Hub Arkush: George McCaskey instructed team to start Fields

[mshu7]

[The Cooler King]

There was some speculation about that when it happened.

I'm not sure I'm taking Hubs report as gospel, but it's beleivable.

[Otis Day]

Interesting this is coming out today from Hub. Why not when it happened? Is this being put out to re-shine the McCaskeys? Another attempt to downgrade Nagy? Are fans supposed to thank George now even though the events of the past 2 days make him look like a dumbass? Pretty peculiar if you ask me.

[IE]

I believe Hub, and I believe the owners have the right to do that ... especially when they have a head coach who is already on double secret probation.

The only problem I have with that sort of mandate is when it happened the water was already under the bridge so to speak with JF1's preparation. He was given no starter snaps in camp. He was prepared "differently" (actually in a way that I advocated IF he wasn't ready - the "JF1 packages" ramp-up over the season). So insisting he start without being prepared is really... not a good idea.

But maybe it does explain arrogant, selfish, egotistical Nagy's insistence in JF1's first game that the game plan and play calls pretend that JF1 was a top seasoned vet with a good Oline. Boy, Nagy showed George - didn't he? This tidbit from Hub actually makes that approach to the Cleveland game make more sense. At the time and since then I couldn't wrap my mind around how Nagy could possibly think that would work. BUT... if the situation was forced on Nagy I can imagine it wasn't really intended to work - maybe it was an uncontrollable urge of spite from a control freak.

[Burl]

Jesus, the soap opera continues...

So much for, "We don't make football decisions"

I haven't/don't listen to Hub, but is the larger implication that Pace is on shaky ground here as well? Because if the GM is being sidestepped, clearly they're not letting him run the show as he sees fit.

I totally buy this report, as the abrupt, about face on starting Fields is completely explained by this revelation. At the time it made no sense.

[G08]

I trust two Bears best reporters when it comes to their reports and sources:

1. Brad Biggs
2. Hub Arkush

Biggs has legit sources throughout the league, and Hub had been doing this for a very long time.

My guess is George leaked this to Hub so it softens the blow for if/when Nagy gets whacked.

It also explains why there is no fucking Justin Fields offense. This dude needs to go.

[The Cooler King]

From the article from Shaw Media that was written:

It’s unclear how the directive was given to the coaching staff, whether there was a conversation in person between McCaskey and Bears head coach Matt Nagy, or if general manager Ryan Pace was directed to give the instructions to Nagy. The move was against the wishes of Nagy, per multiple sources.

I feel like that's quite a bit of gray left there. This isn't a breaking story that is developing.

The most explicit thing is that it was against Nagy's wishes which seemed pretty apparent at the time, but it could have still been a Pace directive.

[Mikefive]

OMG. Think about this for one moment. George McCaskey is overriding his own NFL coach on who plays. George-freaking-McCaskey.

Whatever you think of Matt Nagy, this should make any Bears fan furious.

[IE]

I trust two Bears best reporters when it comes to their reports and sources:

1. Brad Biggs
2. Hub Arkush

Biggs has legit sources throughout the league, and Hub had been doing this for a very long time.

My guess is George leaked this to Hub so it softens the blow for if/when Nagy gets whacked.

It also explains why there is no fucking Justin Fields offense. This dude needs to go.

Remember what you were thinking during that Cleveland game? I'm really believing that what we were observing was a temper tantrum and defiance - at the expense of the new crown jewel of the organization. I was at the game, in the middle of almost all Browns fans. Besides the good-natured ribbing fans give each other, they were all incredulous about the Bear game plan... "what the heck are they doing? This is insane." was the quote - and that was from BROWNS fans (and not just one).

They can't fire him fast enough.

They're sure greasing the skids with these leaks, huh?

[Burl]

OMG. Think about this for one moment. George McCaskey is overriding his own NFL coach on who plays. George-freaking-McCaskey.

Whatever you think of Matt Nagy, this should make any Bears fan furious.

So, to IE's point and yours, it is a little crazy.

A more sane approach/directive might've been "Give Fields half the reps with the starters".

I don't think that Nagy necessarily botched the Browns gameplan on purpose, I think it was a combination of Fields having no reps, and Nagy not having had any time to tailor an offense to his play.
He had no idea.

[thunderspirit]

OMG. Think about this for one moment. George McCaskey is overriding his own NFL coach on who plays. George-freaking-McCaskey.

Whatever you think of Matt Nagy, this should make any Bears fan furious.

Nah.

George signs the checks. And if Nagy was against it — most likely in an attempt to win and try and save his job — someone needs to step up for what's best for the franchise. And what's best for the franchise is Fields developing.

I have no real issue with this, except that they didn't fire him after last season if that's how they view him.

[G08]

McCaskey was likely very aware of the national media backlash his team was receiving for continuing to stick with Andy Dalton.

I'm of the opinion McCaskey did the right thing. Fields got experience and Nagy was exposed.

Gut the offensive staff except for DeFilippo.

[Moriarty]

It's was pretty clear previously that the orders came from above and that's why Nagy did such a comical 180.

OMG. Think about this for one moment. George McCaskey is overriding his own NFL coach on who plays. George-freaking-McCaskey.

Whatever you think of Matt Nagy, this should make any Bears fan furious.

Yes and No


Higher levels of the football operation absolutely should overrule lower ones once in a while, when the lower ones are thinking short-term, thinking personal best interest instead of team best interest, or are just plain wrong. You get disastrous short-sightedness if you don't.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=15590&p=273414&hilit=layer#p273414

Is George McCaskey a confidence-inspiring source of Final Authority? Well, no, of course not. They need a competent 3rd Level Authority (see link)
But considering how consistently, extraordinarily stupid Nagy has been for 4 years - in terms of (not) attempting to evaluate players on the roster and correctly evaluating who is good/bad and who is better - you can't blame anyone for not trusting his judgement anymore.

Did George make things better or worse by intervening here? Mixed bag.
Nagy looked bad for having the decision taken away. But at the same time, he was rapidly losing the locker room by sticking with his own choice anyway (well, among other things).
Has Fields benefited by playing or would he have been better off sitting through the Matt Nagy Offenseless Shitshow? Impossible to say and we have this debate here constantly. My guess is probably benefitted a little, assuming the injury is nothing serious.



The bigger problem was and is - George didn't figure out that Nagy & Pace needed to go after last year.

[dplank]

I can see both sides here, it's cringe and it's also sane depending on circumstances.

If George had reached a point where he thought Nagy was done, and also maybe Pace, and he knew they would be mortgaging Fields development in favor of trying to save their jobs - then this makes sense to me. George is the owner, he's acting in the best long term interests of the franchise.

That said, he screwed up not making his decision earlier. He should have shit canned Nagy, and Pace if necessary, this last off season. In lieu of that, if he wanted to have input on Fields development, he should have insisted that Fields start from Day 1 so that he'd have the benefit of training camp, practice reps, etc. All of that went to Dalton. As did the offense, it's designed for Dalton and there was no Fields offense installed.

It's a comedy of errors on a number of levels really. I don't mind George putting his big boy pants on, and I agree with his decision 100% to get Fields career and development going - but the timing and execution seems just awful. This is typical Bears. While other teams fire coaches, get started hiring so they get pick of the litter - the Bears drag their feet and follow "their process" - the same process that gave us, in order, Marc Trestman, John Fox, and Matt fucking Nagy. Maybe change your process and stop thinking you're smarter than the rest of the league.

[The Cooler King]

I can see both sides here, it's cringe and it's also sane depending on circumstances.

If George had reached a point where he thought Nagy was done, and also maybe Pace, and he knew they would be mortgaging Fields development in favor of trying to save their jobs - then this makes sense to me. George is the owner, he's acting in the best long term interests of the franchise.

That said, he screwed up not making his decision earlier. He should have shit canned Nagy, and Pace if necessary, this last off season. In lieu of that, if he wanted to have input on Fields development, he should have insisted that Fields start from Day 1 so that he'd have the benefit of training camp, practice reps, etc. All of that went to Dalton. As did the offense, it's designed for Dalton and there was no Fields offense installed.

It's a comedy of errors on a number of levels really. I don't mind George putting his big boy pants on, and I agree with his decision 100% to get Fields career and development going - but the timing and execution seems just awful. This is typical Bears. While other teams fire coaches, get started hiring so they get pick of the litter - the Bears drag their feet and follow "their process" - the same process that gave us, in order, Marc Trestman, John Fox, and Matt fucking Nagy. Maybe change your process and stop thinking you're smarter than the rest of the league.

I think that's pretty fair.

On some level, seeing Fields development may have also been a factor in the ultimate Nagy decision going forward.

Things would look cleaner had they cut a year earlier, but these aren't hard and fast rules he missed on. It's intuitively challenging and sometime an extra year of patience might pay off.

[TheWorldBreaker]

From the article from Shaw Media that was written:

It’s unclear how the directive was given to the coaching staff, whether there was a conversation in person between McCaskey and Bears head coach Matt Nagy, or if general manager Ryan Pace was directed to give the instructions to Nagy. The move was against the wishes of Nagy, per multiple sources.

I feel like that's quite a bit of gray left there. This isn't a breaking story that is developing.

The most explicit thing is that it was against Nagy's wishes which seemed pretty apparent at the time, but it could have still been a Pace directive.

Ryan Pace promised Dalton the starting job to get him to sign in the offseason, and he made a point of stating how he and Nagy were collaborators and on the same page, so I doubt it.

[Burl]

Timing is key, yes Dplank.

If George wanted to play a role in ensuring Fields was brought along properly, the time would've been, I don't know, before they allowed Pace/Nagy to promise the starting job to Dalton.
Not after two games where Dalton had actually been performing fine.

As benching Dalton (and yes I acknowledge the injury factor here) more or less scuttled/wrecked Nagy's hopes for contending this season, and instead shifted the focus toward the future and developing Fields, I agree the call should've been made last offseason to move on.

Lastly though, Mccaskey/Phillips both signed off on allowing Pace to mortgage the future for Fields. So this suggests some level of confidence in his evaluation of that player. However, they're clearly not demonstrating confidence in his day-to-day management of the team and development of players if they're demanding certain players start. So this is just a goddamn mess.

[Artbest]

Imo, if true, this is an abhorrent look for the franchise. Quality coaching candidates now have to factor in know-nothing owner interference into on field decisions.

This damages bear ownership and the organization, not the late duck Matt Nagy

[Boris13c]

Jesus, the soap opera continues...

So much for, "We don't make football decisions"

I haven't/don't listen to Hub, but is the larger implication that Pace is on shaky ground here as well? Because if the GM is being sidestepped, clearly they're not letting him run the show as he sees fit.

I totally buy this report, as the abrupt, about face on starting Fields is completely explained by this revelation. At the time it made no sense.

the Bears as a whole had to decide on doing the smart thing or not, so of course chose "or not"

they signed Dalton and named him QB1, which probably pissed off Foles ... then they realized during the draft that Fields was there for them so they pulled the trigger ... this gave them a lot of $$$ tied to 2 veteran QB's, while beginning the stirring of the pot that their new toy rookie QB needs to be on the field

I was on the Andy Dalton train all day ... he was on a 1 year deal, let him play, let Fields learn, and magic might happen in 2022 ... the smart thing for the Bears would have been to stay on the Dalton train themselves ... but they simply couldn't resist making a mess rather than having a plan

[Grizzled]

After JF was drafted, Pace/Nagy should have been directed to open up competition in training camp if the owner wanted to put the best team on the field. This coming out now just demonstrates even more what a true chickenshit organization the Bears have become.

[mshu7]

[Otis Day]

This is a shit show, but can't say I am not surprised. Bears

[The Cooler King]

After JF was drafted, Pace/Nagy should have been directed to open up competition in training camp if the owner wanted to put the best team on the field. This coming out now just demonstrates even more what a true chickenshit organization the Bears have become.

I'm generally pro owner stay out of things. That said I accept there's likely a time for it.

It makes no sense for George to suddenly put down a mandate in week 2 if that's how it went down though. He had to have made that mandate much earlier. Terrible ability to see ahead if so

[spudbear]

Lets rewind the tape. Firing Nagy was going to be expensive and would make Pace look bad, and the McCaskeys like Pace, not to mention that Nagy "led" them to the playoffs. Dalton was acquired, once the decision was made to launch Mitch, in order to have a solid vet QB for Pace's most important position in sports. He was probably assured of starting when signing. Fields fell in the draft and Pace traded up for him. The Bears then brought in a few prominent football minds to help sell their approach of not starting a rookie QB, even if he was more talented than the vet.

At the start of the season Dalton was QB1 and Fields was the backup. Fields got minimal practice with the ones. If you built your whole playbook and TC practice reps on slow Dalton then Foles should have been the logical choice to be the backup, particularly as he had experience in the Bears O. Foles was kept as it was expensive to get rid of him so he turned into insurance.

So, to IE's point and yours, it is a little crazy.

A more sane approach/directive might've been "Give Fields half the reps with the starters".

I don't think that Nagy necessarily botched the Browns gameplan on purpose, I think it was a combination of Fields having no reps, and Nagy not having had any time to tailor an offense to his play.
He had no idea.

What Nagy showed was his clear lack of leadership and coaching ability. A backup, particularly a rookie backup, needs some time with the ones during the week. You also need a section of your playbook for your talented rookie for just in case. Dalton had an injury history, so the chances of him not being able to take snaps during a game were fairly high.

So I wonder if George knew that Nagy would probably want to start Foles in Cleveland, and then decided to take matters into his own hands? At the very least he has to know Nagy is not what they had expected or hoped for. They can come up with all kinds of excuses, but having the worst offense in the league this year as well as an offense that has been bottom 5 for the last three years points back to the offensive genius Nagy.

[dplank]

I don’t think there’s a single person on this board that thinks Nagy should be our HC next season. How often does every member here feel the exact same way about anything? If a national poll was done amongst all Bears fans, I bet 95% would say we need to move on from Nagy. Every Bears writer seems to agree. So please, what’s the point in keeping him around the rest of the way? We need to get this over with and turn the page. How is this good for the players?? It’s toxic.

I’m glad George forced Fields (if he did, even if he botched the timing of it). I want him to force this also. Throw some red meat to the fans, show people you care about this with more than just hollow words. Show the players there’s accountability in Halas Hall. Step up, drop your nuts on the table, and man up George!

[dave99]

[video][/video]
It starts with who is in charge.

[RichH55]

OMG. Think about this for one moment. George McCaskey is overriding his own NFL coach on who plays. George-freaking-McCaskey.

Whatever you think of Matt Nagy, this should make any Bears fan furious.

This is where I fall