Although “disappointed” by his team’s 4-12 record, Bears President Michael McCaskey expressed no desperation about its future in a far-ranging interview Thursday, his first public review of the season.
He said Dave Wannstedt remains the coach who can get the Bears back to the Super Bowl. Drafting a quarterback this year is not absolutely necessary. He cited the New York Jets as an example of how fast a team can rebound. The new $17.6 billion NFL television contract is “too big,” but it will help the McCaskey family maintain ownership of the Bears “for the next 75 years.”
Question: Why will Wannstedt be back?
Answer: Because he’s the best man for the job. He knows football, hires good people, works them very hard, expects the best out of his players and gets them to play together as a team in good times and bad.
Q: Were you so disappointed after the Thanksgiving Day loss in Detroit (55-20) that you had second thoughts?
A: I was disappointed at several points that made me want to look closely at all aspects of our operation. I have been doing that. You judge things in their totality and you say, `Is this the coach who can get us to the Super Bowl?’ and the answer is yes.
Q: Was the money ($3.5 million) owed on the three years remaining on Wannstedt’s contract a factor in the decision?
A: It has to be a consideration, but the most important thing is to have the right head coach.
Q: Are you aware of how unpopular your decision is with the public, and will it have an effect on how he is able to operate?
A: I don’t think it will have an effect on how he is able to operate. My sense is that fans were greatly disappointed, and I understand that. I feel the same way myself. I think if we get a few wins under our belt and look like we’re doing things that improve the team and give us hope we can be a championship team again, people will rally to the cause and last year will fade from memory.
Q: What was most disappointing?
A: A lot of things happened to us. We made some mistakes in the way we spent our dollars. We were at the cap. It wasn’t that we didn’t spend dollars; we did. We spent it in some cases on the wrong people. That was compounded by the fact we had so many injuries for the second year in a row, an unbelievable string.
Q: Realistically, what are your expectations? You have a team with no franchise quarterback and no Pro Bowl players for the last four years. Can this be turned around quickly?
A: We’re sitting on the culmination of several years of not doing so well in the draft. It will take a while to recover from that. However, there are so many avenues to add good players to your roster if you’re aggressive and alert in the personnel area, you can rebuild pretty quickly. Everybody likes to look at the Jets and see how they improved eight games from one season, but they’re not the only team. There were five other teams who improved by four games or better.
Q: Are you still confident your organizational structure can get the job done? Has there been organizational failure in the checks and balances you put into place?
A: I’m very confident the structure is sound. In any given year, you see the top teams can have different structures. It’s all about putting together a very talented group of players and coaching them in excellent fashion. I think we may have had a weakness over the last several years in the personnel area, and that’s why I hired Mark Hatley and gave him the go-ahead to bring in excellent scouts like Bill Rees and Rick Spielman.
Q: Will Hatley have a free-agent budget, or will he have to consult with (vice president of finance) Ted Phillips?
A: Every team has to work within the salary cap. Ted will continue to be in charge of financial operations. Whatever personnel moves Mark might feel will be good for the Bears must fit within salary economics, so he will have to have a discussion with Ted about that.
Q: What about signing bonuses and restructuring, some of the more aggressive tactics by some teams that some owners believe circumvent the spirit of the collective bargaining agreement?
A: They do circumvent the spirit of the collective bargaining agreement and subvert the system, and we won’t be doing that. That’s not in the long-term interest of a team that expects to continue to have a healthy balance sheet.
Q: Haven’t teams that have engaged in so-called deficit spending really been vindicated by the new television contract?
A: You can play loose and fancy with the system and hope it will never come due or somebody else is going to pay it. But teams like the Bears who expect to have the same ownership for another 75 years have to make sure they do things that are sound and healthy for the long term.
Q: Will that put you at a competitive disadvantage?
A: I think with the new TV contract there will be resources enough for every team over the next several years to compete. The differentiation will come between those teams that make good personnel judgments and are well coached.
Q: Will Rick Mirer be back?
A: I hope he will be back. I still think he has a lot of talent as a quarterback. He was very disappointed in his performance this season, and so was I, but remember Erik Kramer had a big jump in the way he performed in the second year versus the first year.
Q: Will Bryan Cox be back?
A: Bryan’s going to have to learn to better use his emotions in playing football in a constructive sense. It’s great to play the game with passion, but you can’t be challenging officials and getting thrown out.
Q: Will he be back?
A: He’s under contract, and you have to expect he’ll be back.
Q: What about Alonzo Spellman?
A: I was sorry to see there were misunderstandings develop between Alonzo and the team. There were some things we could have done better and he could have done better. But he’s a phenomenally talented player and we’ve invested a lot of time and money in him. He can be such a good player–devastating comes to mind. So I hope he’s in a Chicago Bear uniform.
Q: Will you make an effort to trade up for a quarterback?
A: That’s a possibility. We could trade up. We have to see what the price is and see if that’s a better move for the Bears or to move back down and get more draft picks. We have needs in several different areas. I don’t think we should feel desperate about taking a quarterback this year. I hope Erik Kramer is back with us. It’s not like we have to forget about some of the other areas where we need help.
Q: What do you think of the new TV contract.
A: Too big. It’s easy to think the more dollars, the better. But we’re in a system where each team’s interests are interlocked. Some teams will look at those dollars and their eyes will glaze over and (they’ll) spend prodigiously. It will be bad for them in the long run and bad for us in the short term. With those dollars comes heavy responsibilities not to forget the fans. We’ll be running more TV commercials. I have a personal preference to have fewer commercials, and I would be willing to give up some dollars in order to achieve that.
Q: What is the public reaction to that money, and how will it impact on cities like Chicago that still need a stadium?
A: I think it’s too big for people to understand it. I think it will confuse the matter of what does a stadium bring to a community and how does it get paid for. People will confuse the money it takes to operate a football team with the money it takes to build a stadium. So it will make it tougher.
Q: Can you envision any circumstance under which the Bears would be sold?
A: I don’t think so. I think all the members of the McCaskey-Halas family grew up with football embedded in their whole childhood, their whole lives. . . . I can’t see the family giving that up, and I think with the new TV contract the pressure to do anything other than to pursue the family-owned team being as good as it can possibly be, I think there’s much less pressure because the resources are now assured to such a great extent.
Q: Isn’t the team worth more than it ever has been?
A: In so many different ways, we haven’t looked at this as a business in which the primary objective is to increase the value of the franchise. Since we intend to hold it for another 75 years, that question is really immaterial. What does matter is keeping the league as a whole healthy.
Q: Do you envision estate taxes ever precluding the family from keeping the Bears?
A: We have made arrangements so there is no pressing need to do anything in that area. We are OK in that area.
