George McCaskey’s press conference proves Chicago Bears are still stuck

Following the firing of head coach Matt Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace, Chicago Bears chairman George McCaskey held a virtual press conference with the media.

Throughout his press conference, McCaskey didn’t hold back when it came to finding the positives in the last few years. He again notated the Bears’ losing streaks as adversity, and praised the team for getting past the adversity.

At one point, McCaskey was asked why he was still in his position instead of bringing in someone like a Bill Polian to take over at the top. All he could say was that ownership has evaluated his body of work and that they “wish for him” to continue in his position.

It was enough to make Bears fans smirk and scream at the same time.

Until McCaskey is out, we’ll continue to have to deal with the same old, same old.

Chicago Bears chairman George McCaskey offered a lot of information, but very few concrete, sensible answers to the team’s immediate future.

So, just where are the Bears headed from here? What happens with Ted Phillips, the new general manager and how will this affect their coaching search? Bill Polian is indeed involved in this, thankfully. McCaskey and Phillips are self-titled “non-football” guys. Therefore, having a Hall of Fame former executive like Polian will be valuable.

The new general manager will report directly to McCaskey, according to McCaskey himself. Phillips will still be President, but he will be more focused on the Bears’ purchase of their land in Arlington Heights than anything else.

This was more of a, “Phillips is busy, so I’ll step in” type of answer. But, we all know that Phillips stepping back was bound to happen — and that’s a good thing.

The odd part of this all is the fact that McCaskey said Phillips will still be involved in the new general manager search. Even though the new general manager won’t report to Phillips, he’s involved. It’s a curious situation, at the very least.

McCaskey seemed to lean heavily on having Polian’s help in this search, and throughout this entire process. Polian was asked to evaluate both Pace and Nagy starting within this past season, and McCaskey took his advice to heart — and ultimately, Pace and Nagy were fired.

It’s safe to say that Polian has had a lot of pull in the Bears’ decisions as of late.

Ideally, McCaskey said, he would like to hire a general manager first. But, he wouldn’t rule out hiring a head coach first, if the perfect candidate was there. The coaching search will begin immediately, as will the general manager search.

After an exciting morning full of news, this presser brought fans down to earth just a bit.

If fans could sum up the state of the Bears’ front office and ownership right now with one phrase, this is what it would be:

"”I’m just a fan. I’m not a football evaluator.”"

Thankfully, this non-football guy is listening to football people. The fact that McCaskey still remains in his position is laughable at best, but fans can’t do anything about that. This is how it is, and how it will remain for the foreseeable future. Let’s all hope that McCaskey gets some insightful advice from the right people going forward.