What Past Says About Big Decisions by Bears Ownership
The Bears still have six weeks left in the season and possibly less time for coach Matt Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace to impress powers that be, notably team board chairman George McCaskey and president Ted Phillips.
Ownership never reveals where its leaning and the social media crowd hangs on every word about them as if it's been whispered directly into their ear.
They take the comment McCaskey's "frustration is real" in a column by The Athletic's Adam Jahns to mean the chopping block is made ready and the blade sharpened.
Of course, this is going way too far.
When the McCaskey family and Phillips make it a policy to say nothing during the regular season—much like Pace—the best way way to determine what's going on is what's happened in the past.
It is very unlikely McCaskey is happy about a four-game losing streak. No one is, obviously.
Here's what he said at the end of last season when this type of thing happened and they finished 8-8:
-George McCaskey
This one sticks out like a sore thumb and it's because he really has said this before.
Yet, perhaps he's a little more patient than he gives himself credit for being.
"That's where it's really helpful to have Ryan," McCaskey said. "He talks about not getting too high or too low, trying to keep an even keel.
"That's important for me to remember because I react like a fan. That's no way to run a football team."
Will McCaskey continue to resist the hot-headed fan within?
A few other comments from the end of last year are interesting, as well.
"When you go through adversity, people's character is revealed," McCaskey said. "I thought Matt did a great job keeping the team together, keeping the team focused. That's a tribute to him as a coach."
You have the same situation this year. Nagy has guided them through the horrible pandemic, is keeping them focused on the next game even as they keep losing the next game and now one player after the other to injury. There is no back-stabbing, no fissure between the offense and defense even if there should be.
Their biggest flaw is obvious: There is no running game to bind together the offense and make it viable regardless of whether it's quarterback Nick Foles or Mitchell Trubisky playing.
Who ownership blames for this is anyone's guess. Pace has neglected the offensive line enough when draft day comes around that it would be easy to pin on him. His big offseason acquisition on the line was Germain Ifedi, a million-dollar-a-year guy.
Nagy has had them run less than any team in the league behind this neglected line, and the coach he brought in to turn around that line after firing another hasn't produced the desired improvement.
McCaskey often will sell short his knowledge of the game when he's talking with media, but he said the following when last year ended:
"We need more consistency from our offense. At various positions. We need more production out of the tight end position. We need receivers running the correct routes. And we need to get the running game going. If we have an established running game, that'll help Mitchell a lot at the quarterback position."
So McCaskey obviously knows more football than he lets on, and it's difficult to see how anyone with this much knowledge of the game would tolerate a complete collapse this year without changes coming to both GM and coach, or at least one of the two.
Yet, those six weeks remain and there's always the chance something could go differently if they are able to run the ball better.
What's also apparent about the McCaskey family approach is they always wait until late in the process. They give every chance to get it right before they make their evaluation.
They do not make decisions at midseason, or with six weeks to go.
They stay out of the football process as long as they can.
"It's a balancing act," McCaskey said after last season. "You want to be involved, but you don't want to interfere. We'll just have to see how it plays out."
Well not much has changed since then, aside from a pandemic.
Expect them to let the full process play out again and then make decisions rather than rushing to judgment based on a four-game losing streak or even more.
There are plenty of reasons at this point based on the past to expect it could still go either way.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
