The Bears Visit Mark's World

In my frustration as I watched the Chicago Bears huddle up with mediocrity by keeping the three architects of the current sorry state of affairs in place, I have been searching for a sign:

Please, just show me that you guys actually care about what fans – those who pay the bills – have to say.

I may have found a sign in the least likely of places.

On Monday night – some 19 hours before the odd spectacle of a news conference at Halas Hall featuring team president Ted Phillips, general manager Jerry Angelo and coach Lovie Smith – I posted a script of sorts as a best guess as to what the Bears MIGHT say. It was more hopeful than logical. I wanted Phillips to be more apologetic and take a harder line with Smith.

After all, this is the team that, in three years, managed only 12 wins against teams with winning records. Yet, somehow, Lovie has managed to conjure up emotional pleas for his teams to end each of the last three campaigns with 2-0 records; a masking agent aimed to dupe ownership that this was an organization on the rebound, not one in horrific and moribund decline.

Still, as to the coordinators, some of the tone, etc., the blog was more of a hit than a miss.

I tweeted the blog and featured it on Facebook, etc. and had more than a hundred hits which is good for my site these days these days.

Wednesday, I decided to see who all had visited my Web site in the past 48 hours. I was stunned to discover that Tuesday morning, several hours before the news conference, someone from Halas Hall had actually spent some time on my site.

Here's the detailed listing from my SiteMeter:



I obliterated the ISP info out of a courtesy and a respect for privacy.

The fact that on a busy Tuesday morning, someone in the Bears organization spent more than nine minutes taking in some fan's views is pretty interesting. I don't think it means much more than that, but maybe it is the hopeful sign I've been looking for.

The Bears are in serious trouble, even if Phillips in unable or unwilling to fully comprehend his situation. I am hoping that whomever took in my words returns some day to reflect on this mess. I'll keep posting ideas and I'll never stop being a Bears fan.

In any case, checking out Bears fans views is not the worst way to figure the direction of a franchise. I encourage ownership to continue to reach out.

More later,


Mark