Conflicting Reports about whether Chicago Bears Hired a “Consultant”
A report surfaced that Bears’ brass hired a consultant to look at the team’s football operations, but that may not be true.
No ownership group would be pleased with a 1-6 start to the season, so it wasn’t a shock when Ian Rapoport tweeted out his story on Sunday that the Chicago Bears’ brass were evaluating the entire football operations of the team: from Ryan Pace to John Fox to the entire coaching and training staffs.
Bears brass begins full evaluation of football operation from top to bottom: https://t.co/IfAo8KWEVa (via @RapSheet) pic.twitter.com/1TQS3Y7RRn
— NFL (@NFL) October 30, 2016
The report says that there is turmoil within the organization between Pace and Fox and that John Fox’s dedication to turning around this franchise may not be what it was previously with the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers.
The report went on to say that there is frustration with the level of talent on the field and that several rival front offices have criticized everything the Bears’ front office has done this year.
However, on Monday, before the Bears faced the Minnesota Vikings, Pro Football Weekly (along with chief editor Hub Arkush) reported that Rapoport’s story may not be accurate.
ICYMI, our story on the Bears not hiring a consultant for football operations updated with Fox denying NFLN report https://t.co/Th7ACQayTF pic.twitter.com/m7moC2Q2Zx
— Bears Insider (@bears_insider) November 1, 2016
The PFW story directly contradicts the NFL Network (Rapoport) story. PFW says that the Bears may in fact have hired a consultant, but that consultant is only looking at the team from a business perspective and in no way is examining anything to do with football operations.
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PFW also includes statements from John Fox that flatly deny the report.
While there’s no surprise that Fox would deny these reports, Arkush has been around the Bears organization for over 30 years and is honestly more tied into the organization than Rapoport.
While it’s unclear which report is accurate, one thing that is true is that winning cures a lot of issues. The Bears victory against the Vikings on Monday night improved their record to 2-6 and if the second half of the season shows a lot of improvement over the first, these reports will prove to be nothing more than a bunch of bluster with no substance.
If the Bears continue to struggle, consultant or not, there will be plenty to keep an eye on as this team moves forward into 2017 and beyond.
Bill Zimmerman is an editor and featured writer for FanSided‘s BearGogglesOn. Like his Facebook page or follow him on Twitter for more news and interaction.