Chisoxfn

By the way - for those wondering - Rick Smith and Bill Polian's paths when they were both a handful of members of the competition committee back in 2010 (not sure for how long). I say this because I do feel like typically when you get an adviser you are probably going to get some perceived bias from people within your existing network (which isn't saying a lot as I presume Polian has a HUGE network in the game).

I think Frazier is a good leader of men and would be smart enough to surround himself with very good coordinators, which is key. I can think of a lot worse hires than Frazier. I think he knows the game, he knows how to network, he knows the importance of development, and he has seen things work in many orgs with many coaches and also has the perspective from once having been in that seat.

And I really want Rick Smith as GM. Like a lot. I always thought he was old - I just realized he is only in his early 50's too. Guy was extremely successful in Houston - found a QB (and even battled BOB who didn't agree with him that Watson was the guy) and regularly found good talent and put together good teams in Houston. If somehow I could get him and Harbaugh - that would be amazing. I presume Smith isn't coming with a Harbaugh - and Smith would more go with one of the non Harbaugh names I mentioned (due to power conflicts) but either way - I'm a happy camper with Smith. Don't get cute, go out there and get someone who has done the job and done it well in the past (and better yet someone that is young enough that they could do it for another 10-15 years). In 3 or 4 years - elevate them to president - so you can bring in or promote another person up a level to strengthen your bench and actually position the franchise for more sustainable greatness. The end - 20 years from now people talk about the McCaskey's like the Rooney's - MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

Harbaugh is my heavy preference - if not him - I am open to the defensive guys (Frazier, Quinn, Bowles). My preference is probably Bowles/Quinn over Frazier (if you go defensive guy).

I very clearly have - it just isn't fun or worthwhile to just say - george will never figure it out. He may never - I don't agree with any of that. I just think your ultimate complaint is wrong. You are arguing about what the Bears did when you real argument is that George is the one in charge. At the end of the day that is your problem and I don't have an issue with it at all - but I don't know what to do with that. Cause we as fans can't change ownership. You can scream for them to change coaches, gm's, etc, but nothing I can do is going to stop them from being the owners. I was pretty clear that it was time for a change and quite frankly - today was a win. It wasn't the full win that I wanted - but it was still a positive as far as I'm concerned. Now to see who they hire and what they do. And I may hate what they do or like it - reality is even that doesn't matter as much as the end result. The results are what matter in the long run. And they will probably remain to stink because that is what they do - but that is just an easy / lazy answer. You want me to give an eval on George - he too gets an F - they have made the playoffs twice since 2011 - that is miserable. Guess what - as owner he can keep picking until the board replaces him with a different McCaskey.

I always remember this headline when USC hired Pete Carroll. The fanbase, the airwaves - everyone was outraged. The media is entitled to opinions - but they are also in their role for clicks, advertising, etc. So no - I don't judge things based upon how the media reacts and whether it approves. How many teams that are off-season champions end up in-season champs, etc. For Pete's Sake USC, Why did you do it? https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-dec-16-sp-904-story.html

I think I heard from someone else - that Kreutz was offered the "standard" contract for that type of role...which happens to be $15/hr. I think that is what George implied - that Olin wasn't telling the whole story - just part of the story. But I am not sure and it went back to the question I asked earlier - without knowing what the going rate for that type of role is - I have no idea what to think (but I do get that any normal person would read that and go wow, pro football player gets paid an amount in-line with what you get paid to flip burgers at In and Out burger - that is crazy and Bears are cheap). The above may be true too - maybe other teams pay $100/hr. I literally have no idea, but until I have context it doesn't matter.

I at least thought George had good answers where they asked him about style, candidates wed to Fields etc. He didn’t fall for those and just said the people need a plan. He can look at Arizona who did a do over right away with success. I would be surprised though if bulk of candidates or any candidate said Fields can’t be it. Rather I suspect they all talk about getting relationship with coach and QB right, putting weapons around, maximizing skill set and getting rest of roster right. From there you consistently evaluate QB and if it isn’t right pull the ripcord and try again knowing you have the right parts put around etc.

Ok - so your point is we have a crappy owner. So whether he said what you wanted or what he did it would be a moot point. Literally that is your statement. Nothing I can do to change fact he is the owner. Either George hired a crappy GM and they suck or he does what you say and hires a crappy president (who has that title but really is the GM) and they suck. Tomato / tomatoe because George is a crappy owner. I think JR holds Sox back too - nothing I can do about that.

That is semantics - it is no different than what it is happening now. It is such a minor thing. I get it - from a PR perspective it would be a better win - but from a reality of the situation - they are basically doing that (Polian and George are going to make the hire and yeah Ted is in the room but Polian is who they are leaning on). They don't need to hire a president of football ops (who essentially is the GM vs. Asst). What they need to do is hire a really good GM (call it a GM, call it a pres, whatever). Hiring candidates is what it is - there are only so many ways to interview so yeah - it is going to be similar to the last time (which by the way is how many front offices, if not the majority go about their hiring) but obviously they made a relatively sizeable structural move (with the role now reporting into the owner...just like the "president" role that you would want would report in). By the way - I would have been even more happy if I did hear Ted wasn't involved and they were hiring a president of football ops. But it doesn't mean the reality is much different than George & Polian (with Ted in the room) hiring a GM who has full control and ownership of football operations, directly reporting into the owner. And unless the Bears came out and announced Bill B or Sean Payton were immediately coming - no matter what George did would have gotten picked on. Looks like Bears have already requested formal approval to interview Frazier. This is meaningful for two reasons - one, no matter what they do they have to get through minority candidates. 2 - Frazier is obviously an outstanding candidate. I only mention the minority piece because if they were going to go for Jim H - they have to go fast (I don't see Harbaugh move happening a month from now - if it happens it happens fast).

Lets objectively look at things (cause they can't just become the Steelers ownership group overnight): Launch both Nagy & Pace - Check Ensure GM Role reports to ownership (and not Teddy) - Check Since George admits he can't do the hiring - Find an adviser to help (Polian) - Check Appears that they at least have preliminary list of names and Polian didn't just come in now (sounds like him and other confidential parties were involved for a while) - Check Not bringing in president role - Miss (but in grand scheme not a huge miss - because as people point out - this isn't done in the NFL like it is a bit more in baseball/basketball) Keeping Ted involved - Miss (end of the day Ted wasn't going to get canned - but the big change is the role NO LONGER reports to him - that is a meaningful change and creates the division everyone wanted prior to this conference). But I can't see Ted's view overriding Polian. So bottom line - if I think about what could happen - I get it, people don't like that George is making another hire, but that is what it is. But I got the vast majority of what I wanted out of this. Now I'll wait to see what they do next. And George was right - the fan base will have all the questions they have and continue to do until the performance of the field changes and consistently changes.

But that is the thing - to me - those that want a president - well the president gets hired by George (so not a GM rather a president...but same thing in grand scheme of things). It was why I said for those that complain George was making the decision - would it really be worth if Ryan Pace was instead? I still think as an ownership group - the Bears job is relatively attractive relative to majority of the crappy openings. Bears brass admits they don't know football and therefor will give them a ton of control and flexibility. It is on them to make it happen. I'd also argue they are generally more patient (as long as you aren't a complete clown from a relationship perspective) than a lot of the franchises who, like the Bears, are regularly a part of the hiring cycle. If I was a candidate - the Bears would be really attractive because of the flexibility ownership would give me - especially now that Phillips is officially removed and I now report directly into the owner. I also will say - its semantics - but Polian is a huge upgrade over Acorsi. Polian has been a front office guy for 3 separate teams - all of which made the Super Bowl under his watch (Bills, Panthers, and Colts). That is pretty impressive. My only question is the obvious - how can he truly know what to recommend without really seeing how things work, but it does seem like the Bears have made major improvements within the building and around and the fact that they hit on late round picks is a testament to the scouting team they have developed (which the new GM can inherit and obviously refine from there).

One interesting tactical point I heard; With Bears prioritizing GM first (unless a home run HC candidate pops up) - they shouldn't be caught behind in the hiring cycle. With there being one extra team in the playoffs in each conference and one fewer bye week - the reality is the whole hiring process will likely be slower vs. faster.

Yeah - I agree. I stand corrected on interest in Flores. There are other, better candidates, without that red flag.

What does it matter - you can't fire an owner. It is what it is.

I actually thought Tua was maybe a sign of how he could win without a good QB. Eventually he got Tua into a place where they could win together and I think better managed his development. I don't buy Tua (like at all) - but I would also admit the whole back and forth with Fitz and other things probably weren't handled so great (at least if you had a view of the long-term).

Spielman is a quality GM. He is a lot like Angelo - good GM, could never get QB or main thing right. Not sure if that was bad luck or what. I am curious if Bears would look at a Spielman. The big thing to me with Flores - it seems like there were major cultural issues at play - which does concern.

Interesting response re: Olin Kreutz and $15 dollars. George, if anything, has gotten better at answering questions. Ted's response on Pace/Nagy was probably the worse. You could see Ted was almost like, we pretty much got it right, we just had a minor miss. Bmags - I now need to go find the Kevin Clark piece.

He interviewed for 2 jobs in the past year (Lions and Falcons I think). But you are right - that is why he left the Texans and what created the environment for the BOB power struggle (which he ultimately won - followed up with his disasterous run as GM).

No matter what George has to get it right - that is always the case - so yeah - you are spot on the whining is just not necessary on that regard. He also indicated something I didn't realize - as he has said that he will be learning something new as he never had a GM report to him (I actually thought Pace reported to him at some point during his tenure so I was wrong there). Re: Ireland - he only excites me if you are getting Harbaugh - otherwise, I'm not in love with him (but what do I know). Smith, if he really is interested, seems like such an obvious answer (unless he is a royal pain to work with, etc).

They need a home run hire at GM. At this point - that is most important - find that person, lean on them to drive and change broad culture - get right coach and do things right. My preference would be to find a seasoned GM who has proven that ability (Rick Smith) and than lean on that person and maybe over time you expand the org more and move them into a president role in 2-3 years and start to create REAL bench strength.

Was about to come back and said that Ted will be involved though. So basically sounds like status quo from when they hired Pace -> other than technically I think Pace originally reported into Ted early in his career before being split out. So now there is that clarity.

Phillips to retain his role; Owner responsible for hiring GM (not TED). GM will be in charge of football. George specifically stated they will hire the GM first, than the HC. Polian will partner with George on the GM hiring process. Note: Most good news - but this seems to mean no president of football ops coming and presumably means no Harbaugh / McDaniels, who seem to be the 2 candidates on market who would come before a GM was hired.

Childish. I had heard the Kreutz story - didn't realize the blog was going after him for it. When I heard it - I didn't even know what to think because I don't know what going rate for those types of things are in sports. I know a lot of people take unpaid roles following their pro career so have no idea whether $15 bucks an hour is horrific in terms of how the industry works (I know to most the # is staggeringly low for a former player). Think of all of those "grad assistant" type roles former players take when they go back to their old college and start to try and pick-up as a coach (I think all of those roles are "unpaid"). Maybe Bears mistake was they offered $15/hr vs. making it an "internship" haha. Or maybe most teams pay $50K or something for part time roles - no clue.

what did he do with Kreutz?