Rebuilding the Bears Culture

[IotaNet]

The thread on Pace’s comments to season ticket holders got me thinking and I thought I'd kick off this topic. Somebody else commented on the Bears instituting a "No D!ck Policy" on this team and I see that in Pace's comments. Over and over, we hear terms like "Leadership", "Great in the Locker Room" and so forth.

I personally believe that one of the biggest problems the Emery/Trestman era Bears had was a bad culture. Say what you want about Lovie but he had strong leaders on his teams. Olin Kreutz, Peanut Tillman, Brian Urlacher - these cats had strong personalities and were leaders of men. A lot of diva-esque crap didn't leave the locker room because the culture was such that a lot of foolishness was kept in check behind closed doors.

I believe that ultimately this is why Brandon Marshall and Martellus Bennett (and to a certain extent, Jay Cutler) are no longer Bears - way too much drama and/or a lack of leadership ability. I think specifically of the time Martellus Bennett body-slammed Kyle Fuller in practice. Under Lovie,that probably wouldn't have happened because everybody knew that kind of stupidity would have consequences. Unfortunately, the “character guys” on Lovie’s teams got old and weren’t replaced. The whole thing bottomed out in Trestman's last year and Pace/Fox have been tasked to repair it.

We speak a lot about rebuilding this team and the strategy we need to employ. There is an old business consultant phrase that says, "Culture eats strategy for breakfast" and I think that's what Pace is listening to. Look at the successful organizations -- Pittsburgh, New England, Green Bay, Seattle (and up and comers like Oakland and Tampa) -- the leadership has established a winning CULTURE. The flip side are places like Cincinnati, San Diego, and Buffalo. Despite a fair amount of talent, they can’t win anything to save their lives. (Atlanta is a very good example as well -- see how they folded in the SB? Quinn is fixing it but the winning CULTURE is not there yet.)

I think Pace is doing it right but you can’t fix a decade’s worth of decline in one or two years.

[USSGlennon]

Good point. Fox is a very good coach with playoff experience, and will turn things around.

[UOK]

1. Lovie was all about team concept - special teams was held in extremely high regard and playing cohesive, turnover-driven TEAM defense was his cat's meow.

2. Jay Cutler was seen as such a unique talent and rare opportunity for the franchise that they decided to invest in making Cutler the centerpiece of the franchise. This not only was a bad idea...

3. ...it was a huge insult to long-time Bears who came up in an NFL environment where team defense came first and offense came last. The offense was always a means to an end; it was simply the mechanism by which the clock was managed between when the defense and special teams were on the field. Suddenly Jay Cutler was It and All for everything, and that pissed off a LOT of people.

4. The ultimate insult was firing the GM that drafted most of the 2000s Bears and firing Lovie Smith after a 10-6 season. The Bears locker room was a familial environment, and then suddenly poof - gone were the guys who built it, gone was the star linebacker who got a lowball contract in order to strongarm him out of the NFL, and...

5. ...in comes this CFL moron with this "grow the man" bullshit and a secondhand coaching staff. The remaining guys like Briggs and Tillman immediately don't buy in to the new staff. Hester gets reduced to being a returner (arguably appropriately so but it looked bad). In comes this loudmouth drama queen receiver who runs his fucking mouth all the time; in comes this tight end who cares more about his social media presence than executing a gameplan; in comes a first round pick who doesn't know how to play football. You have Aaron fucking Kromer selling out Cutler to Jason La Canfora and crying about it in front of an already-disgusted locker room. You have Brandon Marshall screaming at Robbie Gould, your team's union rep. You're losing by nearly 50 at halftime to the Packers in primetime.

-------------------------

So to my understanding a good deal of these problems are now totally resolved, but not completely set right.

PACE: McCaskey seems completely satisfied with Pace running the show, and I don't think he'll fire him. In fact I'm guessing he gets a contract extension.

FOX: My understanding is that Fox has definitely fixed the locker room, and obviously getting rid of pains in the ass like Marshall, Bennett, and now the depressing aura of Cutler should be the purifying exorcism that the franchise needed. Players all seem to universally respect and like Coach Fox, even if fans and the media are sick of his shit, he has righted the ship as head coach.

There's politics involved at every level, sure, and I don't think things are perfect by any means, but really the Bears problem right now is that they haven't taken that next step yet. I don't think anyone understood how vast of an undertaking rebuilding this roster would be, but it's clearly going to necessitate another year, more likely two to really show signs of being on the uptick. It doesn't help that, at least as of now, confidence in Fox coming back next year appears to be in question.

I'd say the culture feels lower than it actually is, especially considering how low things felt during the painful death throes of the final Trestman season, but more people should try to not take things to extremes. I don't blame fans for not renewing season tickets; I don't blame fans for not showing up to games; I don't blame fans for bailing on the team. I think it's frustrating as hell to be a fan of this team and when they've been so consistently shitty for the past nigh-decade, the organization certainly doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt any longer.


There's something to be said for loyalty, but I think there's definitely no reason at all to feel like this organization knows what they're doing, because the guys at the top aren't football people. Your team president is a slimy accountant and your chairman is only the chairman because his mom didn't let George Halas pull out.

In time, I'm confident the Bears can get back to being that middling, near-.500 team that sometimes bumbles its way into a playoffs run, but until you have a complete revisioning of the organization from Team President through Head Coach, you're going to have this patchworked football tourniquet trying to figure out this whole "winning team" thing via educated guesses while constantly ignoring the ever-growing impatience of fans and media.

[IotaNet]

I haven't lived in Chicago for quite some time and I'm not a huge Cubs fan but here's my question: Are there any useful parallels or constants between what the Cubs have been able to accomplish and what the Bears are attempting?

Theo Epstein got to Chicago in 2011 and 5 years later, the Cubs won the World Series. This is the 3rd year of Pace and Fox -- how far down that same path are the Bears?

[UOK]

I haven't lived in Chicago for quite some time and I'm not a huge Cubs fan but here's my question: Are there any useful parallels or constants between what the Cubs have been able to accomplish and what the Bears are attempting?

Theo Epstein got to Chicago in 2011 and 5 years later, the Cubs won the World Series. This is the 3rd year of Pace and Fox -- how far down that same path are the Bears?

The Bears would prefer you look at it that way, but the truth is that they're very, very different, namely because the Cubs were sold and a lot of dumb luck went their way. You also have to consider the Blackhawks. The Blackhawks and Cubs both had changes in ownership that graduated them from the flunky institutions they were and restored order in the proper hands.

The Blackhawks roster-wise were on the up and up by the time Bill Wirtz finally died, but Rocky swooped in within weeks to utterly reinvent the franchise's dignity just in time for them to win a string of titles. They repaired their image, capitalized on their market, restored their place as a honored heritage member of the NHL, and cultivated a hockey culture that is measured, intelligent, and esteemed. They are now the class of the city - no sports institution in Chicago is more revered or run as effectively as the Blackhawks.

The Cubs were finally sold by Tribune Corp. to a billionaire Cub fan and his family, and that alone won a lot of people over. The guy met his wife at Wrigley for God's sake. Theo Epstein by all logic shouldn't have left Boston and Joe Maddon should never have left Tampa, BUT both things ended up happening. The Cubs didn't orchestrate Theo losing his shit with the Red Sox and Maddon's departure from Tampa was kind of due to a contractual loophole. Everything about the moves was a perfect storm that got shaped into championships once the proper people got into the building to sculpt the future.

Meanwhile the Bears will never, ever sell the team, barring some unforeseen financial crisis, and their team president is only in that role because of a favor that saved the team and city millions. They're a franchise soaked in grimy Chicago politics that relies so drunkenly on its past that they don't know how to sell the present or build the future. Ryan Pace is definitely unconventional in that approach, as he's obviously here to rebuild through the draft and work with Fox on the football side of the organization.

The Bears can rebuild and rebuild for the next 2-3 years, but just you watch - if season ticket renewals and general attendance plummets, the Bears will fire Pace and Fox right quick, organic draft rebuild be damned. Just like Reinsdorf with the White Sox, the Bears are more interested in being relevant and profitable then they are truly competitive and revered.

Ryan Pace, John Fox, and that roster want titles - I know that. Hell, everybody wants titles, but the Bears brass knows that if the Bears make the playoffs once every 4 or 5 years, fans will resume flooding Soldier Field and the McCaskeys/Phillips cronies can happily resume being out of the spotlight, as they prefer.


TL;DR: The Bears don't have a dedication to excellence from ownership & upper management, nor will they get the opportunity to rebuild/restore their esteem until the current brass is replaced by actual football and business savvy.

[Mikefive]

I haven't lived in Chicago for quite some time and I'm not a huge Cubs fan but here's my question: Are there any useful parallels or constants between what the Cubs have been able to accomplish and what the Bears are attempting?

Theo Epstein got to Chicago in 2011 and 5 years later, the Cubs won the World Series. This is the 3rd year of Pace and Fox -- how far down that same path are the Bears?

The Bears would prefer you look at it that way, but the truth is that they're very, very different, namely because the Cubs were sold and a lot of dumb luck went their way. You also have to consider the Blackhawks. The Blackhawks and Cubs both had changes in ownership that graduated them from the flunky institutions they were and restored order in the proper hands.

The Blackhawks roster-wise were on the up and up by the time Bill Wirtz finally died, but Rocky swooped in within weeks to utterly reinvent the franchise's dignity just in time for them to win a string of titles. They repaired their image, capitalized on their market, restored their place as a honored heritage member of the NHL, and cultivated a hockey culture that is measured, intelligent, and esteemed. They are now the class of the city - no sports institution in Chicago is more revered or run as effectively as the Blackhawks.

The Cubs were finally sold by Tribune Corp. to a billionaire Cub fan and his family, and that alone won a lot of people over. The guy met his wife at Wrigley for God's sake. Theo Epstein by all logic shouldn't have left Boston and Joe Maddon should never have left Tampa, BUT both things ended up happening. The Cubs didn't orchestrate Theo losing his shit with the Red Sox and Maddon's departure from Tampa was kind of due to a contractual loophole. Everything about the moves was a perfect storm that got shaped into championships once the proper people got into the building to sculpt the future.

Meanwhile the Bears will never, ever sell the team, barring some unforeseen financial crisis, and their team president is only in that role because of a favor that saved the team and city millions. They're a franchise soaked in grimy Chicago politics that relies so drunkenly on its past that they don't know how to sell the present or build the future. Ryan Pace is definitely unconventional in that approach, as he's obviously here to rebuild through the draft and work with Fox on the football side of the organization.

The Bears can rebuild and rebuild for the next 2-3 years, but just you watch - if season ticket renewals and general attendance plummets, the Bears will fire Pace and Fox right quick, organic draft rebuild be damned. Just like Reinsdorf with the White Sox, the Bears are more interested in being relevant and profitable then they are truly competitive and revered.

Ryan Pace, John Fox, and that roster want titles - I know that. Hell, everybody wants titles, but the Bears brass knows that if the Bears make the playoffs once every 4 or 5 years, fans will resume flooding Soldier Field and the McCaskeys/Phillips cronies can happily resume being out of the spotlight, as they prefer.


TL;DR: The Bears don't have a dedication to excellence from ownership & upper management, nor will they get the opportunity to rebuild/restore their esteem until the current brass is replaced by actual football and business savvy.

That's one hell of a good post right there.

Astute move to bring up the Blackhawks. Although I'd be inclined to disagree with you and call the Cubs the most revered team in town. But your point is well taken.

Your assessment of the Cubs was absolutely perfect.

Interesting that you misspoke and said that the Bears would never sell the team instead of the McCaskeys. But that still works. The McCaskeys are the Bears and that's just how it is, unfortunately. While I don't disagree with your "grimy politics" point--I see some of that--I've always just believed that for whatever reason, the McKnuckleheads are just a bunch of... well... knuckleheads who don't know what they're doing. Michael was groomed to be the new generation of Ivy League ownership leadership. But when he fell on his face, the family had no other answer.

[karhu]

A few other things the Blackhawks and Cubs had: farm systems, international talent pools, and years of premium draft picks (along with, in the Cubs' case, ownership that supported aggressively drafting the best talent and worrying about signability later). It stinks to be drafting #3 overall, but the Blackhawks did that for three out of four years before making their run.

[staleystarch]

Having lived through the Ditka era I don't buy the Bears culture meme. It was "Bears Culture" that started the shredding of that team. If a staff can't handle a character or two the staff is the problem. That is not the same as losing the team the way the Emery/Trestman crew did, but there does need to be some balance.

[Umbali]

High character guys doesnt mean winning is a given. You can have high character guys that arent that good at football and it just means that they lose without having drama. Heck I am a high character guy but you dont want me on your football team lol

[Boris13c]

In time, I'm confident the Bears can get back to being that middling, near-.500 team that sometimes bumbles its way into a playoffs run, but until you have a complete revisioning of the organization from Team President through Head Coach, you're going to have this patchworked football tourniquet trying to figure out this whole "winning team" thing via educated guesses while constantly ignoring the ever-growing impatience of fans and media.

sad but true ... until a complete wiping of the slate, there will be no permanent positive changes

[Middleguard]

In time, I'm confident the Bears can get back to being that middling, near-.500 team that sometimes bumbles its way into a playoffs run, but until you have a complete revisioning of the organization from Team President through Head Coach, you're going to have this patchworked football tourniquet trying to figure out this whole "winning team" thing via educated guesses while constantly ignoring the ever-growing impatience of fans and media.

sad but true ... until a complete wiping of the slate, there will be no permanent positive changes

I'm not sure I agree. The only thing UOK mentioned that hasn't happened/isn't currently underway is eliminating Ted Phillips. Clearly, he hasn't done anything obvious to fans to improve the team. But I don't know of anything he's done to hurt the (present) team either. So either he's irrelevant, or there is something that the team president always does for a successful team that Ted Phillips isn't doing for the Bears, and if there is, I want to know what that is.

I know why a lot of people don't care for Phillips (beside the fact he's ugly) and that's because he doesn't eat, sleep, and fart Bears. But neither does the moon, yet we don't agitate against it shining on Soldier Field.

[Mikefive]

I know why a lot of people don't care for Phillips (beside the fact he's ugly) and that's because he doesn't eat, sleep, and fart Bears.

I have no idea how you know that.

I'm going to suggest that the reason that Ted Phillips is disliked is because he's an accountant. And because the first Chicago Bears President not named Halas or McCaskey is a bean counter, it lends credence to the idea that Bears ownership is cheap, a view that persists (rightly or wrongly) among Bear fandom.

I think if the McCaskeys replace Phillips with a football guy as President, that would likely have an instant positive effect on fandom's attitude about team ownership. Of course, whether they are capable of picking the right football guy for that job is a fair question, at least in my eyes.

[Middleguard]

I know why a lot of people don't care for Phillips (beside the fact he's ugly) and that's because he doesn't eat, sleep, and fart Bears.

I have no idea how you know that.

I'm going to suggest that the reason that Ted Phillips is disliked is because he's an accountant. And because the first Chicago Bears President not named Halas or McCaskey is a bean counter, it lends credence to the idea that Bears ownership is cheap, a view that persists (rightly or wrongly) among Bear fandom.

I think if the McCaskeys replace Phillips with a football guy as President, that would likely have an instant positive effect on fandom's attitude about team ownership. Of course, whether they are capable of picking the right football guy for that job is a fair question, at least in my eyes.

I don't "know" in the philosophical sense of having a belief that is confirmed by fact. I have belief from the numerous posts I've read here (but the 'ugly' is pure supposition).

I totally agree with you that "if the McCaskeys replace Phillips with a football guy as President, that would likely have an instant positive effect on fandom's attitude about team ownership." That might matter to management in terms of ticket and merchandise sales, but not to me. I want to know how it would help the Bears win more games. Because it will lower the volume of boos at home games?

[IotaNet]

Having lived through the Ditka era I don't buy the Bears culture meme. It was "Bears Culture" that started the shredding of that team. If a staff can't handle a character or two the staff is the problem. That is not the same as losing the team the way the Emery/Trestman crew did, but there does need to be

I never said “Bears Culture.” I’m referring to a Winning Culture. For the record, I thought Mike Ditka was the biggest joke of a Head Coach that ever was. I too, lived in Chicago through the Ditka era and I remember Ditka’s ineptitude. Doug Flutie in the playoffs. The regular fail of the Dennis Gentry Draw Play. The shouting matches with Dexter Manley. Mike Ditka was a joke and still is. His coaching record when he left Chicago proves it. That the 1980’s Bears only won one SB is a further testament. These teams were all about Buddy Ryan’s defense and when Buddy left, Ditka couldn’t get it done. (For the record, Ditka won 6 playoff games in 14 years as a head coach -- and three of them were in the SB year.)

High character guys doesnt mean winning is a given. You can have high character guys that arent that good at football and it just means that they lose without having drama. Heck I am a high character guy but you dont want me on your football team lol

I never argued that high-character alone is enough – that would be asinine. But talent WITHOUT character won’t win you very much either – certainly not sustainably. We’ve seen MANY teams that were highly talented but had no character -- and they fail miserably. The Cubs were the most talented team in the league last year – but when it came down to the wire - extra innings and a rain delay, the CHARACTER and (winning) CULTURE of that team is what put them over the top.

... The Bears don't have a dedication to excellence from ownership & upper management, nor will they get the opportunity to rebuild/restore their esteem until the current brass is replaced by actual football and business savvy.

I hear people screaming about the McCaskeys this and Ted Phillips that, yet I see a team that:
1) Cleaned house and retained a respected Football Man as a consultant to assist them in making the right choices.
2) Hired a respected, up-and-coming executive as GM -- one who had nothing to do with previous Bears regimes
3) Hired a respected, veteran coach to lead the transition

This is a rebuild and we’re 2.5 years through it. The last 2 years were ugly and necessarily so. Cleaning this crap out takes time and along the way Pace was saddled with Cutler’s contact as well as a crazy injury situation. Even then it still takes time.

For a recent example, look at what the Raiders have been doing. By all indications, Reggie McKenzie has turned it around and has done so in a sustainable way -- but check out his record:

Oakland Raiders under Reggie McKenzie
2012: 4-12
2013: 4-12
2014: 3-13
2015: 7-9
2016: 12-4

Look familiar?

TL;DR: What the Bears need to do, they are doing. They need to rebuild everything including establishing the right culture. It’s not going to happen overnight but they’re going about it the right way. And BTW, please stop using Ted Phillips as the whipping boy.

[Middleguard]

I don't want to advocate 85 as a model for "Bear's Culture," but it did contain elements that I appreciate. Ditka encouraged his players to PLAY and he participated in the playfulness with the Refrigerator, who he particularly used to embarrass the Packers in prime time. Bears' antics endeared them to fans in general, and that, coupled with the recent death of Halas, brought referees onto the Bears' side. The importance of that cannot be overemphasized, then or now. A case in point from 85: Otis Wilson's favorite tackle was a forearm shiver to the belly of the runner. In his first years this often resulted in a penalty that I don't think still exists but was akin to unnecessary roughness. In 85 he could do it whenever he wanted.

I also don't want to advocate 63 as a model for "Bear's Culture," but do you know how many QB's legs that DL broke? Three. Not all in 63, but some of them might have broken additional legs in years before I was following.