George McCaskey’s miscues are the Chicago Bears’ biggest observation heading into Week 12

The Chicago Bears are expected to be in the market for a new head coach this offseason. They need to figure out if general manager Ryan Poles is the one who gets to hire someone else. This is the same man that team chairman George McCaskey saw over two years ago when he went to the airport to pick him up when he was hired.

Once again, McCaskey finds himself in an embarrassing position. His track record of hiring coaches since taking over in 2011 is questionable, as he has gone through Marc Trestman, John Fox and two Matts (Nagy and Eberflus to be determined yet) after Lovie Smith was fired in 2012. He’s as popular in Chicago as Jerry Jones is in Dallas these days.

1. For the Bears’ sake, George McCaskey needs to take a hard look at himself this offseason

Whatever the Bears’ problems are, they all point to George. The Bears finished last in the division six times in his 14 seasons, with only two winning seasons as chairman (2012, 2018), making the Bears one of the worst franchises in the league. And he made the mistake of allowing a rookie quarterback to be paired with a lame-duck coach, only to fire him after his rookie season (2017 and 2021). And the Bears made another mistake with Eberflus and Williams.

With disdain for George McCaskey and apathy toward the franchise at an all-time high, the Bears cannot afford to neglect Williams’ development. No rookie quarterback will ever want to play for the Bears if Williams can’t develop under his direction. For continuity reasons, it makes absolutely no sense to bring back Eberflus, who has fired eight coaches and is serving as offensive coordinator for the third time.

All of the head coaches hired during McCaskey’s tenure are a direct reflection of him: nice men who don’t get upset. They all failed, which is also a failure of George. Whoever the GM is, let him do his job now if your chance of landing a hot coaching candidate like Ben Johnson increases.

The lovable losers he hired in the past didn’t do their job. He must be ruthless and hire a competent coach with a courageous personality who can inspire respect. No one cares if George feels threatened or if his feelings are hurt when the coach curses.

2. Is Thomas Brown a real head coaching candidate for the Bears?

Speaking of head coach candidates, it only took one game for him to establish himself as the offensive coordinator for Thomas Brown. Last week’s game against the Packers was a breath of fresh air with his attitude, helping Caleb Williams get the ball out quickly through improved communication.

Listening to offensive coordinator Thomas Brown this week, he continues to provide a breath of fresh air while differentiating himself from Eberflus, who repeatedly doubled down on Cairo Santos’ missed field goal this week, from not making another play before the kick to not doing so -Kicking from the right diamond field, from which he always scores his extra point.

3. Ryan Bates looks like another Ryan Poles failure

Offensive lineman Ryan Bates will miss the Minnesota game due to a concussion. He had been injured for most of the season and when he finally returned to action he suffered another serious injury. With this being a concussion issue, the Bears will have to be cautious as safety Jaquan Brisker has been out with a concussion for more than a month now. He could miss the Thanksgiving game against the Detroit Lions since it’s a short turnaround after the Minnesota game.

For Ryan Poles, he was close to taking over for Bates when he signed him to a restricted free agent tender two years ago when he first became general manager. Buffalo succeeded, and two years later traded a 2024 fifth-round pick for him.

Along with the Nate Davis signing, the Bates acquisition appears to be another poor misjudgment by Poles, making his position more uncertain than ever.