Rebuilding the Bears Culture

[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.