warrior go over a measly $100K difference. Dave Duerson also was allowed to leave over a stupidly low salary increase request. Duerson still had several good years of football left in him.
I don't think Nick Saban would have made a good head coach, but fact is Jerry Angelo wanted him desperately after the Bears fired Dick Jauron. Saban had to be physically escorted out of the negotiating room when Chief Punk Ted Phillips was making requests similar to the ones that blew the McGinnis hiring. Angelo, by the way, was hired by a CONSULTING FIRM. Can you think of another pro sports franchise that doesn't trust its own top-level management types so it needs to outsource to make as a critical decision as hiring a GM?
Jim Morrissey was a few weeks from earning his pension. Because the Bears were in a losing season, they released Morrissey so they didn't have to pay a percentage of his pension. Morrissey, who was a new father at the time, wound up signing with the Packers and living in a hotel room in Green Bay to get the service time required to receive a pension.
There is also the high-level asshole factor. An organization should require at least ONE of its faces to be a tolerable human being. For several years however, nobody in the front office had the sack to pull Lovie Smith, Brian Urlacher or Jay Cutler aside and ask one of them to be more user friendly. I don't expect this of them as a member of the media; I expect it so the teams FANS have one of the most important figures in the organization to be likeable.
The Bears always have conducted themselves like minor leaguers when it comes to Soldier Field. They still have the Chicago Park District to blame for the unacceptable playing field. They were too cheap to hire Roger Bossard as a consultant. The two parties did sit down to negotiate. Bossard left the room shaking his head. When they finally renovated Soldier Field, they fucked it up. Chicago never will get a Super Bowl because of low seating capacity and the absence of a retractable roof. Even a cow town like Milwaukee has a retractable roof. Did I mention how ridiculous the stadium looks AFTER the renovation?
Lovie Smith, while a good defensive coach, was unwilling to hear anything defensive coordinator Ron Rivera suggested. Rivera was the DC by title only. The fallout began in the playoff loss to Carolina when Smith refused to hear out Rivera on dialing up a few blitz packages on Jake Delhomme, who as you remember, helped Steve Smith punch his ticket to Canton that day. By the time the Bears got to Miami for the Super Bowl a year later, Smith barely acknowledge Rivera as a member of his staff.
The Bears allowed the late Mark Hatley, who as personnel director, to leave the organization and take a similar job with Green Bay. After doing so, they STILL ALLOWED HATLEY TO PRESIDE OVER THE BEARS DRAFT!!!! Can you think of anything dumber?
A member of the Bears family put pressure on ESPN radio to fire me after the infamous "bitch" fiasco. He had, shall we say, a strong relationship with the Comcast employee to whom I referred negatively. There was threat of litigation, even though it never would have held water in court. ESPN paid "go away" money to the concerned party. They asked me to split the hush money payment with them. I refused.
One former Bear told me he swears the team falsified what should have been a negative drug test so he would retire.
I'm sure there are things I forgot. When I think of them, I'll amend this list of reasons why the Bears are mere PRODUCT to me. If they get to the Super Bowl again, I will be pleased only for business reasons. And the chance to spend a week in a cool city on somebody else's dime.
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