Chicago Bears President Ted Phillips Offers Insight On Season
May 14, 2013; Lake Forest, IL, USA; Chicago Bears president Ted Phillips watches organized team activities at Halas Hall. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
Chicago Bears president Ted Phillips does not spend too much time in front of reporters. Phillips, who is hands off when it comes to the football operations of the Bears, usually lets general manager Phil Emery do the talking for the organization. Phillips, however, did offer his opinion on the Bears’ season while speaking with Comcast Sportsnet Chicago.
Ted Phillips often stays in the background while operating as the Chicago Bears’ president. Phillips is not too involved with the football operations of the Bears as he lets gives general manager Phil Emery full control. Phillips did, however, offer his insight on the season while being interviewed by Comcast Sportsnet Chicago.
Phillips echoed Emery’s sentiment when asked about the Bears’ 3-5 start to the season.
“Obviously we’re not happy about that. We’re in this business to win championships. 3 and 5 puts us behind the eight-ball a little bit. But what I do know about this team is that we’ve shown the ability to come back from adversity twice already this year (with wins in San Francisco and Atlanta). So we’ve got to now re-focus. We’ve got a couple of weeks to do that, getting a couple of guys back that’ll make us more healthy and give us a little continuity, and take the second half one week at a time.”
In a follow up response, Phillips issued a vote of confidence to Emery and Bears’ head coach Marc Trestman.
“That’s a fair question. I’ll respond by saying we still believe in Phil (Emery) and Marc [Trestman] as leaders. The reason I say that is when you start losing, the media, the fans want someone to start yelling at the players who aren’t performing up to their capabilities. To me, a leader earns their respect by treating people like men and they do things privately, as men. I can say this about those two guys: Marc and Phil have the passion, are competitive, and they’re tough people. They handle individuals in the right way, and that’s not to do it publicly.”
Blame has fallen on Trestman this season because it appears that the Bears’ offense has taken a step back from last season. Phillips believes consistency and ball control will improve the struggling offense.
“The reality is, we’re turning the ball over too much. That’s not all on Jay, it’s on the entire offense. In terms of Jay, he’s really grown as a leader. He’s got to show more consistency in his play on the field. We’ve got to score more points. We showed that last year, but haven’t shown the consistent ability to do that this year.”
Speaking to the ball control issue, Chicago Bears’ quarterback Jay Cutler has been among the most turnover prone quarterbacks in the league this season. Phillips is confident, though, that Cutler will be more consistent in the second half of the season.
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“He didn’t have the consistent mentorship of a coach until Marc came along. He felt very strongly Marc was going to be the right mentor and leader for him, a teacher, and I think he’s taken to that. Has he been as consistent as we need him to be? No. We’re 3 and 5. But we still believe in him, I know the team does. I think Jay, with these two weeks now, is going to focus on what he needs to do to be more consistent and make the right decisions. I think he will.”
Cutler’s poor decisions have been on display in the Bears’ previous two games against the New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins. Cutler’s inconsistencies played a part in the Bears losing both of those games and fans growing upset with the team. For Phillips, the fans displeasure with the Bears is warranted.
“I understand. The fans have a right to be upset right now. How can you not be upset with a 3 and 5 team? We’ve got passionate fans. We love our fans. We like it when we cheer, we don’t like it when they boo, but they have every right to boo when we’re not playing well.”
Credit should be given to Phillips. The Monday press conference with Emery and Trestman was awful. That was not the case with Phillip’s interview on CSN Chicago. Phillips’ responses were honest and insightful. The problem is that the Bears’ brass can say all the right things but, at the end of the day, it will be on the coaching staff and players to turn the season around. Unfortunately, the Bears’ personnel have given us no reason to believe that they can be a better team in the second half than they were in the second half.
If that is indeed the case and the Bears continue their struggles in the second half, Phillips will once again be sitting next to Emery as the team looks for their next head coach.