Windy City Gridiron
Most Bears fans don’t trust anyone.
Over half of you have no confidence in the Chicago Bears' top two executives, team President and CEO Kevin Warren or General Manager Ryan Poles. But of the two, more trust that King Poles will do it again.
But do what again, I’m not sure because, so far, his claim to fame is the trade with the Panthers that earned him the first overall draft pick. Which is obviously great, but there's some luck that went into that. His offensive line plan didn't work again, and overall, his misses are starting to stack up and tip the scales. I would not be surprised to see him shown the door after the season. The Bears are in the midst of one of their worst stretches in team history, and that’s on Poles’ watch.
I believe fans are just accustomed to hating Chicago’s president after decades of vitriol aimed at Ted Phillips. They need a boogeyman to blame all the problems on. For years, fans wanted Phillips, who started with the Bears as an account, ousted for a more qualified leader with a football background.
Warren has been involved in and around football since the early 1990s, when he started as a sports agent. He got his first NFL job with the Rams in 1997 and also worked with the Lions and Vikings. He cut his teeth in NFL business operations, worked on a couple of projects with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, and was the Big 10 commissioner. He may be the most qualified team president ever hired by an NFL team, yet some fans hate him because he’s not a football guy.
I loved the idea of bringing in a former player like Peyton Manning, but Warren’s experience made him a no-brainer hire.
For the sake of the franchise, I hope the 84% of fans who didn't vote for Warren end up being wrong about him because he’ll be here for a while. After taking time to learn and observe and get his front office team lined up, there’s no question the Bears are his team now. It’s a strange dynamic with the Chairman not being out front on all decisions, but the less George McCaskey is involved with the day-to-day, the better.
Our weekly confidence poll is up a tiny bit this week after being 18% after the loss to the 49ers.
This final Reacts results is courtesy of the national survey that was emailed to fans of all 32 teams, and the voters overwhelmingly believe the Detroit Lions will cover the 6.5. point FanDuel spread. I also went with Detroit on this one. I know the Lions are beat up, but they’re the more talented team and also better coached.
SB Nation Reacts is a survey of fans across the NFL, and you can sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
