Whenever bringing up the Chicago Bears’ power structure, everybody has stayed focused on GM Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy. Will they be gone after the 2021 season ends or will George McCaskey elect to keep one or both? Nobody can say for sure. It seems like Nagy is gone at this point. Pace is in trouble too but his status is less certain. However, the smoke has begun rising a bit higher up the chain over the past week. To the very top of the football operations. NBC Sports insider Mike Florio became the latest to bring this up.
It started before Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers when Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reported the Bears were speaking to former defensive end and current agent Trace Armstrong about a major front office role. Armstrong later denied it. Now Florio took his turn. During an interview on the Rich Eisen podcast, he spoke at length about the dysfunction of the Bears’ organization. Specifically how team president Ted Phillips has dodged criticism for way too long.
It might finally be time for a change.
This is something Bears fans have begged ownership for going back literal years. They started to recognize as far back as a decade ago that Phillips might be part of the problem. He assumed the president role in 1999. It can’t be a coincidence that the organization has just six playoff appearances and two playoff wins in that entire stretch. Shameful for a franchise with such a deep tradition of winning.
Just look at his GM and head coach hires. Jerry Angelo, Phil Emery, and Ryan Pace. Dick Jauron, Lovie Smith, Marc Trestman, John Fox, and Matt Nagy. Not a lot good to be found in that pile of awful. There is only one common denominator to be found. That is Phillips his fingerprints are everywhere on this organization and it feels like nothing will get better until he no longer has the ear of ownership in any football-related decisions.
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Kudos to Mike Florio for giving the subject a national mention
Plenty of local Chicago affiliates have brought up Phillips numerous times in the past couple of years. This marks the first time where a prominent national insider mentioned his name. Based on his comments, it lends credence to the idea that the Bears might be considering a major shakeup of their organizational structure. One that could involve moving Phillips out of the team president role and restructuring operations to separate business and football.
Something several successful organizations do these days. Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Tennessee, and New Orleans all have Executive Vice Presidents of Football Operations and a team president. One controls all things football and the other all things business. Both answer directly to ownership. It is a simple and straightforward system. Ensuring somebody who may not have the expertise in certain areas has all the power.
Like Phillips.
Mike Florio is 100% correct. The man has dodged proper justice for his misdeeds for way too long. If the McCaskeys aren’t willing to fire him outright, then it’s time to take him out of the football picture entirely. It sounds like they might finally be open to this idea. The growing list of rumors is hard to ignore.