Dear George McCaskey: Don’t Sell the Bears

Dear George McCaskey,

I read recently that a fan wrote you a letter and asked you to sell the Chicago Bears. And you replied to this fan with a handwritten note, telling the fan you’re going to stick with it. It’s a cute story. Writing this fan back is incredibly kind and generous with your time. In response, I have my own request to you and your family.

To the McCaskeys: Don’t sell the Bears.

Your grandfather founded the NFL. Your franchise is one of the founding teams. You are in an incredibly lucky situation, one that every fan is envious of and would give their right arm to own a professional sports franchise. Plus, owning a pro sports team is a smart business investment. Don’t let public pressure dictate what to do with the future of your franchise.

Life is a series of choices. If fans aren’t happy with the product on the field, that’s their problem. It’s up to each fan to decide how they want to spend three hours on Sundays in the fall. There are 31 other teams to root for in the NFL. Don’t like the Bears? Find a new team. Can’t watch your new team in Chicago? Buy the NFL Sunday Ticket package. Can’t get DirecTV? Take up college football. Saturdays in the fall are just as amazing as Sundays. The product isn’t necessarily better, but the rivalries and tradition are fantastic. And the SEC might as well be the official minor league for the NFL.

It’s also up to season ticket holders and individual game buyers to determine how they want to spend their cash. As a former season ticket holder of another team in Chicago, it can be a profitable endeavor. I have friends who own season tickets to the Bears. I highly recommend them continuing with their season ticket investment. Not that they need my approval, of course.

Now, if enough fans decide to give up their Bears fandom for another team or something else, then be concerned. Until then, you’re good. Bears fans of a certain age will continue to cling to 1985 and hope to see that again in their lifetimes. Those who weren’t old enough and hear the stories will likely hang on for a new era of championship football. It’s hard to quit now when you’ve made the investment for decades. Don’t believe me? Ask Cubs fans.

As for me, well, I moved 900 miles away because I didn’t want to watch Bears football anymore. Just kidding. But there are perks of only seeing five or six Bears games a season. It’s less of an emotional investment and more of a natural curiosity. It also helps me keep up with angry Bears Twitter. It gets complicated, in a fun way, when Patriots fans ask me why I laugh when the Bears lose. It’s not the losing as much as it is the unique and original ways you go about it. Losing a playoff game on a field goal miss is one thing. But nobody will forget the Double Doink! Only the Bears could pull that off. (Double Doink is also a great fantasy football team name. Not that you care.)

Deep down, I’ll always love and root for the Bears. It’s what Chicagoans and Illinoisans do. The degree may be different, but love is love right?

Obviously(or not), I hope you guys win one more Super Bowl before my time is up on this earth. I just hit middle age, so no rush on this. My hope for the near future is that you all find a franchise quarterback. In my lifetime, about half the teams in the NFL have or had a franchise quarterback. You’re not one of them. Sorry, Punky QB and Smokin’ Jay. It’s not coincidence that the lack of a franchise QB has kept you from sustained success in this league.

I started writing this before the NFL Draft and I had some draft thoughts for you. Apparently, you have ESPN or something. Sure enough, you guys may have drafted a franchise QB. You guys weren’t afraid to use up some draft capital either. If I were Ryan and Matt, and I was trying to save my job, I wouldn’t be afraid to use future draft capital. Stick the next guy with the problem, right?

But I think you guys will get this one right. Only a hunch, but I love college football and I’ve watched a handful of Ohio State games. Justin Fields is so good and so fun to watch. And you even upset Patriots Twitter because they really wanted Fields. Now I get to rub that in a little. Thanks, George! Treat yo’ self! You’ve had quite the draft this year.

If anything, I’m impressed you learned two unbelievably valuable lessons from four years ago. I mentioned this already, but you weren’t afraid to trade more draft picks to get the players you want. Didn’t exactly go well the last time. Doesn’t mean you should try again. And you did.

The second, and maybe more important, lesson is this: Just because a quarterback drives a Toyota Camry doesn’t mean he’s a good quarterback. It just means he drives a Toyota Camry.

If Trevor Lawrence drives an Escalade and Ian Book shows up in a Camry, do you think Jacksonville was drafting Ian Book number one overall???

These are just some thoughts. I’m just a guy who wore the Walter Payton and Jim McMahon Hutch football uniforms when he played football in the yard as a kid. Not at the same time, of course. That would be extremely hot and uncomfortable. Point is, what do I really know?

Anyway, this started out about you keeping the team and turned into NFL Draft thoughts. I’ll reign it back in.

In short, don’t sell the team. Most fans are grown adults. We can decide how much we want to invest, financial and emotionally, in this team. Plenty of other options if we can’t handle it.

However, to run a solid organization, it certainly helps having a solid fanbase. For your sake, I hope Justin Fields works out for you. I haven’t seen this amount of optimism in Chicago, even from afar, in a decade. This could be amazing for the entire organization, for the fans, for the city. If Fields doesn’t work out, it will be like the Chicago Bears QB position is cursed. It might be the thing that drives enough of us away.

Take good care of this kid, George. Your future, and your franchise value, is riding on it.