Being average just not cutting it for Bears
Bears fans can only hope that while waiting for the Bears’ 35-21 loss to the Packers, rookie club chairman George McCaskey watched “Meet the Press” on Sunday morning.
On the program New York Times columnist Tom Friedman reiterated his recent theme concerning America:
“Average is officially over. We all gotta find our extra. Come with something new and extra to the table.”
The Bears have been seduced by the temptress named Lady Average. The McCaskey ownership wraps itself in it like it’s a Snuggie that warms current reality into future fantasy.
Mediocrity is a teaser that every off-season fools the Bears into believing that they’re a tweak or two from the next level.
Today the public’s clamor for change didn’t surface just because the Bears couldn’t overcome injuries to Jay Cutler and Matt Forte, or because they haven’t had an adequate backup quarterback, or because a five-game losing streak snuffed them from playoff contention.
All those simply were symptoms of the disease, just as was the predictable loss at Green Bay. Civic unrest has been building since the Bears lost the Super Bowl to the Colts five seasons ago.
Actually, the Bears have maddeningly meandered along at their mediocre pace during 11 years under general manager Jerry Angelo and eight under head coach Lovie Smith.
A decade is long enough to build a Super Bowl winner, don’t you think?
After awhile you are what you are, and if what the Bears are is good enough for the McCaskeys, heaven help us.
The mood around town is that good enough for them is bad enough for fans.
Overall over the past five seasons the Bears averaged out to average when luck was on their side and then when it wasn’t; when they were healthy and then when they weren’t; when they reached the playoffs and then when they didn’t.
Management hasn’t been effective enough to assemble championship talent, the coaching staff hasn’t been effective enough to coach up the players, and ownership hasn’t been effective enough to do much about it.
In sports as in all of society, average is as average does.
Angelo doesn’t rank among the NFL’s Top 10 general managers or the Bottom 10. He’s somewhere between.
Smith doesn’t rank among the NFL’s Top 10 head coaches or the Bottom 10. He’s somewhere between.
Consequently the Bears don’t rank among the NFL’s Top 10 franchises or the Bottom 10. They’re somewhere between.
If that’s good enough, the McCaskeys should formally surrender the NFC North to the dreaded Packers and formerly dreadful Lions.
The McFamily might as well just divvy up the revenue generated by the new Soldier Field, which would raise the same question asked for decades about the Cubs:
Why should the Bears pay the price for excellence if all the seats are sold anyway?
This isn’t to say the McCaskeys are cheap, because they haven’t been. It isn’t to say they don’t care about winning, because they do. It isn’t to say they enjoy owning an average NFL team, because they don’t.
It’s just to say that without an economic incentive, pride is the only reason for the Bears to desperately and dramatically change course.
Maybe the notion that “average is over” will motivate George McCaskey “to come with something new and extra” for the Bears.
mimrem@dailyherald.com