I Bear Witness unveils sobering truths on the Bears
After an exhilarating off-season, one that produced enormous optimism from a rabid fan base, the Chicago Bears again are in disarray. After falling to 4-6, the Bears seemingly are headed for yet another coaching change.
The Bears’ 20-19 loss to the Packers in Week 11 marked Green Bay’s record 11th consecutive win in the series. Expectations are coach Matt Eberflus will be fired after the year and the Bears will be rebooting. Again.
Comes now, the release of I Bear Witness, authored by Dan McNeil, a Chicago sports radio mainstay. In I Bear Witness, McNeil unveils new information on the McCaskey family’s continued interference with football operations. President Kevin Warren and general manager Ryan Poles spent the winter and spring in a tug-of-war with chairman George McCaskey. About what? I Bear Witness enlightens.
From Mike Ditka and Walter Payton — to Eberflus and Caleb Williams — IBW illuminates how the 1985 Super Bowl champs devolved to one of the most dysfunctional franchises in American sports.
McNeil unearths unreported details on the Bears’ failure to land qualified and available coaches, as well as players. The Bears long have been regarded as “frugal” and IBW confirms that with news on how Michael McCaskey went on the cheap and slighted his team on their Super Bowl XX rings. “What was supposed to be 14-karat gold became 10-karat,” writes McNeil. “Blue sapphire became aluminum with blue enamel paint.”
So why did McCaskey deduct $1,500 from the production costs of each ring? Read I Bear Witness.
Furthermore….
* What did McCaskey say to coach-to-be Dave McGinnis that led to McGinnis spurning the Bears? Or Nick Saban, Bruce Arians and Dan Quinn?
* Who makes the final decision on coaching hires, draft picks or compensation in trades?
* Which legendary Bears had their season tickets discontinued or suspended via form letter?
* How did the Bears adjust to a new NFL when White vs. the NFL anti-trust ruling led to free agency in 1993? How does Team McCaskey compare with its NFC North rivals in terms of facilities and stadium?
* Why was Walter Payton so unpredictable and chronically unhappy?
The shocking answers are revealed in I Bear Witness.
McNeil also celebrates the triumphs with insightful, compelling contributions from Hall of Famers Dan Hampton, Richard Dent, Jimbo Covert, Brian Urlacher and Steve McMichael. IBW is sourced with more than 100 Bears and NFL alumni, including 2-time NFL coach of the year Ron Rivera, Jim McMahon, Gary Fencik, Mike Holmgren, Warren Moon, Tony Dungy, Jerry Angelo, Herm Edwards, Mike Martz, John Jurkovic, Rodney Peete, Jarrett Payton and many others.
CONTACT Eckhartz Press (rick@eckhartzpress.com) for an interview with McNeil, who began his Chicago radio career in ’85 at WGN, then the Bears’ flagship station. Danny Mac was an original cast member of the Score, Sports Radio 670 and enjoyed his greatest success at ESPN1000 on the Mac, Jurko & Harry show between ’01 and ’09. Today, he is a podcaster for the BetRivers gaming network and currently writing his radio autobiography.
Stick Man says
Can’t wait to read and hope to have the author sign my copy.
Mark says
Mr. Eric Warren
General Manager
Chicago Bears
Halas Hall
1000 Football Drive
Lake Forest IL 60045
Dear Mr. Warren:
We are at halftime against San Francisco in crisis mode. FOUR YARDS at halftime? I’m not sure you and the Chairman feel the same embarrassment as the rest of us. As boxer Joe Frazier once said, “it’s hard to get up and run ten miles when you’re wearing silk pajamas.”
With that in mind I wonder what your role is within the organization? Are you the DEI champion or are you playing monopoly buying real estate? How has DEI helped you win football games?
In most parts of the world, you would be fired. In Japan you would resign out of shame. With the Bears you just hire another cheap coordinator.
Think of it this way—what is your brand as a franchise right now? As a one-time rabid fan of the Chicago Bears that has realized the futility of following your failed franchise, I speak to you on behalf of the thousands of fans who do not wake up wearing silk pajamas with a limo waiting for them and continue to waste their money on tickets, merchandise, concessions and parking, including myself, who fell for the post-draft hype and investing in NFL Sunday Ticket. What a chump I was to give your pathetic team another chance. BTW, if you build a dome I vow to never, ever watch again. Not even highlights, assuming there are any.
I would like to remind you of your civic responsibility to your season ticket holders, fans across the country, and the greater Chicagoland itself to provide a quality product. After the rock bottom low to the Vikings, the beating you got from Detroit, and the humiliation you suffered in San Francisco, your tolerance for humiliation must be limitless
Your brand is disappearing. This is a crisis. The team’s habit of hiring cheap, non-threatening coordinators hasn’t worked. Mercifully, Eberflus was just interned in the Bears’ coaching graveyard, his headstone next to Dave Wannstedt, Dick Jauron, Marc Trestman, John Fox and Matt Nagy, I left off Lovie Smith because he was Vince Lombardi compared to the graveyard and I’m sure you would like to forget about Dave McGinnis who your brother tried to trick into signing a lowball offer by pre-announcing his hiring ). You should read the cnnsi article, it makes for a sobering elegy you should, but may not, be aware of.
Evidently Dan Quinn was flown to his interview for the head coaching job in economy class, and others were interviewed by public relations and the accountant Ted Phillips; and now by your DEI staff, I’m sure. Where are the football people, they all wondered.
You whiffed on Harbaugh. It’s being said that Harbaugh wouldn’t have taken the job anyway. The organization is too dysfunctional, and otherwise not ready for the big time. That’s your brand, Mr. Warren—dysfunctional, cheap, and tolerant of failure.
The most coveted head coaching vacancy this off-season. For real?
Regards,
M. D. Jones