Why do big, bad Bears aim so small?
Judging by the reported list of their general manager candidates, the Bears need a talking to.
Call it a pep talk. Or a scolding. Or a rant from somebody who grew up in Chicago believing this should be a special sports franchise and is disgusted that it isn't.
Something is wrong if the Bears aren't bigger than pursuing the No. 2 or No. 3 guy from another NFL team.
The conclusion is that ownership and upper management have diminished one of sports' greatest brand names.
The Bears in Chicago aren't the Jaguars in Jacksonville, the Predators in Nashville or the Bucks in Milwaukee.
They're the major-market Bears, the NFL founding father's franchise, the club that thrilled the nation with the T-formation.
You know why the Dallas Cowboys remain America's Team? Because Jerry Jones blusters from the highest steeple that they are.
But they aren't? The Bears are, or at least should be. With their resources in this market, no other team should be close.
The Bears' GM position should be attracting candidates bigger, better and brighter than all the current ones combined.
Are you going tell me the NFL's best of the best don't want to etch their names next to the likes of Halas, Grange, Ditka, Butkus and Payton?
If they don't, the McCaskeys and Ted Phillips and everybody else at Halas Hall should be embarrassed by the Bears' pedestrian profile.
Instead of interviewing guys who helped guys build teams, the Bears should be accepting applications from the guys who built those teams.
The Bears need a new general manager who is more than a college scout aware of where Stevens Point is; more than a pro evaluator who knows the league's whole board; more even than somebody familiar with both those branches of player personnel.
At this point in their history the Bears need a veteran full-service executive not named Tim Ruskell, someone adept at player evaluation, managing the salary cap and knowing what everybody does in every department of the organization.
Myriad football men know this player is good and that player isn't, but few know that these players fit with those players. Even fewer can fit all the pieces into the right systems with the right coaching staff at the right time.
Instead of settling for the next great thing, the Bears' should be attractive enough to attract the current great thing, whomever that might be with whichever team.
Jim Finks wasn't a next guy when the Bears hired him to upgrade and update the franchise in the 1970s. He was a now guy, just as Theo Epstein is the Cubs' now guy rather than a next guy.
That type of executive isn't available? Make him available. Find a loophole in his existing contract and exploit a weakness in his relationship with his current team.
After identifying him, offer him everything — more money, fancier title, unlimited authority, keys to the liquor cabinet, anything and everything.
Buy and sell: Buy him away from his current employer and sell him on reviving the NFL's greatest franchise.
The people at Halas Hall often talk in reverential tones about how special the Bears are, but then they make the operation seem like the Sacramento Kings.
Stop it up there! Hire up instead of down! Aim higher than another team's underling! Stick your chests out! Bust some buttons! Make something happen!
Woof-woof-woof!
mimrem@dailyherald.com