Let's Talk About The Heart Of The Matter.................
Nov 6, 2016 15:28:42 GMT -6
shark86 likes this
Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2016 15:28:42 GMT -6
Bears need some forward thinking to get away from recent past
Mike Mulligan
After beating the Vikings, the challenge is to show incremental progress, to sustain improvement and evolve into much more than they are now.
One of the great insults in sports, or in any profession for that matter, is to call someone a dinosaur. Be it a quarterback, a coach or an owner, it's a word that never is taken as a compliment.
Never mind that dinosaurs are believed to have ruled Earth for 100 million years or that the terror of cloning one is the stuff of science fiction blockbusters. Mentioning dinosaur in connection to a sports franchise suggests it is more than out-of-date or in danger of progress making it obsolete. The implication is the ball club is fated for extinction somehow will wind up as a skeletal museum piece.
All of which brings us to the local professional football team. The Bears operate in a world haunted by ghosts, covered in shadows and borne back ceaselessly into the past.
Chairman George McCaskey, his mother, team matriarch Virginia, and his various siblings desperately want to win. They are Bears fans who embrace the triumphs of the past and have their hearts set on repeating them.
The family also has pursued a policy of hiring people and allowing them to do their jobs. It's a solid plan, provided the right people are hired. If a recent report on the NFL's own website is correct, the family must be wondering if the right people are in place.
The headline to that story read: Bears brass scrutinizing team, John Fox after another poor start.
Fox, who appears to be on prickly terms with the local media, dismissed the report after Monday night's victory over the Vikings. He went so far as to effectively compare the league's websight to the National Inquirer.
The report said the "team's brass" had begun a "full examination of the football operation from top to bottom" and had tapped into what a source described as an "outside consultant,'' to get to the heart of the matter.
Here's hoping the Bears don't turn a blind eye to the league's sagging television ratings and the popularity of other sports franchises in the city as a threat to the stranglehold the Bears have enjoyed for a very long time.
The Cubs aren't going anywhere any time soon with a dynamic young team that made it to the World Series this season. The Blackhawks have built a great fan base with three Stanley Cup championships in recent years. Even the Bulls, playing in a league with the youngest demographic fan base, have produced a watchable product so far this season after last year's disaster.
The Bears go into their off week with just two victories in the first half of the season. Bears President Ted Phillips recently told broadcaster Jeff Joniak on a team-produced radio program that team employees never talk about victories and defeats when pursuing corporate sponsors.
"They talk about what the Bears mean to the city, the loyal fan base, the crossover of Bears fans who also follow other sports teams,'' Phillips said. "For the most part we have had a lot of success doing that because people understand the power of the Bears brand and what it means to the city of Chicago, what it means to the NFL, what it means to their own brand.
"We're pretty proud that you can kind of sustain strong business relationships without worrying about wins and losses.''
Mercifully, it seems that policy only applies to corporate sponsors. Not to quarterbacks, coaches, general managers or anyone without a piece of the organization itself.
And it was good to see the Bears get a victory heading into the week off, even relying on a throwback formula of running the ball, stopping the run (Viking do that all by themselves) and playing a clean game with no turnovers and just two penalties.
Now the challenge is to show progress, to sustain improvement and advance forward incrementally. The Bears must evolve.
The second half of the season features just one division leader — those same Vikings they beat Monday night. And that game is in the season finale. They play three other teams that are a game above .500, two that are .500, one a game below .500 and the 1-6 49ers.
Progress seems inevitable, even for the, well, let's be polite and call them outmoded.
Mike Mulligan
After beating the Vikings, the challenge is to show incremental progress, to sustain improvement and evolve into much more than they are now.
One of the great insults in sports, or in any profession for that matter, is to call someone a dinosaur. Be it a quarterback, a coach or an owner, it's a word that never is taken as a compliment.
Never mind that dinosaurs are believed to have ruled Earth for 100 million years or that the terror of cloning one is the stuff of science fiction blockbusters. Mentioning dinosaur in connection to a sports franchise suggests it is more than out-of-date or in danger of progress making it obsolete. The implication is the ball club is fated for extinction somehow will wind up as a skeletal museum piece.
All of which brings us to the local professional football team. The Bears operate in a world haunted by ghosts, covered in shadows and borne back ceaselessly into the past.
Chairman George McCaskey, his mother, team matriarch Virginia, and his various siblings desperately want to win. They are Bears fans who embrace the triumphs of the past and have their hearts set on repeating them.
The family also has pursued a policy of hiring people and allowing them to do their jobs. It's a solid plan, provided the right people are hired. If a recent report on the NFL's own website is correct, the family must be wondering if the right people are in place.
The headline to that story read: Bears brass scrutinizing team, John Fox after another poor start.
Fox, who appears to be on prickly terms with the local media, dismissed the report after Monday night's victory over the Vikings. He went so far as to effectively compare the league's websight to the National Inquirer.
The report said the "team's brass" had begun a "full examination of the football operation from top to bottom" and had tapped into what a source described as an "outside consultant,'' to get to the heart of the matter.
Here's hoping the Bears don't turn a blind eye to the league's sagging television ratings and the popularity of other sports franchises in the city as a threat to the stranglehold the Bears have enjoyed for a very long time.
The Cubs aren't going anywhere any time soon with a dynamic young team that made it to the World Series this season. The Blackhawks have built a great fan base with three Stanley Cup championships in recent years. Even the Bulls, playing in a league with the youngest demographic fan base, have produced a watchable product so far this season after last year's disaster.
The Bears go into their off week with just two victories in the first half of the season. Bears President Ted Phillips recently told broadcaster Jeff Joniak on a team-produced radio program that team employees never talk about victories and defeats when pursuing corporate sponsors.
"They talk about what the Bears mean to the city, the loyal fan base, the crossover of Bears fans who also follow other sports teams,'' Phillips said. "For the most part we have had a lot of success doing that because people understand the power of the Bears brand and what it means to the city of Chicago, what it means to the NFL, what it means to their own brand.
"We're pretty proud that you can kind of sustain strong business relationships without worrying about wins and losses.''
Mercifully, it seems that policy only applies to corporate sponsors. Not to quarterbacks, coaches, general managers or anyone without a piece of the organization itself.
And it was good to see the Bears get a victory heading into the week off, even relying on a throwback formula of running the ball, stopping the run (Viking do that all by themselves) and playing a clean game with no turnovers and just two penalties.
Now the challenge is to show progress, to sustain improvement and advance forward incrementally. The Bears must evolve.
The second half of the season features just one division leader — those same Vikings they beat Monday night. And that game is in the season finale. They play three other teams that are a game above .500, two that are .500, one a game below .500 and the 1-6 49ers.
Progress seems inevitable, even for the, well, let's be polite and call them outmoded.
