The Bears' disgraceful stadium update proves the Kevin Warren hire missed the mark

Kevin Warren was hired as the Bears' President and CEO to break ground on a new stadium.

That was, is, and always has been his main responsibility.

Nevertheless, since he was hired in January 2023, we've gotten two specific proposed areas for development (with one somehow being squeezed into the museum campus and the other being at Arlington Park), one $197.2 million purchase, a proposed development plan with beautiful AI-created images, and, with the most recent update, countless failed promises.

#Bears president/CEO Kevin Warren says the team will expand its stadium search — including Northwest Indiana — after Illinois state leadership told the Bears their proposed Arlington Heights stadium will not be a priority in 2026. pic.twitter.com/y1w6UuePfr
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) December 17, 2025

Does that really say Northern Indiana?

No wonder Kevin Warren felt the need to butter the fans up to the tenth degree in his love letter. He knew he was about to drop a hammer and wanted to lighten the blow.

Now, I don't mean to be unfair. I imagine building a multi-billion-dollar stadium can't be an easy gig. I personally wouldn't be up for the task. The McCaskey family clearly felt that he was, though. I know they're going to get some flak for the most recent update, but I really don't blame them for it.

On paper, he looked every bit like the man for the job. He helped the Vikings break ground on US Bank Stadium when he was their CEO, after all. They had no way of knowing that he would've fumbled the stadium situation nearly as badly as he seemingly has thus far.

I also understand that they might benefit from a significant amount of funding to bring their vision for the Arlington Heights development to life. The love letter implied that the lack of involvement from the government is a factor in expanding their horizons.

While it makes sense that a lack of government assistance could be annoying, considering the revenue a new stadium (where they could host a Super Bowl) would bring to the area, the fact of the matter is they already own the land. They bought it under Warren's direction. They don't have leverage for that reason alone.

Speaking of leverage, there's a chance that the Northern Indiana threat is nothing more than a leverage play. In fact, I think there's a strong chance of that. Still, it's an extremely annoying leverage play that alienates the fanbase that only wants you to fulfill your promise of boots on the ground.

Before today's update, the most recent news on the stadium front (which was from mid-September) was that they planned to begin construction in 2027. They also said that they didn't require any state funding at that time.

No state funding? What is the hold-up then??

The Bears have assembled a great team. Ryan Poles, Ian Cunningham, and Ben Johnson's coaching staff are responsible for that, though.

Warren deserves absolutely zero credit for how the team has performed this season. He's the team president. I know he's been in the locker room for postgame celebrations and had a few cameos on Hard Knocks (ironically, promoting the shiny new stadium) last season, but he's not responsible for personnel decisions.

His sole job is to bring a new stadium to the city of Chicago (or Arlington Heights, I guess). The Northern Indiana Bears doesn't have much of a ring to it, though, now does it?

Oh, and the cherry on top.. He drops this doozy of an announcement on Packer week. We can only hope that the roster is just as involved in the building of the stadium as he is in the building of the roster.

There's really no sugarcoating it; He's failed miserably at his job since becoming the Bears' team president.

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