Past mistakes leading to a new ones with the same outcome?

[Bearly]

The current GM and HC search is again, a rudderless ship. The last 5 hires by George and Ted with or without outside help have been fails. One thing they have done in the past is keep either the GM or the HC while replacing the other. Lovie helping pick his new GM, Pace being picked by outside consultants and them strong armed into Fox. Total shit show and here we are again. Ballard and Toub said no Cutler and it was enough to not consider them. Rumor is that Ballard wanted Teddy outside the football decision area but I doubt it was as big a deal as Cutler.

Bears are again putting their hopes on an unaffiliated outsider to make the most important decision this team will have in the next 1/2 decade and who does he have to bounce things off of or get more familiar with our roster and what may serve it best? George. I'm glad Pace is no longer our GM but I'm less happy that George is the football decision guy and another disaster waiting to happen. While Pace had his share of fuckups and I can't disagree with the sentiment that promoting him for a failed stint at GM seems counterintuitive, I can't help but feel we'd be much better off with Pace being involved with hiring his replacement if the bear wanted to hire Polian to help him, I'd be fine with that as well. Imagine how different the continuity of discussions and interviews would be with Polian and Pace vs Polian and George.

Just a rant and more about the sad situation the Bears front office is than anything specifically about Pace. We should never had been in a situation where we even needed to entertain keeping Ryan in the 1st place. Emery and Trestman were outside the box, smarter than everyone else type hires, Pace and Nagy the hot commodity hires. My concern is that this time they get over conservative with retreads. Lets hope Polian is all that and does better than we expect from this franchise.

 

[playthrough2001]

Don’t kid yourself, Polian is making the decision on the hires. George will nod and sign off. Polian might be older but he’s a regular on NFL radio and he’s sharp as a tack. They didn’t grab him out of a retirement home. He’s still extremely knowledgeable, well connected and respected.

 

[Bearly]

Don’t kid yourself, Polian is making the decision on the hires. George will nod and sign off. Polian might be older but he’s a regular on NFL radio and he’s sharp as a tack. They didn’t grab him out of a retirement home. He’s still extremely knowledgeable, well connected and respected.

The idea was that 2 heads are better than one, especially when one has a better understanding of the team. The last time they hired someone with help, they blew off Ballard for Emery over Cutler which was not the decision of who they hired for the search. There's nothing to indicate that something like that might not happen again.

 

[Alterego]

To be fair, I have way more faith in Polian than I did with Acorsi. That's not really saying much because it's going to be fucked up in the end, just not as fucked up.

 

[Bearly]

To be fair, I have way more faith in Polian than I did with Acorsi. That's not really saying much because it's going to be fucked up in the end, just not as fucked up.

Fingers firmly crossed.

 

[stelz]

Polian talked George into firing Ryan Pace, which he did not want to do. Polian talked George into moving Ted Phillips out of the way, which he did not want to do. All the things we have noted that are wrong with the Bears, Polian has likely pointed them out to George. It's not too far out on the limb to say Polian would have seen through the BS of(we're excited about Andy) Pace and (I developed Patrick Mahomes) Nagy. John fox and Dr. Doom would have never been hired, and Ted would have been pushed out of the way long before.

It's the Bears, they could still fuck this up any number of ways, but Polian gives us the beast shot since (I'm Just a Fan) George took over.

"But Polian..."

 

[Zvbxrpl]

Don’t kid yourself, Polian is making the decision on the hires. George will nod and sign off. Polian might be older but he’s a regular on NFL radio and he’s sharp as a tack. They didn’t grab him out of a retirement home. He’s still extremely knowledgeable, well connected and respected.

He thought the MVP of the league should be a WR, not a QB. Not sure I'm on the same page with him being "sharp as a tack."

Smart for his time? I'm not going to argue that, he's got more than enough accolades. Smart for 2022 and beyond? That's what I among many reasonably question--Polian and what he thinks the next decade of football will be/what the game in 2032 will be. Because cute buzz words like 'evaluate,' 'collaboration,' 'our processes,' (etc, etc) didn't work the last 5 times.

And you're right, he wasn't grabbed out of a retirement home. He's a consultant for the NFL who is on a book tour. Let's be very clear; every year Goodell puts his name on a list (just like Ernie Accorsi last time) to teams to help them find their next GMs as a basic courtesy to owners.

Georgie didn't go looking for Polian to change things, he's just the soup de jour in 2022...

 

[Bearly]

Polian talked George into firing Ryan Pace, which he did not want to do. Polian talked George into moving Ted Phillips out of the way, which he did not want to do. All the things we have noted that are wrong with the Bears, Polian has likely pointed them out to George. It's not too far out on the limb to say Polian would have seen through the BS of(we're excited about Andy) Pace and (I developed Patrick Mahomes) Nagy. John fox and Dr. Doom would have never been hired, and Ted would have been pushed out of the way long before.

It's the Bears, they could still fuck this up any number of ways, but Polian gives us the beast shot since (I'm Just a Fan) George took over.

"But Polian..."

If that's true and Polian is all that, I'm good. But at this point, there's no checks and balances nor guarantee that Polian is as capable as he once was.

 

[dabears70]

The current GM and HC search is again, a rudderless ship. The last 5 hires by George and Ted with or without outside help have been fails. One thing they have done in the past is keep either the GM or the HC while replacing the other. Lovie helping pick his new GM, Pace being picked by outside consultants and them strong armed into Fox. Total shit show and here we are again. Ballard and Toub said no Cutler and it was enough to not consider them. Rumor is that Ballard wanted Teddy outside the football decision area but I doubt it was as big a deal as Cutler.

Bears are again putting their hopes on an unaffiliated outsider to make the most important decision this team will make in the next 1/2 decade and who does he have to bounce things off of or get more familiar with out roster and what may serve it best? George. I'm glad Pace is no longer our GM but I'm less happy that George is the football decision guy and another disaster waiting to happen. While Pace had his share of fuckups and I can't disagree with the sentiment that promoting him for a failed stint at GM seems counterintuitive, I can't help but feel we'd be much better off with Pace being involved with hiring his replacement If the bear wanted to hire Polian to help him, I'd be fine with that as well. Imagine how different the continuity of discussions and interviews would be with Polian and Pace vs Polian and George.

Just a rant and more about the sad situation the Bears front office is than anything specifically about Pace. We should never had been in a situation where we even needed to entertain keeping Ryan in the 1st place. Emery and Trestman were outside the box, smarter than everyone else type hires, Pace and Nagy the hot commodity hires. My concern is that this time they get over conservative with retreads. Lets hope Polian is all that and does better than we expect from this franchise.

The best thing for whoever our next GM ends up being is that he (hopefully) has the most important position in sports already on the team with Fields who none of the other GM's have had. If you don't have the right players on the field then that GM's job will always be in jeopardy. That GM's top job will be to put the right HC in place and if he's a defensive guy then it's to make sure that HC and GM put the right OC and QB's coach in place to build Fields up the right way.

 

[Bearly]

Really? You think HC is important?

 

[dabears70]

He thought the MVP of the league should be a WR, not a QB. Not sure I'm on the same page with him being "sharp as a tack."

Smart for his time? I'm not going to argue that, he's got more than enough accolades. Smart for 2022 and beyond? That's what I among many reasonably question--Polian and what he thinks the next decade of football will be/what the game in 2032 will be. Because cute buzz words like 'evaluate,' 'collaboration,' 'our processes,' (etc, etc) didn't work the last 5 times.

And you're right, he wasn't grabbed out of a retirement home. He's a consultant for the NFL who is on a book tour. Let's be very clear; every year Goodell puts his name on a list (just like Ernie Accorsi last time) to teams to help them find their next GMs as a basic courtesy to owners.

Georgie didn't go looking for Polian to change things, he's just the soup de jour in 2022...

C.Kupp should be in the top 3 for MVP if the MVP wasn't really the trophy for the top QB in the league.

 

[meangreek]

Mark Levy came back from the grave to endorse Big Bill

no worries, we got this......

 

[Mdbearz]

Not sure I agree that Pace would be better than Polian.

I'm not going to start complaining until I see who we pick for GM and HC, and even then you would think there is a honeymoon phase, because both of them might need a year to get things moving in the right direction.

 

[gilder121]

I get the angst. I do, I've also lived it.

To me, I don't think Pace would be a good idea to use to hire his replacement.
1) It would require promoting him. This town has a history of combos like Gar-Pax, Kenny-Hahn. It always seems to get muddled and we've already decided Pace is deficient in team building and we don't want him influencing that.

2) Pace is too familiar with the roster. Asking him to disassociate what he sees and open up to what another GM sees (one taking his job) would be a difficult ask for someone that will have this person reporting to them and believes so strongly in collaboration.

Now, if you want two, three, four "football guys" to hire the football guy GM to hire the football guy had coach. I get that. I don't trust George either. I also know that Nagy, Pace, Fox all had recommendations from tons of football guys.

Unfortunately, there isn't anything magical. If there was, it would be an easy blueprint to follow. To me, the best bet is to find someone you trust, in this case Polian and hope for the best. It sounds like George and Ted will get out of the way, so the hire should have the opportunity to succeed without meddling. That's the hope anyways.

And if you are nervous about the new GM not having input from other football people? Feel free to get him a mentor. Or use consultants. He should also be working with the coach and scouts. His life is working with "football guys". I also don't care if there's a "football guy" team president, but it shouldn't be Pace.

 

[Bearly]

Not sure I agree that Pace would be better than Polian.

I'm not going to start complaining until I see who we pick for GM and HC, and even then you would think there is a honeymoon phase, because both of them might need a year to get things moving in the right direction.

Not saying that either but Polian and Pace wouldn't hurt as opposed to George, Ted and Polian.
Plus, Polian aint sticking around. Whomever the new GM is, he won't have a sounding board outside of George.

There's been rumors of Teddy getting moved out and someone else filling that void for months. I completely understand not wanting that to be Pace, but George?

 

[Mdbearz]

Not saying that either but Polian and Pace wouldn't hurt as opposed to George, Ted and Polian.
Plus, Polian aint sticking around. Whomever the new GM is, he won't have a sounding board outside of George.

I might be in the minority, but I was a little surprised they let Pace go. Not completely surprised, but a little....

 

[Bearly]

I might be in the minority, but I was a little surprised they let Pace go. Not completely surprised, but a little....

My guess is that it was Polian's decision. I just hope he's still all that and hires a GM that can fill a large void.

 

[Username]

You can make all the excuses, all the scenarios, read all the analytics, listen for all the rumors and sit and wonder who's it going to be like a 15 year old girl waiting by the phone in her prom dress, but the fact of the matter, this team is going no where until it is sold to a owner that actually cares enough to learn or already knows NFL football. The owners are hiring people to do their jobs and pin their hopes that their employee will be competent and professional enough to make a good decision. The final decision comes from someone who is only there because his mom said he could be. He has no record of being successful, and it is in fact, quite the opposite.
As I've said before, when you don't know what you're doing, all you can do is try and hope, but do not expect success or progress. If you try to dunk from the free throw line and don't have the physical attributes or raw talent to make it, you will fail. You tried and you hoped, but you landed on your ass.
Bears have been trying and hoping for the past 35 years. They got lucky once and made it to a SB but lost, and didn't know what to do after that, which is typical of an org with no leadership. Bears once again find themselves on their ass and they're going to try and hope again. That is all they can do.
It's amazing that someone with a multi-million, if not a billion dollar business has never taken the time to learn the actual business. If you come to the Bears for your entertainment, you pay the price for the owner's blatant laziness and entitlement. It may be time to go some where else.