What Chicago Bears Can Do This Offseason to Ensure Playoff Push in 2015
Published by Matt Eurich on December 31, 2014
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
Following a 13-9 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in Week 17, the 2014 season officially ended for the Chicago Bears. The organization will now begin to focus on how to improve the team this offseason in order to ensure a push for the playoffs in 2015.
The Bears took their first step toward a playoff push this past Monday when they announced the firing of general manager Phil Emery and head coach Marc Trestman.
The decision to let go of both Emery and Trestman was based on the duo’s inability to take the organization to the next level. Trestman finished his two-year tenure with a disappointing 13-19 record, and chairman George McCaskey told the media on Monday the team needs to get better against the NFC North division, via Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times:
While moving on from Emery and Trestman should help the team going forward, there are still plenty of things the Bears can do this offseason to ensure a playoff push in 2015.
Hire a Talented General Manager
If the Bears want to make a run at the playoffs in 2015, they are going to need to hire a talented general manager.
To help McCaskey and team president Ted Phillips determine the best candidate for the general manager position, the Bears hired former New York Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi as a consultant.
“Ernie has a wide variety of experience and has been successful, and we feel he will provide a critical voice to our search process,” Phillips said, via ChicagoFootball.com.
McCaskey later explained how important the general manager hire is for the franchise, and he believes Accorsi will help them get the right people in place.
“We understand the magnitude of this decision, and we understand that Bears fans are counting on us to get it right,” he said, via Jon Greenberg of ESPNChicago.com.
He continued:
“We think that the experience that we bring over the last three years — having been through the process before and talking to various people around the league and adding [Accorsi] as a consultant — will help us in the process and get us the right people to lead the Bears.”
On Tuesday morning, a list of candidates for the general manager position emerged. According to Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune, Ravens director of pro personnel Vince Newsome, Giants vice president of player evaluation Marc Ross and Titans vice president of player personnel Lake Dawson were all recommended to Accorsi by John Wooten, the chairman of the Fritz Pollard Alliance.
In addition to those three candidates, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport listed Chiefs director of player personnel Chris Ballard as another potential candidate:
Ballard spent 11 seasons with the Bears from 2001-2011 as the team’s southwest area scout before he was named the director of pro scouting in 2012. He joined Kansas City in 2013.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid had nothing but praise for Ballard recently, via Terez A. Paylor of the Kansas City Star:
The list of candidates may fluctuate in the coming days, but there is no denying how important this hire will be for the Bears in 2015 and beyond.
In addition to overseeing the team’s development through free agency and the draft, the general manager will play a big role in determining the team’s next head coach. Accorsi will also assist in the hiring of the next head coach, but the general manager will likely have the biggest say at the end of the day.
Unless the Bears make a home run hire at general manager, the team will likely struggle to make the playoffs in 2015 and beyond.
Make a Definitive Decision on Jay Cutler‘s Future
Emery signed Jay Cutler last offseason to a seven-year, $126.7 million deal and cited Cutler’s history as a winner as one of the reasons for re-signing him.
“He’s a demonstrated winner with the Chicago Bears,” Emery said at the time, via Michael C. Wright of ESPNChicago.com. “He can be a key player in terms of being the reason you win.”
Cutler proved in 2014 he cannot win games alone. While he registered career highs in completion percentage (66.0) and touchdowns (28), he finished tied for the league lead in interceptions with 18 and fumbled the ball 12 times.
The team could cut him this offseason, but they would still be on the hook for $15.5 million in guaranteed money, according to Jason Fitzgerald of Sporting News.
Even if the team trades Cutler, there will still be salary-cap ramifications, via Albert Breer of the NFL Network:
McCaskey made it known on Monday that all decisions regarding Cutler’s future in Chicago will not be made by him.
“I’m a fan of Jay’s personally and I’m a fan of Jay’s professionally,” McCaskey said, via John Mullin of CSN Chicago. “But all of the personnel decisions are going to be up to the new general manager and the new head coach.”
In order to have a plan in place for free agency and the draft, the new general manager and head coach will have to determine quickly whether or not Cutler is in their plans for the future. If the team opts to cut him or trade him, they will need to have a plan in place to take over at quarterback. David Fales is currently the only other quarterback under contract for next season.
Regardless of whether or not the new regime believes in Cutler, it will be imperative for the new general manager and head coach to make a decision on his future with the organization quickly and decisively.
Find a New Identity
After years of consistently having one of the league’s best defenses under Lovie Smith, Chicago’s defense put together two of the worst seasons in team history under Trestman.
It was assumed that Chicago’s defense would falter a bit without Smith at the helm, but there was a belief that Trestman’s offense would give the Bears a new identity. After showing improvement in 2013, the offense regressed in 2014.
After watching their team shift from a defensive identity to an offensive identity in the last two years with little success, both Phillips and McCaskey are looking for a team that is tough in all three phases of the game.
“That’s going to be very important; being able to create a vision and articulate that vision to the team and to our fan base of what we’re all about,” Phillips said, via Larry Mayer of ChicagoBears.com. “We want to see a team that is tough in all three phases so that when teams come into Soldier Field or play the Bears, they’re fearing coming in to play us. That’s what we need.”
McCaskey reiterated Phillips’ comments.
“I thought Ted made excellent reference to that,” McCaskey said, via Mayer. “We need to re-establish our identity. People need to know that when they play the Chicago Bears that they’ve been through hell.”
A couple of players also spoke out on Monday about how the team needs a new identity moving forward.
“We kind of got away from what we are as the Chicago Bears,” cornerback Tim Jennings said, via Greenberg. “We kind of got away from the style of defense that we play. It was more of a transition from defense to offense. I don’t know. We all thought it would be a good thing. We’ve got all the weapons; we’ve got all the tools. It kind of got away from the tradition of what the Chicago Bears are known for.”
Pro Bowl guard Kyle Long also voiced his opinion.
“The right coach for Chicago is one that wants to instill an identity, demands a team that has an identity,” Long said, via Eli Kaberon of ChicagoBears.com. “And when we play opponents, they should say, ‘We don’t want to play those guys.’ There’s a handful of teams in the NFL that are like that. And I feel like we have the nucleus to be able to do that.”
If the front office can bring in a coach who can instill a new identity on both sides of the football, the Bears may be able to make a playoff push in 2015.
Record/statistical information provided via email from the Chicago Bears unless otherwise noted.
Matt Eurich is an NFL/Chicago Bears Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and a member of the Pro Football Writers of America.
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