O'Donnell: Is misuse of Fields a bad sign of things to come for the Bears and Arlington Park?

WHEN THE SUPER BOWL-BOUND EAGLES visit Soldier Field Sunday, Justin Fields could score 7 TDs in a 55-27 Bears victory.

On-site fans would "ooh." Stay-at-homes would be comfy-cozier - and much closer to fireplaces and microwaves to yahoo (FOX, noon).

The Marvel Entertainment athleticism of Chicago's No. 1 would be the lead showcase on NBC's "Football Night in America."

But such a lakefront afternoon would underscore the dismaying organizational nuttiness that permeates Halas Hall these days.

THE MERE FACT THAT the franchise's most valuable on-field asset is playing out a meaningless string of icy home games - and one warehoused in Detroit - shows that the McCaskeys are just brandishing old family inadequacies.

Is such a lack of business coherency also a broad hint about the non-future of the Arlington Park project?

For the cosmically conscious:

• It's close to 15 full months since the Bears announced "a purchase agreement" with Churchill Downs Inc.;

• The 18-month window for all due diligence and a decision is closing fast;

• Bunker Bill Carstanjen and the chip-counting highwaymen down at CDI are riding into the holidays with stock at roughly $225 per share, a 30 percent increase from its 52-week low. They also have multiple options set to check through if the Bears can't close.

CONNECTING THE DOTS, if the Bears can't properly manage a transiting "small" nugget like Fields, why is there any reason to believe that they will actually get a multibillion-dollar redevelopment project done in Arlington Heights?

When Pete Rozelle recast the NFL business model as a share-the-wealth, TV-driven cabal in 1963-64, few benefitted as much as the nickel-and-diming George Halas.

His heirs remain key passive beneficiaries.

The association's largest single-market franchise should have had its own hometown football palace decades ago.

The Halas-McCaskey line repeatedly failed.

Now they've gotten smarter?

The wicked and wasteful use of Fields this hollow holiday season says, "No!"

And neither a seven-touchdown Sunday or Marvel Entertainment can change that.

STREET-BEATIN':

Much can be said about Charles Barkley's recent declaration that the Bulls should "blow it up" and switch back into rebuild mode. Three addenda: 1) Lonzo Ball was a dice roll that isn't working out; 2) Zach LaVine's monster deal rewarded a basketball skillset over any consistent history as a winner; and 3) As long as Jerry Reinsdorf is near the reins, "The Curse of the Breakup" rules. ...

The presence of Lionel Messi and Argentina in the FIFA World Cup Final at least gives some sense of regalness to the end of the star-crossed games in Qatar (FOX, Telemundo; Sunday, 9 a.m.). Kylian Mbappé is brilliant but France repeating as champs would seem like a quiz-show scandal. ...

Robert Griffin III left set mates agape on ESPN's "Monday Night Countdown" when he used a racial pejorative during the broadcast. Griffin later tweeted that he meant to say "Bug-a-Boos" (sic). Either way, wide right. ...

Stan Lawrence (Bradley University '78) and chums recently toasted fond memories of Terry Armour. "The Stan & Terry Show" once held sway on the old WCKG-FM. Armour was the Chicago Tribune sports-and-pop-culture whirlwind who died suddenly 15 years ago this month. He was 46 years old. ...

A multi-regional mom who should know better complained to a host high school athletic director when her star son was missing jump shots while getting mildly chided by homecourt students. ("Over ... rated!") The stunned A.D. declined to silence his hawkish rascals. ...

Unsinkable George Castle reports that Vince Lloyd will be among the 2023 Silver Circle honorees of the Chicago / Midwest TV Academy next May. Base criterion for the award is "at least 25 years of service in the TV industry." A left-out Bruce Wolf continues to look for a Bush Push to turn his 24 years into 25. ...

Plans for a casino at Southwest suburban Hawthorne Race Course continue to stall. Racing elder Frank Calabrese - no stranger to high-roller amenities - has long insisted the Cicero / Stickney adjunct of chance will never happen, asking, "Where the hell is a casino down there going to draw any real gamblers from?" ...

And Chris D'Amato, after Alex Ovechkin's 800th career goal completed a hat trick against the Blackhawks Tuesday night: "Maybe the Wirtzes should have had Jenner and Block between the pipes."

• Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears Sunday and Thursday Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.