Bears making the playoffs was the worst case scenario |
The Bears making the playoffs was the worst-case scenario.
They always say hindsight is 20/20 — and that could not be more true with sports, more particularly the Chicago Bears. If general managers and coaches could see into the future, they would not draft or sign certain players, call certain plays. For Ryan Pace, he would not draft Mitchell Trubiksy, sign Robert Quinn, trade for Nick Foles, or perhaps even hire Matt Nagy, to name a few. The Bears now reflect upon a second consecutive disappointing but not a bad season. Falling into the trap of being okay with being okay because the team is still making money. This is often the direction teams who have been owned by one group operate. The Bears have had one owner their entire existence — they have lived off of the Bears’ one championship and have shown complacency when aggressiveness is what is needed. This season the Bears started the season at 2-0, switched quarterbacks, and stayed on top of the NFC North division at 5-1. After that, the Bears lost six games in a row and switched back quarterbacks after the fourth loss. Then the Bears won three in a row, and dropped the season finale, and limped into the playoffs as the NFC’s seventh seed — a seed that had only been added this season. To nobody’s surprise, the Bears were exposed against the Saints — showing a team with loads of talent, its fair share of flaws, stubborn leadership, and no direction. The Bears stuck to the status quo — announcing that CEO Ted Phillips, GM Ryan Pace, and head coach Matt Nagy will all be employed by the Bears for at least another season. This, of course, infuriates Bears fans who understand the output of this group has not been good enough — and that the leadership is clinging to a pity playoff appearance as a reason not to make a change. Apparently, the Bears would have made a change at general manager and head coach if the Bears went 8-8. But the fact that the team lost six games in the middle of the year and “rebounded” (they went 3-2 in the final five games) showed that the Bears had made progress in building a culture and have the right guys employed who can build it. So, yes, that means a six-game losing streak saved Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy’s job. In fact, after the sixth loss, reports indicated that it was writing on the wall that both Pace and Nagy would be jobless come January. What a flip it has been since then Knowing what we all now, Bears fans would have been totally fine losing 10 in a row instead of six — because it would not have given Bears brass a chance to cling to any success, instead of forcing the Bears to make substantive changed that could lead to legitimate success for the future of this franchise. Instead, because a playoff spot sounds good, the Bears will roll into 2021 with the same people in charge — so why should anybody expect any improvement? It’s hard to say I would rather the Bears miss the playoffs, but in this case, I absolutely wish they did. A bad season would lead to a higher draft pick, a new head coach, and a new general manager — something I believe this team needs more than another 8-8 season and wild card round exit.
