The Bottom Line Gives No Goosbumps.

The Bears organization is not a dynamic entity. It takes no chances and plays the game within the restraints set up by the salary cap and the collective bargaining agreement. This is a result of Bears ownership valuing the bottom line of profit in how they run the team. Winning is secondary to the revenue generated from their product. The Halas family, the McCaskeys, have no fortune generated from another venture. They don't have the bottomless pockets of a Mark Cuban or Daniel Snyder. The Bears are their livelihood, not their hobby. Thus, a conservative approach to hiring coaches and a general manager has been their mandate. As a result, we Bear fans get a bland and safe football team. Always a chance to be good, but never great.

This is why we long for Ditka. Not because he was such a great coach, but because he was exciting, unpredictable and fun. We would settle for that. This team we have cannot and will not win a championship. The ownership's profit-driven mentality allows for the recent team structure that completely neglects the offensive side of the football. I think it is because offensive players as a rule make more money than defensive players. The more talent on offense, the more they have to spend on player salaries. With a strong defense, the score remains close and maybe we can pull one out of our ass. Isn't that the feeling you get watching a Bear game? When the moment comes, and it comes in almost every game, when Bears offense needs to score a touchdown, you realize that you have absolutely no hope that they can get it done. Instead, we lean on our crutches, the chance that the defense scores or Hester shakes loose. Devin Hester is the worst thing that could have happened to this team. It allows Lovie and Jerry Angelo to continue to ignore improving the talent on offense.

This is no knock on Hester at all. He is a great kick returner, the best I have ever seen or read about. But Hester is cheaper than actually paying a real NFL quarterback, a real NFL running back and a real NFL receiver. Aikmen, Smith and Irvin would never happen in Chicago, not in a million years. This lack of energy, of vision, of adventure has gotten us to this point. Potentially the worst offense we have seen in Chicago in decades, but still a chance to get 9 wins. That and an opportunity to get taken out to the woodshed in a playoff game. This is no way to live Bear fans.