3. The Bears continue to live off past success and play an old style of football
The Chicago Bears have had great success in their now-distant past which they continue to market and profit from. Fans are so enamored with this team that they will do whatever they can to find a reason to continue to cheer (as they should), despite recent failures on the field. However, the days of Butkus, Singletary, McMahon, Perry, Urlacher, Briggs, and Tillman are long gone. Unfortunately, history is all Bears fans have. The way the game is currently played seems to have left the Chicago Bears in the dust.
The Bears continue to play year after year as if they are in another era of football. They play a brand of football that does not win in today's game. Teams need to be able to throw the football to win consistently. Conversely, the Bears' brand has been to run the ball and play excellent defense to win games.
The issue with playing this way is there will be times when the defense will not hold up, and the Bears will need to win in a shootout - something they are largely incapable of doing. Every quarterback that is brought in is inevitably asked to play/revert to this brand of football because the organization finds comfort in it.
The team knows that regardless of the product on the field, fans will continue to show up. They make safe choices at quarterback instead of taking chances on quarterbacks with a higher ceiling because they know their brand is to run and play defense. It's a vision and process that must be changed moving forward.