Chicago Bears: George McCaskey must not get distracted
The Chicago Bears owner must not be persuaded by fool’s gold.
The Chicago Bears must make wholesale changes to their organizational structure, and it’s imperative owner George McCaskey does not get bamboozled by the fool’s gold he witnessed down the stretch.
Earlier in the season, the team lost six straight games and everyone was on board with firing Matt Nagy, Ryan Pace, and Ted Phillips, and moving on from quarterback Mitch Trubisky. However, the Bears managed to scrape together three wins down the stretch against two of the three worst-rated defenses in the league (Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars) and one which its head coach called the worst defense he’s ever coached (Minnesota Vikings).
The three wins put them into a position to grab a playoff berth by beating the Green Bay Packers in the final game of the season. Well, they got embarrassed — again — by the Packers but managed to fall backwards into the playoffs thanks to the slightly more incompetent play of the Arizona Cardinals.
It was not surprising they lost to the Packers. Those who have been watching this late-season run with an objective eye questioned whether those results were sustainable against a quality opponent. Remember, the Bears are 3-12 over the last two seasons against teams who finished the season with a winning record.
They’ve now finished 8-8 over each of the last two seasons and are quite literally the definition of mediocre. The fact that they fell arse backwards into a playoff spot should do nothing to change McCaskey’s perspective on whether this team is good enough to seriously compete — it isn’t.
If you are content with beating up on the worst teams in the league, hoping to steal a game or two against better competition, and sneak into the playoffs once every three to five years, then this is the team for you. But consider this — the Bears only made the playoffs because they were expanded to seven teams this year. And if they were in the AFC, they would still have missed them behind the 10-6 Miami Dolphins and in a battle with the 8-8 Las Vegas Raiders for the ninth spot.
Next. Bears decisions should not hinge on Packers game. dark
The Bears were exposed by the Packers last night. Hopefully, some good can come out of that embarrassing loss in that maybe George McCaskey sees this team for what it is and makes the necessary changes this offseason.