Puppy wrote:
Okay, this is my first post after being a lurker for many, many years. I apologize for it being such a long post. Also, it’s just my humble opinion, of course.
PROBLEM #1 – George McCaskey, Chairman
First, here’s some background. Virginia McCaskey had 11 children. When her father, George Halas, passed away in 1983, she selected her oldest son, Michael McCaskey, to be President. In 1999, he was “promoted” to Chairman (replacing his father, Ed). Virginia didn’t select another one of her many sons to be President. She selected Ted Phillips, a money guy unrelated to the family. She promoted him from Vice President of Operations to President. In 2011, Michael retired at the age of 60. George, who is the second oldest son (IIRC), finally got his chance. He was promoted from Ticketing Office Director to Chairman at the age of 54. He was never on the football operations side before this. He is 62 years old now. It’s too bad he didn’t retire at 60, like Michael. I was hoping another son, Brian, who has been rumored to know more about football than all of the sons, would get his chance when George turned 60. Oh, well.
I should also say this. I firmly believe that Ted Phillips, President, does not make any football decisions. As President, he only gets hands on from a money perspective. And, he’s good at it. When it comes to football decisions, he’s just a middle man between the McCaskey family and GM. I believe that his role is to take bullets for bad football decisions that the family makes. He’s good at this too. That is if the bullets get passed the GM and get to him. Part of the GM’s role is also to take bullets for bad football decisions that the family makes. The goal is to make it appear that the family does not interfere in football decisions, which is, of course, not true, especially when it comes to the face or faces of the franchise.
Remember when fans couldn’t wait for Michael McCaskey to retire? We were hoping that the next McCaskey in line would be better. Hope. That’s what we always do. Hope. It’s a powerful thing with Bears fans. Just give us a little hope and we’ll get excited about the Bears. Well, it turns out that there may be a reason why Virginia let Michael be President and then Chairman from 1983 to 2011 (27 years). He may not have been just the oldest son. He may also have been the best son she had for football operations. It turns out that George has been much worse than Michael. He has even cost the family a lot more money in eaten GM and entire coaching staff contracts.
When George became Chairman in 2011, he wanted to make his mark. He decided that the team needed to be built around Jay Cutler. I never wanted Jay. I’m not doing revisionist history either. I could never stand his turnovers. I was a person who was used to winning championships in lower level sports. I knew that the Bears would never win a championship with Jay, because he couldn’t avoid turnovers enough to string together a playoff run and a championship win at the end. I could not believe that the Bears gave him not one big extension (pre-George), but another big extension (post-George). Even George eventually conceded his mistake.
George not only wanted the team to be built around Jay, he wanted Jay to be the leader of the team. Jay himself said on his ESPN show that he didn’t want to be a leader. George’s solution to this was to get rid of all of the leaders, so Jay would be left as the “leader.” This was beyond ridiculous to me. This is not how leadership works. This is how you make your team have no leaders. I believe that this is why Olin Kreutz and later Brian Urlacher were low balled by about $1M each and went away earlier than they normally would have. I also believe that this is why Robbie Gould was later released. Even though Robbie was so-called “just a kicker,” he was so well respected in the locker room that he had been selected by the players to be the Bears player personnel representative with the NFL for countless years.
Since George McCaskey wanted to make his mark on the team, out went Jerry Angelo with one year left on his high priced contract (common practice), and in came Phil Emery. A year later, since George wanted to build his team around Jay, he wanted an offensive minded head coach. So, out went Lovie Smith with one year left on his high priced contract (common practice), and in came Marc Trestman. I believe that the Bears weren’t willing to eat two years of Lovie’s contract, since they had never done that before. So, they kept him an additional year beyond Jerry.
I believe that Marc Trestman won the head coach competition, because he was a “quarterback whisperer,” meaning that George McCaskey thought he was the most likely head coach to fix Jay and get a high flying offense around him. I’m sorry, but coaches don’t fix Jay. Jay gets them fired. Plus, George left Marc with no significant leaders. It was an impossible situation for Phil Emery and Marc. They finally got their dream jobs, but it didn’t last long. It was such a PR disaster that they were fired with two years left on their contracts. The Bears had never eaten two year contracts before. Between the Phil and Marc and his coaching staff contracts, we’re talking many $10Ms. I’m pretty sure the family wasn’t too happy about this. But, they were going to give George a second chance, of course. So, George’s first attempt at a new GM and head coach failed big time.
So, out went Phil Emery and Marc Trestman. In comes Ryan Pace, the least experienced and lowest priced GM in the league. The McCaskey family could recoup quite a bit of the money they ate from eating two years of Phil Emery’s contract, which wasn’t cheap. At the time, I was pretty sure George McCaskey was going to hire a young head coach, so the family could recoup quite a bit of the money they ate from eating two years of Marc Trestman’s contract and his staff’s contracts, which weren’t cheap. Instead, somehow John Fox, who wasn’t cheap, was hired. I didn’t like that hire. I’m not doing revisionist history with this either. Again, I was a person who was used to winning championships in lower level sports. Elway fired John, because he couldn’t win a championship with a championship caliber team. He would go ultra conservative in the biggest moments. You play to win! You don’t play not to lose! If you play not to lose, you lose, unless you’re facing a bigger loser who is playing not to lose. Real winners gear up for those moments, not gear down! I could go on and on about this, but I won’t. I’ll just say that there’s a high energy level that goes through all the players when going for the win and a depressing energy level for going ultra conservative. I knew that John was just going for a last big contract and was going to be a lame duck the entire time he was with the Bears, which he was.
George McCaskey finally conceded that Jay Cutler wasn’t the guy. It took him 8 years to figure this out! Yes to Mike Glennon for similar money as Jay. He was to be the new #1 QB. But, wait, George seemingly suddenly fell in love with Mitch (Pro Bowl QB) Trubisky. He must have told Ryan Pace to make sure to get Mitch. So, two #1 QBs? What a clown show.
Out goes John Fox with one year left on his contract (common practice). In comes the young Matt Nagy with a long five year contract. The McCaskey family could recoup some of the money they ate from the Marc Trestman time. It was Matt’s turn to make George’s second QB work.
Matt Nagy is a head coach operating from FEAR. He has a field goal kicked on first down with 43 seconds on the clock and two times outs (IIRC). He didn’t trust the entire offense, not just the QB. He didn’t trust the running game. He didn’t think the offense could run three plays to get a closer field goal attempt or even a TD, which he obviously didn’t even think was a possibility? What? Three plays! How many times did we see Jim Miller make serious scoring drives from Bears territory if he had at least 45 seconds on the clock? Matt didn’t even trust the offense to move the ball forward with 43 seconds on the clock in the opponent’s territory. Wowzers. Just wowzers. Three plays! He was sure the offense would lose yards with three plays? Wowzers. Just wowzers. So, he had a field goal kicked instead, which was missed.
Then, this last game, Matt Nagy did the opposite and didn’t think the kicker could make a field goal. So, he goes for a fourth and nine with an offense that he doesn’t trust either. Wow, does he not trust the kicker.
This situation is ridiculous beyond words. He doesn’t trust either the kicker or his entire offense. He doesn’t trust his entire offence. What in the world? What in the world is this? So, he made another ridiculous decision made out of FEAR. You can not run a team operating out of FEAR! You can not run a team operating out of FEAR! You have to play to win the game! I have never seen a Bears head coach operate out of FEAR anywhere like this. It’s so ridiculous. Also, do you know what messages this is sending to his entire team? You have an offensive minded head coach who doesn’t trust his entire offense or his kicker in a really weird way that makes him make terrible, emotionally deflating decisions. He must have lost his locker room, probably weeks ago. He’s a de-motivator, not a motivator. It’s so ridiculous.
I’m afraid to say this, but Matt Nagy is probably worse than John Fox or any other head coach we’ve ever had. He has been operating out of FEAR. In terms of a championship run, John’s biggest problem was being ultra conservative in big moments. Matt’s problem has been worse. He has been freaking out and making the most atrocious decisions, not even just in big moments. He’s been doing this in smaller moments too. I don’t want an ultra conservative head coach in big moments. I especially don’t want a head coach who operates out of FEAR and does almost the opposite of what he should do, in both big and small moments. FEAR, FEAR, FEAR means LOSE, LOSE, LOSE.
Matt Nagy has to make people do their jobs. If you think your kicker sucks, he’s your only kicker. So, you have to let him kick. If you think your offense sucks, they’re your offense. So, you have to let them run plays. 43 seconds and two time outs to run three plays for positive yards. Come on! Instead, he makes calls that are far worse than letting his players play. He’s actually causing the team to lose. I can’t see how this kind of “leadership” can take a team to a championship. It’s just so bizarre. I’ve run many teams in my earlier life, including many championship teams. The dynamics involved in championship teams are beyond special. It’s a crazy feel good experience. You just feel it. You just make a full speed run for the championship with incredible energy. I made due the best I could with my weakest players. I made them feel good (meaning part of the team, of course) and covered for their weaknesses as best I could. It worked big time. Matt seems to be doing the opposite. He seems to be demoralizing the players, both weak and strong. I’m pretty sure he’s lost his locker room.
Weird things happen under George McCaskey, because of the constraints he foists upon his GM and head coach. Make QB Jay Cutler run a high flying offense and make a Superbowl run. This didn’t come close to working after many years of trying. Make QB Mitch (Pro Bowl QB) Trubisky run an offense that helps the team make a Superbowl run. Um, okay, not happening. Strange things are happening again under George’s watch. George has been far worse than Michael. Heavy sigh.
Also, I have to say that I don’t think Matt Nagy could bench Mitch (Pro Bowl QB) Trubisky without a green light from George McCaskey. Dan Hampton said essentially the same thing. Dan was certain that the hip injury was a fake cover story to save face and feelings for Mitch. Olin Kreutz, Matt Forte, Lance Briggs, Alex Brown, Patrick Mannelly and many others didn’t buy the hip injury either. I don’t either. If you look into it, there are so many signs.
The McCaskey family is always going to get involved with the face or faces of the franchise. These are $10M+ and $100M+ big money decisions. To them, it’s a business first and foremost. They are compelled as owners to get involved in big money decisions. But, from a football decision making perspective, too many cooks spoil the broth and this includes cooks who aren’t very good cooks. Bear fans are stuck between a rock and a hard place with this ownership. The McCaskey family is always going to spoil the broth, because they feel they have to get involved in big money decisions. They’re very protective of their money. They’re okay with not so good decisions, as long as they think they’re able to protect their money. So, we’re stuck with poor first round draft choices, etc.
Matt Nagy was signed to a longer five year contract than usual. I would be shocked if the Bears ate more then two years of his contract. But, I was also surprised by the expensive John Fox hire, so maybe there’s hope? Ugh. Hope. Hope, hope, hope. That’s what we do as Bears fans.
PROBLEMs #2 and #3 – Matt Nagy and Mitch (Pro Bowl QB) Trubisky, not necessarily in that order
Having said all this, I don’t know whether Mitch (Pro Bowl QB) Trubisky is worse or Matt Nagy is worse. I previously leaned toward Mitch being worse, but now I’m really wondering whether Matt is worse. I’ll have to think about it more. Hmm… I really don’t want Matt, because I can’t see how it’s possible that he can take us on a championship run with the kind of whimpy FEAR he has. His weird decisions are demoralizing.
Again, this is all just my humble opinion, as a superfan on and off. At this time, we’re hoping for hope. Hoping for hope. How sad is that? ☹ I’m chucking this big long very opinionated thing out there for you all to consider. This board seems to have the closest pulse on the Bears. Please hack away at my post. I’m most interested in what you think the Bears leadership is thinking.
tl;dr
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