There will be significant changes this offseason for the Bears, but a change in ownership isn’t one of them.
Chairman George McCaskey made it clear that not only was the family not selling, he took it another level by saying stop asking when he made an in-studio appearance on WSCR 670-AM’s Mully and Hanley Morning Show.
“I’ve said it the same way every time. We have no intention of selling. My brother, Pat, says it very well. We intend to hold onto the Bears until the second coming. My brother, Mike, when he was president of the Bears, said it very well. We want to discourage people from even making inquiries. We have no intention. There is no price. We have no intention.”
If there was a sign one could put in the window expressing McCaskey’s “not for sale” sentiments, I imagine George would have it made up and put in plain view at Halas Hall. It doesn’t get much clearer than that, as far as I’m concerned. But if you’re interested in hearing more from McCaskey, WSCR has the audio here.
As for the rest of what’s happening in the Bears and NFL world:
There aren’t usually many reasons to be optimistic after a 3-13 season, but Hub Arkush suggests GM Ryan Pace has provided reason to be confident in the future. Winning nine games in two seasons isn’t ideal, but adding building block rookies such as Jordan Howard and Cody Whitehair plus veterans still in their prime like Josh Sitton, Danny Trevathan and Jerrell Freeman, among others, has the Bears better positioned now than where they were at the end of the 2014 season. Still, the Bears aren’t in a position to settle in their current spot.
Over at the Chicago Tribune, Rich Campbell takes a deep dive into some of that young talent with a breakdown of the performance of this year’s rookie class. You’ll want to spend some time with this as Campbell breaks down the early returns, where each player can grow and a 2017 outlook. We saw what Howard, Whitehair and Leonard Floyd could accomplish, but Jonathan Bullard, Deon Bush and Deiondre’ Hall have some catching up to do to catch up to their rookie classmates.
It’s easy to go underappreciated when your team loses 13 games, but that didn’t stop Good Morning Football’s Kay Adams from highlighting Jordan Howard’s rookie season as one of the most underappreciated storylines of the year. Howard finished second in rushing yards despite not starting until Jeremy Langford went down with an injury.
One day after Pace’s State of the Quarterback sidebar from inside his State of the Bears address, Patrick Finley lays out the case for Brian Hoyer as the Bears’ quarterback caretaker until a long-term solution is found. We did a little bit of a dive into Ryan Pace’s comments on the quarterback situation, which included highlighting Hoyer’s four-game run as a starter. The Bears could do worse than Hoyer, but should probably strive for something better.
Even though the Bears’ coordinators are staying intact according to John Fox, this is the time of year where there is movement throughout the league worth keeping an eye on. The Saints (who previously employed Ryan Pace) let go of assistant head coach Joe Vitt and four other coaches. As did the Redskins, who fired defensive coordinator Joe Barry and three other defensive assistants. It’s worth noting Vic Fangio interviewed with the Redskins before he joined the Bears as defensive coordinator in 2015.
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