Ted Phillips

[JesusHalasChrist]

Michael McCaskey, the oldest of 11 McCaskey children, became president of the team in 1983 after the death of his grandfather, George Halas. After winning a Super Bowl championship in 1985 with a team assembled primarily by former general manager Jim Finks, McCaskey's tenure was marked by an eroding talent base, three changes of personnel directors and repeated failures to make progress on building a new stadium.

Michael McCaskey ousted as president of the Chicago Bears

This story originally ran in the Chicago Tribune on Feb. 10, 1999 Michael McCaskey is out as president and chief executive officer of the Bears and was replaced Wednesday by&nbs…

www.chicagotribune.com

His proper name is "Anyone But" Michael McCaskey.

 

[Porkchop]

Losing franchise in the modern era

Literally, 167-188 since Phillips was hired in 1999. Beyond unacceptable that he is still in this capacity after decades of losing football.

 

[Mr. Jones]

When you say, “screwed by the McCaskeys” do you mean murdered?

No. It was the death of Mugs that doomed the franchise to its current state. George and his son Mugs knew football and the NFL. George and Mugs hired the architect of the SB team Jim Finks. George hired Ditka. to coach and resurrect the franchise. It was the Halas side of the family's championship team not the McCaskey's. Had he not died, Mugs would have done a much better job given his knowledge of the NFL and football under his fathers tutelage, then the McCaskey's.

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

No. It was the death of Mugs that doomed the franchise to its current state. George and his son Mugs knew football and the NFL. George and Mugs hired the architect of the SB team Jim Finks. George hired Ditka. to coach and resurrect the franchise. It was the Halas side of the family's championship team not the McCaskey's. Had he not died, Mugs would have done a much better job given his knowledge of the NFL and football under his fathers tutelage, then the McCaskey's.

Apparently you didn't get what I posted.

 

[GoBears]

Agreed but then we already know there is zero accountability inside the Bears for being terrible at your job.

 

[BaBaBlacksheep]

People will come in here and say he has no say in football decisions, despite having a say in football decisions.

If he had any say in hiring Pace (he did) then he has a say in football decisions. Teddy needs to be exiled to a Siberian work camp.

 

[Mr. Jones]

Apparently you didn't get what I posted.

If you were referring to Mugs death being "suspicious or accusing the McCaskey's of doing him in, I don't subscribe to any BS Like that. What I meant was that the McCaskey's stole the SB glory from the Hala's family. McCaskey's have never put together a championship winning team and probably never will given their horrible decisions in the personnel that they hire.

 

[Aquineas]

I think people read George wrong. I think he does care. I don't think he would attend games and sit in the stands if he didn't care about the team. I think he delegates the running of the team to Phillips and Pace, which if Phillips and Pace were competent, would be a wonderful thing; a good leader trusts his lieutenants and doesn't try to do their job for them, and if he can't trust his lieutenants, he hires lieutenants he can trust. The problem is, neither Pace nor Phillips are trustworthy, and George has for whatever reason been slow to reset. I don't think that's from a lack of caring.

Also, I've said it before and I'll say it again: Pace is really good at evaluating defensive-line and defensive-back talent, but he sucks at pretty much all the other positions. I almost wish we could keep Pace on to draft or scout defensive talent when a new GM is inevitably hired to handle the overall team. The Bears have simply whiffed on too many high draft picks since Pace has been the GM, and thrown away too many first round picks (for Trubisky, for Mack, for Rookie QB).

I also believe George is motivated by wanting to give his mother another trophy before she passes away. I believe that's why they mortgaged so much of their future by signing Mack and Quinn.

 

[bamainatlanta]

When you think about it, this franchise is a bottom fourth franchise since the 90's.
If not for the Lions, Bengals, Browns, Jaguars, etc--Bears would be even more of a laughing stock.

 

[HearshotKDS]

I think people read George wrong. I think he does care. I don't think he would attend games and sit in the stands if he didn't care about the team. I think he delegates the running of the team to Phillips and Pace, which if Phillips and Pace were competent, would be a wonderful thing; a good leader trusts his lieutenants and doesn't try to do their job for them, and if he can't trust his lieutenants, he hires lieutenants he can trust. The problem is, neither Pace nor Phillips are trustworthy, and George has for whatever reason been slow to reset. I don't think that's from a lack of caring.

Also, I've said it before and I'll say it again: Pace is really good at evaluating defensive-line and defensive-back talent, but he sucks at pretty much all the other positions. I almost wish we could keep Pace on to draft or scout defensive talent when a new GM is inevitably hired to handle the overall team. The Bears have simply whiffed on too many high draft picks since Pace has been the GM, and thrown away too many first round picks (for Trubisky, for Mack, for Rookie QB).

I also believe George is motivated by wanting to give his mother another trophy before she passes away. I believe that's why they mortgaged so much of their future by signing Mack and Quinn.

Its not a popular opinion but I think you're right. George and the McCaskeys do care about the franchise - they just don't know how to fix the team because they aren't actually football people. They rely heavily on the "football" people in the franchise, and when that led to disaster after Emery+Trestman they even brought in a consultant (Accorsi) to help make the next round of football decisions. Unfortunately that didnt work, I would guess there is more than a little bit of "o god what am i going to do?!?!" happening with George.

I think he definitely means well, but hes also unfortunately incompetent. He's seen his brother basically get fired from the job George has now by being hands-on and failing in the 90s, I think he learned from that "dont rock the boat, never be rash, dont allow any embrassments that turn the national spotlight on ownership vs. the players or coaching". But from the interviews he gave in this offseason, George has a lot of habits that frankly come from being given a leadership role vs. earning it: he's not organized, he doesn't make significant efforts to quantify performance, and the leadership structure within ownership unfortunately shields him from any meritocratic processes that would "sharpen" his skills. George's take on decision making is basically "ill know the right decision when its time to make it" which im sure he thinks is normal but in the real world this is called "winging it" and George doesnt have the expertise in Football to wing it.

 

[Midwaymonster75]

They care about the franchise....the business side of it. Under Ted Phillips business has been good.

Ginny might care, but I heavily doubt George cares about anything besides seeing record profits.

Maybe fans should stop buying tickets.

 

[TexasBearfan]

I think people read George wrong. I think he does care. I don't think he would attend games and sit in the stands if he didn't care about the team. I think he delegates the running of the team to Phillips and Pace, which if Phillips and Pace were competent, would be a wonderful thing; a good leader trusts his lieutenants and doesn't try to do their job for them, and if he can't trust his lieutenants, he hires lieutenants he can trust. The problem is, neither Pace nor Phillips are trustworthy, and George has for whatever reason been slow to reset. I don't think that's from a lack of caring.

Also, I've said it before and I'll say it again: Pace is really good at evaluating defensive-line and defensive-back talent, but he sucks at pretty much all the other positions. I almost wish we could keep Pace on to draft or scout defensive talent when a new GM is inevitably hired to handle the overall team. The Bears have simply whiffed on too many high draft picks since Pace has been the GM, and thrown away too many first round picks (for Trubisky, for Mack, for Rookie QB).

I also believe George is motivated by wanting to give his mother another trophy before she passes away. I believe that's why they mortgaged so much of their future by signing Mack and Quinn.

angelo was kind of the same way, hit on a lot of late picks and missed on a lot of early ones

 

[Decatur Staley]

Its not a popular opinion but I think you're right. George and the McCaskeys do care about the franchise - they just don't know how to fix the team because they aren't actually football people. They rely heavily on the "football" people in the franchise, and when that led to disaster after Emery+Trestman they even brought in a consultant (Accorsi) to help make the next round of football decisions. Unfortunately that didnt work, I would guess there is more than a little bit of "o god what am i going to do?!?!" happening with George.

I think he definitely means well, but hes also unfortunately incompetent. He's seen his brother basically get fired from the job George has now by being hands-on and failing in the 90s, I think he learned from that "dont rock the boat, never be rash, dont allow any embrassments that turn the national spotlight on ownership vs. the players or coaching". But from the interviews he gave in this offseason, George has a lot of habits that frankly come from being given a leadership role vs. earning it: he's not organized, he doesn't make significant efforts to quantify performance, and the leadership structure within ownership unfortunately shields him from any meritocratic processes that would "sharpen" his skills. George's take on decision making is basically "ill know the right decision when its time to make it" which im sure he thinks is normal but in the real world this is called "winging it" and George doesnt have the expertise in Football to wing it.

Also, his mustache makes him look like a pedo

 

[zabavka]

Imagine spending over 30 years as owners of a football franchise and not learning even a little bit about the nuances of the actual game itself or the players or schemes or anything that has to do with actually winning the game.

That is the Bears ownership.

 

[Madisoncubaholic]

Interesting take. Perhaps the Bears are cursed, that would explain alot. And the 85 team was so good only that collection of talent could overcome the curse.

That team was put together by one of the last remaining football guys from the Halas side of life before Virginia gave the McKaskeys free reign with their business degrees and Ivy League diplomas and pictures in their high school yearbook of them playing in the Powderpuff games.

 

[Leomaz]

Maybe fans should stop buying tickets.

Always blaming the fans…..yet we don’t play a single down or make a single decision

 

[Midwaymonster75]

Always blaming the fans…..yet we don’t play a single down or make a single decision

I wasnt blaming fans.

 

[BornAnAngryBearsFan]

22 years of being team President, 6 playoff appearances according to Wikipedia.

Thought the playoff number was higher, just shows how damn incompetent this team and ownership is.

Ted's job, is to keep the Bears profitable... Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[Leomaz]

I wasnt blaming fans.

Not buying tickets wouldn’t hurt the Bears. Why would you even think that?

 

[EDPeezy]

One big problem is that the owners aren’t independently wealthy outside of owning the bears. Which creates penny pinching. How may NFL owners bought their franchises with money made outside of football? The Bears have been owned by the same people throughout its existence whose wealth comes from the team. So they tend to be more frugal. Some NFL owners treat their franchise like a shiny toy. The Bears treat it like their lifeblood.

I think cutting Fuller is a good example in how the Bears function. That was a business decision and not a football one. Even if they had to get rid of some guys why Fuller? Why not just cut Jimmy Graham and even Hicks? They chose Fuller because he wouldn’t take a pay cut. I’m also pretty sure they cut him because his cap number was high and it was a quick and easy way to get it down. And the fact that he’s a great player at a premium position meant nothing. It was just a straight up business decision. Clean up the books. “Oh, there’s a big number. We get rid of that and we’re good.” “That’s Kyle Fuller though, he’s one of our best players at a premium position.” “It doesn’t matter. We gotta get these books straight.”That’s the kind of shit the Bengals do. The Jets. Shit franchises with shit ownership. People see the Bears in this big market and think they should have the money to not be frugal. They are though.

Like why in the hell is Jimmy Graham on this team? And I thought he played well last year. But they drafted Kmet. They’re playing him and Graham is hardly even out there. So why the hell didn’t they cut Graham and save like 7 million? They cut Fuller instead who didn’t even have a replacement. They had a replacement for Graham. And corner is more important than TE anyway. So why would you cut Fuller and keep Graham? Because all the accountants who run this franchise see is a number. We cut one guy and save 7 million. We cut the other and save 16. Nevermind that the 16 million dollar guy is way more important that the 7 million dollar guy.