What Happens If The Bears Do Lose?............

Well at the very least the piling on has begun.  Campbell and Wiederer have finally dug into a core issue here.

Campbell: Now imagine the extent of it if the Bears lose to the winless Browns. At the risk of speculating about ownership’s thought process, for the Bears this game is about damage control. They can't be the team that loses to the Browns.

Wiederer: So what do you know? Maybe you found our hook, after all, our theme for the promo posters: “Bears vs. Browns. Sunday. Noon. This game is about damage control.”

Campbell: Only Chairman George McCaskey knows how a loss would affect his thinking about the current direction of the team. The fan response would be U-G-L-Y, but would it matter to him? Should it matter to him?

Given the organizational standards that have persisted for much of the last quarter century, you have openly questioned the extent to which the Bears’ top brass cares about the results on the field. Would a loss to such a hapless opponent spark anything to change people’s perception in that regard? These are the types of questions I’ll take in my back pocket Sunday.


Here I think Rich Campbell hits on the core problem.  Does GMcC really care about making the needed changes or will his post season presser with Ryan Pace simply be all about "damage control" again?  If that's all it comes down to will fans even listen?  SHOULD fans even listen?

Campbell: That opens this discussion to the notion of accountability. What form does that take? Lost jobs? ’Tis the season for firings in the NFL.

Wiederer: Still, no matter what happens against the Browns, the Bears should be pushing to make major changes. In some cases that will mean changing people. In others it will mean changing philosophies and procedures and, yes, standards. Consistently finishing in last place has to be treated as intolerable.

After five seasons covering this team — five seasons with exactly twice as many losses as wins — I’m not certain this organization truly understands the pursuit of excellence. That it takes a building-wide effort every day. That it takes buy-in across the entire organization. That mediocrity never can be accepted — on any level, in any department, on any day.

The Bears need more people who have the needed passion to set a tone and standard for the level of investment needed to be a top-tier NFL franchise. And those who already possess that passion and dedication need to do much more to trigger change.

In my career I not only understand but have been involved with an organization who realized exactly what Dan Wiederer is talking about in that last paragraph.   We formed a team of people who not only made it happen at a business level but also with a sports team the company sponsored.  We weren't the most talented people around or the most well educated but education does not automatically bestow one with intelligence nor does top flight athleticism always make you a winner in sports.  It's more than that.  It takes teamwork.

We had that passion and the drive to compete with not only our competition but with each other to push ourselves to become winners in all aspects of what we did.  But the catalyst for all that came from ownership.  It came from a man who was an expert at putting people in their best position to succeed and challenging us to do it.  His reward, and ours too, was that to a man we all did and we succeeded beyond all of our expectations.  I owe nearly all of my business success to him.  He taught us all how to win and win big.

GSH was also such an owner but the McCaskeys are not.  Until they realize this, get out of their own way, and actually hire people who can enforce that daily striving for excellence on this organization nothing will change.  We'll still lose more than we win and there will be still more seasons like this one Bears fans will have to suffer through.  Maybe we won't lose quite as many games but we will never win often enough to become champions again.

Whether or not the McCaskeys want that to happen is irrelevant.  What is relevant is they simply don't know how to make it happen.  They lack the skills to do it and 35 years of failure should have told them that by now.  But will they ever admit it as GSH once did after only a single decade of failing to bring his team another championship?  I doubt it yet THAT is the question every single Bears fans should be putting to GMcC and asking "Do you care enough to admit you're wrong then step aside and hire a team of people to do what you cannot"?

I would love to be at that presser to ask that then just stand there waiting for an answer.

I really hope someone laid today's Trib on GMcC's desk AND that he read this column and the one Mike Mulligan wrote that I also posted a thread on.  Both hit to the heart of the matter and both are directed at GMcC and the McCaskeys.

Like I keep saying this is a systemic problem that starts at the very top and merely treating the symptoms without addressing the root illness is never gonna cure it.  For once GMcC needs to humble himself and admit that they, the owners, are the root illness.

Until that happens and it's treated as it should be nothing will change in the long haul.  Even a coaching change is little more than slapping a fresh coat of paint on an old rotting barn.  It's only gonna look better 'til that paint ages over time and once again reveals the rotting boards underneath.

When you suck, this becomes your super bowl. It's all we have. Hope Foxy can outcoach the Browns.

The knowledge that a top pass rusher is now certainly no longer in reach for the draft. It's just a beautiful thing having Foxy here leading the boys into battle.