When people think of motivation in the sport of football, their thoughts immediately go to coaches. They’re the guys on camera making those inspirational speeches in the locker room or spew fiery orders on the sideline to get players pumped up. Many fail to realize that it’s often the same way with personnel people. Executives and scouts alike can use motivation to do their jobs better. New assistant GM Ian Cunningham appears to understand this already and brought a strategy to Chicago. One that involved Hollywood icon, Tom Hanks.
That might sound weird. It is difficult to connect between one of the greatest movie actors in history and the Bears’ scouting department. Yet it seems Cunningham found a way. According to Dan Pompei, there was one specific movie the assistant GM wanted everybody to watch together. It was a film he felt encapsulated exactly what it was going to take to get this organization pointed in the right direction.
Cunningham wants the Bears’ scouting staff to watch this Tom Hanks movie about a Navy commander on a destroyer escorting a merchant ship convoy that comes under attack by German submarines in World War II. The film illustrates how success is difficult to achieve without contributions from every level of the chain of command. After one successful attack on the enemy, the commander says, “This was an all-hands job.”
The film in question here was called “Greyhound.”
It is a tremendous story and yet another in a long line of great Tom Hanks movies. People always talk about the epic battles of World War II, from Normandy to the Battle of the Bulge. They fail to understand none of those victories would’ve happened without the contributions of the Allied navy by winning the Battle of the Atlantic against the German submarine fleet. They did this through heroism and bravery but above all through close coordination and teamwork.
This is what Cunningham is getting at. The odds of scouts and executives getting their evaluations right on players every time is impossible. Some will be right, and others will be wrong. That is why communication and coordination will be vital. Only through this can they stand a good chance of getting the evaluations as accurate as possible. There is no room for egos when waging war. The Bears do it against 31 other teams during each offseason.
Subscribe to the BFR Youtube channel and ride shotgun with Dave and Ficky as they break down Bears football like nobody else.
Men and women can’t be afraid to share their honest thoughts. If they’re ready to pound the table for one player or another, they now have a GM in charge who will listen to them.
