Chicago Bears: George McCaskey Not Setting Timetable for Improvement

As the Chicago Bears try to rebuild and regain respectability, owner George McCaskey hasn’t set a timetable for the Bears to turn things around.

When you’re the owner of a team coming off a 3-13 season, the questions about coach’s hot seats and expected win totals are certain to head your way. That’s what Chicago Bears chairman George McCaskey got to address following the NFL owner’s meeting earlier this week.

Everyone wants to know when the Beloved Chicago Bears will return to prominence. Heck, a return to relevance would be a step up after the last few seasons. McCaskey and ownership are not putting a timeline or a win total on GM Ryan Pace and head coach John Fox.

"“We want to continue to see progress, see the building blocks,” he said. “But there isn’t any sort of particular threshold.”"

I hate to say it, but I think that’s the right approach.

My initial reaction would be to set a “playoffs or else” mandate on Pace and Fox. There have been too many lost seasons since the Bears’ last playoff appearance in 2010! But the prudent thing to do is to give the current regime a little rope, at least enough to hang themselves.

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The problem with the “win or else” mandate is it goes against what you want to eventually accomplish – sustained success. If the Bears put the mandate on John Fox and Ryan Pace, I bet you’d see a different approach to free agency. Big ticket names would suddenly be more attractive. Aging veterans with experience and a track record would be selected over ascending talent or draft picks.

But what about just putting a win total on head coach John Fox, who’s had a shaky game-day record. A win or else mandate for the coach puts him and the GM in direct conflict. You don’t want to put Fox and his goals in conflict with Pace and his goal.

Pace has stated he wants the team to get younger while building through the draft. If you look at the most consistently successful teams, you’ll find they aren’t reaching in free agency. They’re developing their own players and rewarding former draft picks with second contracts.

In recent years, you haven’t seen too many second contracts for former Bears draft picks. The goal is to see more Kyle Longs, who was rewarded with a contract extension and fewer Kyle Fullers, who’s fifth year option was declined and is battling for a roster spot.

The Bears have little room to do worse, so you should expect to see improvement. But will it be enough improvement to buy Ryan Pace and John Fox another season beyond 2017?

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