CHICAGO (WGN) — The Chicago Bears are but one hamster on a series of wheels that keep the Chicago sports engine of mediocrity running. At this moment in time, they have an opportunity to break the cycle, but the last 14 years and counting have done little to inspire confidence from the Bears faithful.
Cyclical mediocrity is the norm when wading through the ether of Chicago sports. It’s not just the football team at Soldier Field.
As of Wednesday evening, the Blackhawks are 14-28-2, dead last in the NHL in points (30). That comes on the heels of finishing second to last in the Western Conference last season.
The Bulls stand a shade better at 18-22 and currently occupy the tenth seed in the Eastern Conference, meaning they’d qualify for the play-in tournament if the regular season ended today. But being slightly under .500 is their style.
They finished 39-43 at the end of last year. 40-42 two seasons ago. Only once in the last nine years have the Bulls posted a winning season. That was in 2021-22 when they went 46-36. They were bounced in five games by the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the playoffs.
At least there’s only 25 days remaining until pitchers and catchers report for spring training, right?
If the Bulls are the poster child for finishing slightly under .500, the Cubs could run ads on billboards across the North Side that say, “At least we’re better than average!”
The Cubs have finished 83-79 in each of the last two seasons, a gargantuan improvement over the 74 and 71-win campaigns they posted in the two years prior to that. Apart from winning the 2016 World Series, the Cubs have won two playoff series in the last two decades.
Here’s to hoping North Side baseball fans aren’t talking about rebuilding the 2016 Cubs 40 years from now like Chicago sports fans do with the 1985 Bears.
But that’s the mantra. Once every few decades, dip your big toe in championship waters instead of going all in and pursuing sustained success. After all, nothing’s more fun than ignoring your roster and hiring Craig Counsell, only to acquire Kyle Tucker a year later and ship Cody Bellinger to the Bronx.
Oh, and by the way Kyle, even though the Cubs just traded for one of the best outfielders in baseball, you’re not worth the $17.5 million you asked for in arbitration. More like $15 million — the same salary Andrew Benintendi made last year as a below-average hitter on the South Side.
Tucker hit 23 home runs in 277 at-bats and posted a 4.7 WAR with a .993 OPS last season. Benintendi hit 20 home runs in 477 at-bats and compiled a -0.8 WAR with a .685 OPS in 2024. Not worth $17.5 million though, according to the Cubs front office.
Speaking of the South Side, I’m not going to spend much time on the White Sox, who enter 2025 hoping to lose only 100 games a year after they set the MLB record for losses at 121.
This is the type of mind-numbing stuff Chicago sports fans deal with year in and year out. A never-ending cycle of, “How should I inflict pain upon myself today?”
While South Side baseball fans debate filling a sock with double-A batteries and beating themselves over the head with it, Bears fans are likely contemplating a similar fate.
Maybe a nose dive into the Bear exhibit at the Brookfield Zoo would do the trick because getting mauled by an actual Bear seems more enjoyable than hoping the Bears get a head coaching hire right for the first time since I was seven.
To clarify, Lovie Smith was hired in January 2004. I was 7 years old in January 2004. Yes, you are old. I know you are old because people my age never learned how to read. They just endlessly scroll through TikToks and rate things on a scale of one to five BOOMS.
If it wasn’t obvious, that’s a joke. Back to our regularly scheduled programming.
At the time of this being written, 19 candidates have made it onto Chicago’s list of those to be considered for their head coaching vacancy. 12 of them have completed at least one interview. The Bears are “casting a wide net,” as front office personnel have said.
Up to seven of those front office faces sit on the panel in charge of sifting through that laundry list of candidates. It includes Chairman George McCaskey, President & CEO Kevin Warren, General Manager Ryan Poles, Senior Director of Player Personnel Jeff King, Chief Human Resources Officer Liz Geist, Director of Football Administration Matt Feinstein and Assistant General Manager Ian Cunningham when he has the time. He’s also busy interviewing for general manager jobs elsewhere.
When things are all said and done, Poles has the final say-so on who will take the reins of the Bears next year, but if recent history is any example, McCaskey and Co. will find a way to screw this up. It’s in their DNA.
Since McCaskey took over as team chairman in 2011, Chicago has cycled through three general managers, six head coaches and five starting quarterbacks. Minus the 2018 season, every single one of those years has ranged from disappointing, to being a downright dumpster fire just like this season, which will land the Bears their seventh head coach in 14 years when they kickoff the 2025 NFL regular season in September.
McCaskey has overseen so many head coaching searches that media members who regularly visit Halas Hall have to feel debilitating Deja Vu every two or three years covering the same song and dance routine when another one inevitably manifests itself.
“The idea is to get it right,” McCaskey said at his end-of-year press conference. “Bears fans deserve a winner and we’re going to do everything we can with Ryan’s leadership [and] the process he’s outlined. With guidance from Kevin, Ryan’s going to make the best decision going forward.”
“Casting a wide net” is the process that’s been outlined by Poles and if this were any other team in the NFC North, it would probably seem like the smart decision to make. Leave no stone unturned and gather the perspectives of as many people as you can so that the right candidate lands in your lap.
But this is Chicago, where leaving no stone unturned actually means the Bears’ front office will just be overwhelmed with information and make the wrong hire. Look at how their offensive coordinator search went last season after they went into “information-gathering mode.”
Shane Waldron turned out so well, didn’t he?
What adds even more insult to injury is that Chicago doesn’t even need to be this exhaustive in their search. The answer is right in front of their face and if the Bears don’t want to take it from me, take it from the talented quarterback they stumbled backward into drafting.
“Yeah, I think even watching last night, knowing kind of what they’re going to be in a certain situation, and being able to go out there and execute like the pass they threw to Jahmyr [Gibbs] on [Andrew] Van Ginkel,” Williams said of Ben Johnson’s play-calling during the Detroit Lions 31-9 victory over the Minnesota Vikings in Week 18. The win earned Detroit the NFC’s No. 1 seed, a first-round bye and the NFC North division title.
“Just knowing that you know how he’s going to play it, and things like that. And then go and kind of counter,” Williams said. “I think [Johnson’s] done things. He’s done that all year. And I think it’s been really cool to watch. I think during our game, I would sit back and just kind of watch and try and learn something.
“I was fascinated to watch, because he always … had wrinkles for counters and things like that throughout the game. I think he’s done really well and so, you know, [it’ll] be cool to see how that all goes down.”
If that’s not enough of a glowing endorsement from the man you have entrusted the next decade of your franchise with, Johnson has also heaped praise on top of him too.
“It’s been difficult to sit down and just study every throw, but plenty of crossover tape over the course of the year and there’s no question this guy is talented,” Johnson said of Williams ahead of the Lions’ Week 16 matchup at the Bears. “I remember standing on the sideline last game and you could hear the ball whistle by you. He’s got quite a fastball and has some creativity to him.
“He can extend plays and is accurate down the field as well … He’s been impressive from afar.”
The fact that your franchise quarterback can reference specific plays called by a coach from a game not involving your team is one sign.
The fact that same coach — who leads the No. 1 scoring offense in football — commended the abilities of your franchise quarterback is another. It should be all the evidence Chicago needs to hire him as their next head coach.
All the Bears need to do is buck their last 14 years of being dysfunctional losers and make the right call. Only then can a little bit of the faith be restored.