One of our biggest and best Chicago Bears fans Alasdair Lynch (Twitter alibud69) lives in England but is as passionate and knowledgeable as any Bears fan I know. He always provides a unique perspective on the Bears and provides us a refreshing look on this organization. Without any further delay, I give you Alasdair…and away we go…
Prevention is better than Cure: What I want from the Bears new GM
This is a motto that should govern most things in life, if it could be done, which is better? Finding a cure for cancer or preventing it from ever existing in the first place? Personally I would say the latter. Now unfortunately for the Bears as an organization it has been allowed to dig itself the proverbial hole, in terms of competing, and acquiring talent through the draft. As a team it has its stars and when all healthy they can compete with the best teams in the league, when things were clicking pre “Cutler-gate: Rise of the Bennett facture”, this team looked like more than legit playoff contenders, possible Super Bowl winners in my honest opinion. A severe lack of substance behind the glitter and glamour of the Bears starters led to an unacceptably shocking end to the season, this team was an embarrassment. Now the Bears are in the unenviable position of trying to cure the damage done to its depth, whilst also trying to prevent falling behind the Packers even further.
With the initial list of candidates being released by the Bears earlier this week, I have once more kindly been offered the opportunity, to outline my thoughts on the way I would like the Bears to go. Before I move on, it won’t be current Director of Player Personnel Tim Ruskell, this media hype is nonsense, people need to realize the Bears can’t just stop scouting for the draft until a new GM is hired, it’s completely impractical, someone has to be doing the ground work until then. Neither can they ignore the best in house candidate from the interview process; this is nothing more than common courtesy.
Finally and rightly so, the ownership (regardless of Phillips taking the Jerry Angelo firing credit in the press conference) have noticed the outlined issues of the franchise, and have set a target of hiring a GM with an extensive draft knowledge, and success, this is abundantly apparent with the list containing no outside candidates that have held the GM gig before, all from director of scouting jobs.
I don’t want a GM to come in and cure this organization, plugging the holes that it has made for itself, I want a GM that is going to move it forward, evolve its philosophy, make it the top franchise, prevent this stagnation from happening again. Many people have said the 2012 draft is vital, I would expand on that further, the next three to four years of drafts are so important if the Bears don’t want to have to do a full facelift rebuild, not all of the needs for this specific forthcoming season will be filled to everyone’s liking. I want a GM that has the balls this draft and the rest from here on out, to pick a guy who is the best available, not just pick for need and inflate a players draft stock unnecessarily. I want a GM who has an eye on the draft, but has the foresight to see the importance of picking up the undrafted free agents who have slipped through the net, project developmental players who may make an impact now or latter on, Wes Welker and Victor Cruz as examples of this.
For me personally Marc Ross is the guy I want, he was made a director of scouting at 27, the youngest ever, and it is his opportunity to be the lead dog in a franchise. To me he is clearly a smart guy who can adapt to his organization’s needs, it also helps that he is coming from a big market organization, because the Chicago media will eat you alive in a heartbeat if you let them. I also like the fact that he is 38, he represents the newer generation of aspiring GM’s the last thing the Bears need right now is a guy who is going to retire in 5 years. My basic premise is that he should have no delusions about the thick skin he will need to have in this city.
The other thing I like about Ross he comes from a city that has similar weather to Chicago, he knows the draw backs and advantages to playing football in frigid weather come January, the last thing in my opinion the Bears need is a GM who has been working the indoor franchises, as I believe indoor venues give a team false economy in their numbers, they get stuck in that type of model, it wouldn’t translate to a Bears team in dire need of a man who can hit the ground running. The saints are a brilliant team but the games they lost this season where all outdoor.
Ross has some impressive players already on his resume; the giants have a frightening defensive line, part in due to Ross (Pierre-Paul 16.5 sacks this season), a brilliant receiving core which he again had a hand in (Nicks and Cruz combined for 2700+ receiving yards this season), granted he will have his draw backs and there will be a keen eye as to what he does in the role, my point is this the Bears have the potential to hire a guy who if successful, could be GM in Chicago for an exceedingly long time.
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Chicago Bear Jew.
Ten reasons why Chicago sucks. Make sure you write these down you Land Fillinois fan.
1. There pathetic football team has not won a Super Bowl since 1985.
2. The fans have nothing better to do than live off of that 1985 Super Bowl and a SNL skit from the early 90′s made popular by a Wisconsin product.
3. The pollution in Cook County. You breathe in F rated air all day.
4. Crime. You always have to watch your back, or someone else will.
5. Rat infestation. These are nasty bacteria filled critters running around on a day by day basis
6. The traffic. Not only are you breathing in exhaust all day, you deal with the stress that comes with it.
7. Corruption. Chicago is the most corrupt city in the country.
8. Tolls, taxes, and parking. How much can someone get ripped off?
9. Expensive. I would imagine big fat Jews like you dont have this problem, but you are not the majority.
10.Transportation. The EL, and the buses are absolutely pathetic and life threatening. The prostitue trade the mob controls, works those buses at night.
The Packers own the Chicago Bears, you should cheer for a real team.