Misery, Mediocrity, Murder? Chronicling the Toxic Culture Set Forth by the McCaskeys

To answer that question, let's go back to 1979. Four years before Papa Bear himself passed away, his son, George "Mugs" Halas Jr., suddenly (and perhaps mysteriously?) passed away from a heart attack at the young age of 54. Mugs, at that time, had been the President of the Bears since 1963.

The circumstances surrounding Mugs' death have always been mysterious. A relatively healthy 54-year-old, Mugs suffered a catastrophic heart attack that would rattle the planned hierarchy of succession for the George Halas-Bears. His death opened the door for Virginia to reorganize the entire structure of the team, and in 1987, Mugs' widow, Therese, demanded a second autopsy. Upon inspection, the forensic pathologist noted that numerous internal organs, including Mugs' heart and spinal cord, had been replaced with sawdust.

Mugs' death sent shock waves through the Bears' organizational structure. Papa Bear Halas appointed him heir-apparent, and his death created a schism in the family that reached a fever pitch after Papa Bear passed away in 1983. After this, Virginia McCaskey (Mugs' older sister) was the next in the line of succession, and she quickly reorganized the shareholder percentage to give her a majority while simultaneously devaluing Mugs' children's stock from Class A to Class C.

After Halas died, the McCaskeys moved quickly. Michael McCaskey was named President and often clashed with then-head coach Mike Ditka. Their fiery arguments lasted until the conclusion of the 1992 season when, after a 5-11 season, Michael McCaskey finally got to fire the last coach hired by Papa Bear Halas.

And with Mike Ditka left the last vestige of personality roaming the sidelines for the Chicago Bears.

A Legacy of Nice Guys

Ditka left the team with a 106-62 record and its only Super Bowl victory. Now in complete control of the Bears, the McCaskeys could finally begin to mold the franchise to fit their ideal culture. But what does that mean?

Since Ditka left the team, the Bears have had seven head coaches, but only two lasted more than four seasons. Of those two, only one managed to have a winning record as head coach: Lovie Smith.

After taking control of the team in 2011, one of George McCaskey's first orders of business was to shake up the status quo. He fired general manager Jerry Angelo in 2011 and head coach Lovie Smith in 2012 after a 10-6 season. To George, this was leadership. To the fanbase, this was the unfortunate start of a cycle that continues to follow the team to this day.

Football, and particularly coaching, requires a specific personality type to flourish. Some call it "Type A," and in short, those who exude said personality are characterized by their competitiveness, impatience for results, and ability to adapt quickly in a fast-paced environment.

When the Bears had the chance to hire reigning Coach of the Year Bruce Arians to replace Lovie Smith, George McCaskey, and then-general manager Phil Emery focused more on putting together a mock press conference for finalists Arians and former Canadian Football League coach Marc Trestman.

Arians, a no-nonsense coach who wasn't going to acquiesce to the Bears' ridiculous demands that also included retaining specific assistant coaches, would wind up going to the Arizona Cardinals and amassing a 49-30-1 record. At the same time, Marc Trestman lasted only two seasons in Chicago with a putrid 13-19 record.

Mis-Alignment and Mixed Messaging

There's a principle in microeconomics called vertical integration. Without getting too technical, the general idea is that one company totally controls the supply chain. Though vertical integration generally refers to produced goods, in the Bears' case, George McCaskey has created a cycle that ensures vertical integration is impossible.

The three most important aspects of any football team are the General Manager, Head Coach, and Quarterback. Since George McCaskey took over in 2011, those three variables have never aligned. Beginning at the outset of his tenure with the firing of Jerry Angelo in 2011, retaining of Lovie Smith, and then hiring of Phil Emery (only to handcuff him to Lovie Smith), the Bears have continually gummed up the gears of their football operation.

The Bears have consistently opposed hiring Type-A personalities. By doing so, they are culling the hiring pool down to individuals without any clear direction who are open to adapting their methodology rather than demanding the team adjust to theirs.

Think about this: of the four head coaches hired by George McCaskey (Trestman, John Fox, Matt Nagy, Eberflus), two have been hired solely to fix the toxic culture cultivated by their predecessors. Fox was brought in to fix the deteriorated locker room left by Trestman, and Eberflus was meant to right the ship that had begun to capsize under Nagy.

Bears' ownership doesn't want to be challenged. Instead, they want to run things passively and hope that, against all odds, their backward style of running a football team will accidentally result in a Super Bowl-contending club.

Looking Ahead

George McCaskey is now set to hire his fifth head coach in 14 years as Bears' chairman. During his tenure, George has managed a 93-131 record as chairman, zero playoff wins, and two winning seasons.

There's no better symbol of what the Chicago Bears represent nowadays than George McCaskey himself. By all accounts, he's a charming gentleman who prides himself on mingling with the fanbase at Soldier Field and giving a voice to the frustration that's overtaken the fans.

Like the failed coaches and general managers he's hired, nobody can say a bad word about the person, only the lack of merits displayed as a general manager or head coach.

And that, my friends, is the culture that ownership wants for this team. They want members of the do-gooders club to fill out their franchise. When things go sideways, they'll posture about re-focusing their efforts while simultaneously picking up the phone to call also-rans Ernie Accorsi and Bill Polian.

Fans often joke that time is a flat circle with this franchise. For the McCaskeys, that's a feature, not a bug.